Browsing by Author "Hormu, Riikka"

Working life has changed over the last few decades and the demands placed on the employee have increased. The well-being of working-age people in Finland has weakened and one in four Finns are at risk of burnout. This challenges the implementation of corporate social responsibility in a sustainable way. The psychologisation of society and individualism is emphasized which enables the use of therapeutic ethos in our society. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the manifestation of therapeutic ethos in the corporate world, specifically in corporate responsibility work. The focus was on the ideal of employee extended to the ideal of citizenship, for which I created a new concept, hybrid citizenship, based on theoretical framework. My research questions were 1) How is therapeutic ethos manifested in the sustainability reports of professional services companies? 2) What kind of hybrid citizenship is conveyed in the sustainability reports of companies provoiding professional services? The data of the thesis consisted of the sustainability reports of four international companies provoiding professional services and operating in Finland. The documents covered the companies’ sustainability activites in the previous year or the previous financial year. These reports are from the time period 2021–2023. The thesis was conducted as a qualitative study using discourse analysis. The thesis results showed that the corporate sustainability reports of the companies reflect the ideal of hybrid citizenship and indicate the realization of therapeutic ethos in the operations of these companies. Hybrid citizenship was expressed as an ideal of a healthy, committed and courageous top performer, whose realization demanded excellence, continuous self development and well-being. The therapeutic ethos was manifested through the methods of free liberal governance revealed in the documents. These findings can be used to plan corporate social responsibility measures. In addition, the thesis can help companies to look at sustainability objectives and measures from critical perspective and develop the effectiveness of social responsibility components in terms of the company’s responsibility in achieving the sustainability development goals at both company and societal levels.