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Manuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: The goal of the present exploratory cognitive study is to uncover how opinion leaders -CEOs and other authorities in the domain of social issues in management -understand and differentiate the various concepts pertaining to corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and business ethics. The present study with the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) extends the analysis to the whole spectrum of social issues in management. For this research 41 RGT interviews were conducted in Belgium with top experts and CEOs of the Belgian economy and civil society. Research Findings/Results: Both authorities and CEOs pragmatically and rather clearly differentiate the various concepts related to corporate governance, CSR, and business ethics. Our findings partially reject the confusion in terminology noticed in recent academic literature and in corporate communication, emphasizing increased vagueness and overlapping of the concepts around corporate governance, CSR, and business ethics. Theoretical Implications: While CSR is seen as the best candidate for an umbrella term, no unified paradigm has yet to be achieved in the business and social field. Three basic concepts of corporate responsibility, corporate governance, and business ethics emerge as being complementary. Corporate governance has acquired an important place in the hierarchy of business and society concepts. Practical Implications: Corporations cannot restrict their actions and communication regarding social issues in management to one single domain. Several complementary issues have to be addressed simultaneously. This combined multidimensional approach will result in mutual reinforcements of the message.

As a contribution to the emerging field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cognition, this article reports on the findings of an exploratory study that compares SME owner-managers' mental models with regard to CSR and related concepts across six European countries (Belgium, Italy, Norway, France, UK, Spain). Utilising Repertory Grid Technique, we found that the SME ownermanagers' mental models show a few commonalities as well as a number of differences across the different country samples. We interpret those differences by linking individual cognition to macro-environmental variables, such as language, national traditions and dissemination mechanisms. The results of our exploratory study show that nationality matters but that classifications of countries as found in the comparative capitalism literature do not exactly mirror national differences in CSR cognition and that these classifications need further differentiation. The findings from our study raise questions on the universality of cognition of academic management concepts and warn that promotion of responsible business practice should not rely on the use of unmediated US American management terminology.

Summary Even though the academic press recognizes generational diversity and its consequences, the related findings are fractured, and research is incomplete regarding methodology and theoretical background. In adopting a social identity perspective concerning groups and self‐conception, we argue that the social identity perspective is in line with generational identity theory. Employing a cognitive mapping method (repertory grid technique, mixed methods), the present study taps into three generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y) of Belgian managers' minds and demonstrates how they perceive their own and the two other generations. Our research reveals that perceptions of their own and other generations may direct social categorization and generational stereotypes of the in‐group and out‐group(s), that some of these stereotypes can be enacted, and that generational stereotypes do not necessarily coincide with age‐based stereotypes. Several metapatterns in the stereotypes are revealed as well. Hence, we contribute to the emerging field of research that calls for an identity‐based approach rather than a cohort‐based approach to generations and that validates the argument that generations as a workplace phenomenon must be considered a legitimate phenomenon. Insights into generations as social categories give a richer view of the interrelationships between generations in multigenerational situations at work.