The Double Relationship Between Risk Management and CSR in the Italian Healthcare Sector: The Case of the Lombard “Health Protection Agencies” (ATS)

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyze how socially responsible behaviors can be considered as risk management tools. In particular, the underlying objective is to highlight the existence of a link between CSR and risk management within the healthcare sector of the Lombardy Region (Italy). The research is divided into two sections and the approach used combines both descriptive analysis and quantitative analysis methods: in the first part will be analyzed the concept of corporate social responsibility and risk management, describing the same concepts in the healthcare sector. In the second part, in order to highlight the CSR-risk management link, the paper analyses the web sites of the 8 health protection agencies of the Lombardy Region, created following the reform of the social and health system in Lombardy (Regional Law 23/2015). In our paper we demonstrate how a double bond (a double relationship) between CSR and RM exists. The first link classifies the CSR as an RM tool. At the same time, the RM can be considered a tool to demonstrate the social responsibility of the institution (or as a tool to prove that an institution is socially responsible).