TY - JOUR
T1 - Management students’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility and sustainability
T2 - The university context of each country as an explanatory variable
AU - Licandro, Oscar
AU - Vázquez Burguete, José Luis
AU - Ortigueira Sánchez, Luis Camilo
AU - Pinochet Sánchez, Giselle Viviana
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/11
Y1 - 2024/11
N2 - Many scientific articles have been written about management students’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility. Most of these investigations were carried out on small samples, made up of students from a single university. Very few investigations have compared students from different universities and countries. The main objective of this paper is to investigate whether students’ countries operate as an explanatory variable for their perceptions of this concept. Fifty-four previous articles were reviewed, identifying some important conceptual problems and a high amount of methodological diversity. The second objective of this paper is to describe and analyze these problems and methodologies, with the aim of contributing to the development of this field of research. A sample of 1992 undergraduate students in management courses who were studying at 18 universities located in three countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) was selected. A definition of corporate social responsibility was adopted. This concept was operationalized through a set of 18 indicators. An exploratory factor analysis showed that these indicators operationalize the main dimensions of social responsibility. It was found that there are statistically significant differences between the perceptions of the students from the 18 universities, but when comparing universities from the same country, these differences disappear. In addition, it was found that the relationship between perception and country is independent of gender, age, work experience and the degree that students are pursuing. This work contributes to our current knowledge in this field of study, because it shows that the university environment of each country operates as an explanatory variable for students’ perceptions of social responsibility. Also, this work contributes to the design of appropriate methodological strategies for carrying out comparative studies on the perceptions of social responsibility, both locally and internationally.
AB - Many scientific articles have been written about management students’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility. Most of these investigations were carried out on small samples, made up of students from a single university. Very few investigations have compared students from different universities and countries. The main objective of this paper is to investigate whether students’ countries operate as an explanatory variable for their perceptions of this concept. Fifty-four previous articles were reviewed, identifying some important conceptual problems and a high amount of methodological diversity. The second objective of this paper is to describe and analyze these problems and methodologies, with the aim of contributing to the development of this field of research. A sample of 1992 undergraduate students in management courses who were studying at 18 universities located in three countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) was selected. A definition of corporate social responsibility was adopted. This concept was operationalized through a set of 18 indicators. An exploratory factor analysis showed that these indicators operationalize the main dimensions of social responsibility. It was found that there are statistically significant differences between the perceptions of the students from the 18 universities, but when comparing universities from the same country, these differences disappear. In addition, it was found that the relationship between perception and country is independent of gender, age, work experience and the degree that students are pursuing. This work contributes to our current knowledge in this field of study, because it shows that the university environment of each country operates as an explanatory variable for students’ perceptions of social responsibility. Also, this work contributes to the design of appropriate methodological strategies for carrying out comparative studies on the perceptions of social responsibility, both locally and internationally.
KW - corporate social responsibility
KW - country
KW - measuring tool
KW - student perception
KW - sustainability
KW - university
KW - Responsabilidad social corporativa
KW - Sostenibilidad
KW - Percepción estudiantil
KW - Universidad
KW - País
KW - Herramienta de medición
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85208537922&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su16219571
DO - 10.3390/su16219571
M3 - Article in a journal
AN - SCOPUS:85208537922
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 16
JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)
JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)
IS - 21
M1 - 9571
ER -
