The Idea of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Opinion of Future Managers—Comparative Research between Poland and Georgia

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the awareness of economics students as future managers responsible for the implementation of this idea in enterprises. Due to the fact that CSR is a source of many innovations today, the aim of the research was to learn about the awareness and opinions of students about CSR on such issues as: reasons for implementation, main activities, impact on profitability, and the need to explore and assess the usefulness of this knowledge. The research was conducted in 2019 among students from Poland and Georgia (as countries at various stages of advancement in the market economy). The results of the research were statistically analyzed in terms of obtaining answers to the hypotheses and research questions, checking the significance of differences in the answers due to nationality, and additionally, gender (chi-square test and test for two proportions). The primary contribution of this study is an exploration of the views of students on various issues of CSR and sustainability. The results showed that—according to students—ethical values, increased consumer awareness, and the desire to gain a competitive advantage are the most common reasons for the implementation of the CSR concept by companies. The vast majority of respondents indicated the need to enrich the knowledge of business ethics as an important aspect shaping the attitudes of employers and employees. The positive attitude of students regarding the impact of CSR on the company’s profitability was confirmed, although the authors expected more unambiguous results. Differences were also distinguished between the responses of students from both countries on some issues, such as: opinions on the developing ethical sensitivity, the need for the credibility of the EU economic policy, ecology and relations with the local community, as well as relations with the closest stakeholders of companies. The results of the conducted research suggest the need for intense activity in the field of public awareness and the requirement of personnel training for the skilful implementation of CSR principles in enterprises.

Sustainable Technologies Supported by Project-Based Learning in the Education of Engineers: A Case Study from Poland

“…Based on sustainable innovations, business models known as sustainable are created. These are all business models based on closed-loop [62], natural capitalism [63], CSR [64] social enterprises [65], product service systems (PSS) [66], and blue economy [67].…”

Cooperation and Environmental Responsibility as Positive Factors for Entrepreneurial Resilience

“…This trend of neglecting certain aspects is often encouraged, especially for ideological reasons. This was verified in some districts that refused to shut down their industrial structures because they feared the loss of jobs [6,11,75,81,97]. Despite this, innovations in technology are now making possible an effective industrial conversion that saves jobs and worker identities and preserves a sense of community as well as the environment [26,60,[98][99][100][101].…”

“…Following the previously cited stakeholder theory [7,58,76], these kinds of organizations pursue an entrepreneurial strategy to consider the wider social impact [49,58,70,75,77,78], thereby reinforcing entrepreneurial resilience through stronger community approval (Entrepreneurship with link strength = 16 and occurrence = 10; Social Impact with link strength = 11 and occurrence = 7), which would help it to survive in a crisis. Knowledge with link strength = 9 and occurrence = 7) into a mindful entrepreneurial strategy [34,[79][80][81][82][83][84]. This can be realized through an exchange of knowledge [11,54,60] with university institutions [11,59,62,85], which creates the right combination between theory and practice.…”

“…An important aspect in Figure 7 of a functional education is the incorporation of innovative points of view and protocols (Innovation with link strength = 23 and occurrence = 12; Knowledge with link strength = 9 and occurrence = 7) into a mindful entrepreneurial strategy [34,[79][80][81][82][83][84]. This can be realized through an exchange of knowledge [11,54,60] with university institutions [11,59,62,85], which creates the right combination between theory and practice.…”

Islamic Religiosity and CSR Attitudes—The Case of Egyptian Managers

“…Some CSR studies found no difference between religious and non-religious managers; some established a negative impact of religious managers on CSR attitudes, whereas others showed a positive impact [9,11]. Nevertheless, these conflicting and mixed results agree that religious beliefs have a strong influence on workplace and personal values that affect CSR attitudes and behaviour [9,[12][13][14]. Both managers' beliefs and personal values are significant in shaping their managerial decisions and affect the values, beliefs, and behaviour of their followers [12,15].…”