Are Corporate Social Responsibility Courses Effective? A Longitudinal and Gender-Based Analysis in Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Despite the growing professional and academic interest in sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in recent decades, moral lapses continue to happen in the business arena. Because undergraduate students will be the managers and professionals of the future, training these students to be socially responsible is seen as critically relevant for reducing the likelihood of such moral lapses. However, the question of whether CSR courses can be effective is still debated and little is known about the role that gender may play in this relationship. This study analyzed data from 97 undergraduate students enrolled in a CSR course at a Spanish state university. These data were collected twice, (1) a week before the course had started and (2) a week after the course had been completed. The general lineal modelling (GLM) (repeated measures) procedure in SPSS revealed that CSR courses enhance students’ ethical decision-making. More importantly, the positive impact of these courses is stronger for female students than for male students. Thus, this study demonstrates the positive impact of corporate social responsibility courses on students’ ethical decision making, and sheds light on the target (female students) on which these courses is most effective.

Classroom Learning and the Perception of Social Responsibility Amongst Graduate Students of Management Accounting

“…Reviewing the salient literature (Appendix A) suggests that extant knowledge regarding university students' attitudes towards SR is still in a developmental phase [14,19,22,23]. Indeed, a generalized lack of knowledge and training in SR among university students can be deduced [11][12][13]24,25]. There is also evidence to suggest that students and other groups perceive a need for learning about SR [26,27].…”

“…Based on the conviction that university business students should be familiar with the SR concept and apply it to their future professional projects, we questioned their perceptions of this concept. To date, studies have shown a generalized lack of knowledge about SR [10][11][12], which is why Lämsä et al [13] demanded more empirical research on this subject. For Alonso-Almeida et al [14] little progress has been made since then (referring to the previous work), and research on attitudes to SR within the field of education is still in its infancy.…”

“…There are somewhat equivocal results concerning the effects produced by SR training. There are positive results in this respect [11,[17][18][19], but there is also neutral evidence suggesting that SR training may not alter students' perceptions [20] or may depend on the country of origin in the case of Peppas [21].…”

Business Ethics Decision-Making: Examining Partial Reflective Awareness

“…If individuals become aware of their own deviations, they may put additional effort into shaping their future decision-making in a desired direction. In this context, improvement in reflective awareness would contribute to the better, more sustainable [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] ethical choices and reveal a possibility of an intervention design within the higher education framework. In addressing the question of how revealed regularities can be translated into nudges, we conclude that it is necessary to use additional questions and instruments in order to reveal underlying patterns and/or guidelines for decision-making in relation to those who selfidentify themselves.…”

“…Reflective skills are recognized as important in education and its sustainability, and we propose the extension of that conclusion to business ethics. The relationship between the business ethics curriculum, sustainability and responsibility has previously been suggested as a prerequisite for shaping future decision-makers' attitudes and competences, as well as for building their integrity and morality [54][55][56][57][58]. Correspondingly, the reflective thinking proved to have an important role in development of quality learning and knowledge application to new and realistic situations [59,60], also, [61] show that reflective (and cooperative) learning environment enable development of competences for sustainability.…”