Implementing University Social Responsibility in the Caribbean: Perspectives of Internal Stakeholders

Abstract

University Social Responsibility (USR) is the ethical and transparent management of the administrative, educational, cognitive and social processes carried out by a higher education institution. More and more universities are practicing USR not only in Latin America but also in the United States and Europe, in order to reduce the negative impacts their daily operations can have on different stakeholders and on a macro level on society, the economy, and the environment. However, despite existing knowledge in the implementation of USR in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are few empirical studies that analyze the positions of diverse internal stakeholders regarding USR practices mainly in the Caribbean. Therefore, this study analyzes the perspectives of the internal stakeholders in social responsibility initiatives and processes at a private university in Puerto Rico. A total of 533 participants (356 students, 99 administrative staff, and 78 faculty members) were interviewed and were given a questionnaire, which evaluated the following areas: responsible campus, professional and citizenship education, social knowledge management, and social participation. Overall, the internal stakeholders’ perceptions were consistent among the three groups. It can be observed that the various internal stakeholders are aware of what it means—in theory, and in practice—, to be a socially-responsible university, although they also recognize opportunities for improvement and future challenges regarding USR. The results of this study contribute to the literature, to the application of conceptual models—mainly from the perspectives of internal stakeholders—and to the importance of evaluating USR practices.

Dirección por valores y responsabilidad social en universidades estatales chilenas

“…Respecto de lo anterior, la transparencia (Pérez, 2017) y la rendición de cuentas (Guijarro, Gomera, & Antúnez, 2016;Núñez, Alonso, & Pontones, 2015;Huerta-Riveros, 2017), se transforman en indicadores importantes de la Integridad en el contexto de la RSU (Beltrán-Llevador et al, 2014;Gaete, 2011).…”

Construcción de un sistema de Educación Superior socialmente responsable en América Latina: Avances y desafíos

“…En cambio, en WOS solamente se publicó en dicho período el 5% de los artículos relacionados con el comportamiento socialmente responsable de las universidades. Universidades privadas Arango et el., 2014;Baca-Neglia et al, 2017;Gómez et al, 2018; Fuente: elaboración propia.…”

“…En otro artículo de revisión de la literatura que surge de las revistas incluidas en la muestra es la que desarrollan Larrán-Jorge y Andrades-Peña, (2015), donde analizan los diferentes enfoques teóricos que pueden sustentar a la RSU, concluyendo que la Teoría de los Stakeholders o partes interesadas es la teoría más adecuada para que las IES fortalezcan su comportamiento socialmente responsable, situación que es avalada por una importante cantidad de estudios de caso que consideran al enfoque de los stakeholders para desarrollar sus análisis sobre el concepto de RSU (Gaete, 2015b), destacando los estudios que incluyen la mirada de algún stakeholders externo tales como proveedores (Uribe et al, 2016), comunidad vecina (Chirinos y Pérez, 2016;Uribe, 2015) o las personas mayores (Ortiz-Colón, 2015). Asimismo, algunos estudios sobre la RSU con enfoque stakeholders considera la perspectiva de las partes interesadas internas de las IES, tales como los estudiantes (Corral et al, 2017;Gaete, 2016a;Martínez-Usarralde et al, 2017;Zambrano et al, 2017) o los directivos y los docentes universitarios (Aristimuño & Rodríguez, 2014;Gaete, 2015cGaete, , 2018Gómez et al, 2018).…”

University Social Responsibility – Good Practices of Polish Higher Education Institutions

“…Therefore, USR is the ability to develop and promote a group of principles and values through responsible management, teaching, research, and community involvement (building relations with stakeholders). These four key areas do not work in isolation but as a whole [22]. The Declaration is based on the SDGs and explains how a socially responsible university can contribute to their achievement [24].…”