Good, JasonHusted, Bryan W.Palomares-Aguirre, ItzelGarcía-DeLaTorre, Consuelo2021-06-102021-06-102020-10Good, J., Husted, B.W., Palomares-Aguirre, I. and Garcia-DeLaTorre, C. (2020), "Who responds to whom and for what? A grounded theory analysis of social responsibility in the 1857 Frankfurt Bienfaisance Congress", Journal of Management History, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-01-2020-0001751-1348https://hdl.handle.net/11117/7392The purpose of this study is to examine and interpret the characteristics of social responsibility in general, and business responsibility in particular, that were evident during a period in European history that was plagued by widespread social problems and change. Based on that interpretation we explore the lessons those characteristics may have for social responsibility in a contemporary world that is facing similar conditions. The paper presents a qualitative analysis of the proceedings of the Bienfaisance Congress held in Frankfurt in 1857, where societal leaders from different nations met to answer the question, who has responsibility for whom, and for what? We use grounded theory, as it is operationalized in what is known as the “Gioia template,” to conduct a structured analysis of this particular text, and to in turn produce a theoretical interpretation of how that question was answered. Our interpretation is that congress participants articulated certain established dimensions of responsibility (individual, organizational, national), as well as one new dimension (international), and did so by differentiating boundaries of responsibility; in turn, we suggest that these dimensions and boundaries work together to form a nested system of responsibilities. There is limited empirical evidence available that documents the variety of responsibility-based initiatives that were being conducted during the 19th-century. An analysis of the congress proceedings allows us to gain a better understanding of how the 19th-century world, particularly the upper echelons of European society, approached the question of under what conditions actors in different domains have responsibility for another. While our implications are limited by our analysis of the proceedings of one congress that was attended by elites, they do provide a snapshot of how Europe sought to articulate a system of bounded responsibilities during a time of widespread social problems and change. Although the nested system of responsibilities framework that emerged from our grounded-theory analysis is not applicable to all situations, it should sensitize policy makers and business leaders to the need to address social problems in a systemic way. The authors both present a systems-based framework for understanding how responsibility is differentiated among actors (individual, organizational, state, and international) and demonstrate how a theoretical interpretation of historical documents can be accomplished through the use of grounded theory, as operationalized through the Gioia template.engPublic policyBusiness historyCorporate social responsibilityResearch methodologyEurope19th centurySystems of responsibilityGrounded theoryBienfaisance Congressinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article