Political Corporate Social Responsibility in Small Tourism Business: The Case of a Finnish Sled Dog Kennel

Animal-based tourism companies operate as a sensitive ecosystem in which a poor season of tourism flows can lead to ethically questionable decisions regarding the lives of thousands of animals for the sake of cutting economic losses. In this case, we show how a husky kennel engages in political corporate social responsibility and activism to transform well-established industry values that are in conflict with their own. The core of the kennel’s political agenda is to influence positive change in the tourism industry and ensure the ethical treatment of sled dogs as working animals. To that end, the kennel owner-managers use different activist strategies, such as introducing ethical sled dog practices, publicly addressing the regulatory gaps caused by outdated norms and regulations, and raising stakeholders’ awareness of animal welfare issues within the dog sledding business.