Industrial Engineering Students’ Corporate Social Responsibility Priorities Within “a Well-Managed” Company
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v24i5.7058Keywords:
higher education, corporate social responsibility, students' CSR perceptions, students' CSR priorities, industrial engineeringAbstract
Explores Industrial Engineering students’ Corporate Social Responsibility priorities within their vision of a "well-managed” company. It also analyses differences by gender and academic level. A statistically representative sample was assessed including nine CSR dimensions. Results show that for students “a well-managed” company prioritizes social responsibility practices that go beyond those related to Shareholders. Unlike other studies where women have been more sensitive, resulting significant differences were equally distributed with men. Concerning Academic level, scores of Initial level students are higher than those at Middle and Advanced. Therefore, for Initial level students, a "well-managed” company is more committed to CSR, when compared with what was reported by the other two groups. Presented priorities reveal insights into students´ possible professional CSR commitment by the time they graduate. This is the first study of this type among Industrial Engineers. Proposed instrument allows to identify students' sensitivity towards CSR and is fundamental for curricular decisions. Moreover, it can be used to evaluate the commitment of any stakeholder and be useful beyond the educational context.
References
Alonso-Almeida, M.D.M., Fernández De Navarrete, F.C., & Rodriguez-Pomeda, J. (2015). Corporate social responsibility perception in business students as future managers: A multifactorial analysis. Business Ethics, 24(1), 1–17. doi: 10.1111/beer.12060
Aras, G., & Crowther, D. (2009). Corporate sustainability reporting: A study in disingenuity? Journal of Business Ethics, 87, 279–288. doi: 10.1007/s10551-008-9806-0
ASPEN INSTITUTE. (2001). WHERE WILL THEY LEAD? MBA Students’ Attitudes About Business and Society. New York.
Aupperle, K., & Hatfield, J.D. (1983). Instrument development and application in corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management, 1, 369–373. https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.1983.4976378
Burton, B.K., Farh, J.-L., & Hegarty, W.H. (2000). A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ORIENTATION: HONG KONG VS. UNITED STATES STUDENTS.
Carroll, A. (1999). Evolution of a definitional construct. Business & Society, 38(3), 268–295.
Carroll, A.B. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of Management Review, 4(4), 497–505. doi: 10.5465/AMR.1979.4498296
Carroll, A.B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility. Towards the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39–48.
Carroll, A.B. (1994). Social issues in management research: Experts’ views, analysis, and commentary. Business & Society, 33(1), 5–29. doi: 10.1177/000765039403300102
da Silva Junior, A., de Oliveira Martins-Silva, P., de Araújo Vasconcelos, K.C., Correa da Silva, V., Martins Silva de Brito, S.L., & Rocha Monteiro, J.M. (2019). Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in the opinion of undergraduate students in management programs: Between the concrete and the abstract. Journal of Cleaner Production, 207, 600–617. Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.011
Dahlsrud, A. (2006). How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15(1), 1–13.
Elkington, J. (2013). Enter the triple bottom line. In The Triple Bottom Line (pp. 23–38). Routeledge.
Fitzpatrick, J. (2013). Business students’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility. College Student Journal, 47(1), 86–95.
Friedman, M. (1970, September). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazines, pp. 173–178. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-70818-6_14
Galvão, A., Mendes, L., Marques, C., & Mascarenhas, C. (2019). Factors influencing students’ corporate social responsibility orientation in higher education. Journal of Cleaner Production, 215, 290–304. Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.059
Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory social responsibility corporate theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53, 51–71. doi: 10.1787/9789264122352-de
González, M., Díaz, M., Pawlak, M., & Simonetti, B. (2012, November). Corporative social responsibilities perceptions: An approximation through Spanish university... Quality and Quantity. doi: 10.1007/s11135-012-9813-1
Hoque, N., Rahim, A., Rafiqui, M., Noman, A., & Bhuiyan, M. (2018). Is corporate social responsibility pursuing pristine business goals for sustainable development? Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 25(6), 1130–1142. doi: 10.1002/csr.1527
Ibrahim, N.A., Angelidis, J.P., & Howard, D.P. (2006). Corporate social responsibility: A comparative analysis of perceptions of practicing accountants and accounting students. Journal of Business Ethics, 66, 157–167. doi: 10.1007/s10551-005-5572-4
ISO. (2009). Norma Iso 26000:2010. Guía de responsabilidad Social. ISO, pp. 1–153.
Lämsä, A., Vehkaperä, M., Puttonen, T., & Pesonen, H. (2008). Effect of business education on women and men students’ attitudes on Corporate Tuomas Puttonen responsibility in society. Journal of Business Ethics, 82, 45–58, doi: 10.1007/s10551-007-9561-7
Larrán, M., Andrades, J., & Herrera, J. (2018). An examination of attitudes and perceptions of Spanish business and accounting students toward corporate social responsibility and sustainability themes. Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, ASEPUC, 21(2), 196–205. doi:10.1016/j.rcsar.2018.02.001
Mazur, B., & Walczyna, A. (2021). Corporate social responsibility in the opinion of polish and foreign students in management program of Lublin University of Technology. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(1), 1–15. MDPI. doi: 10.3390/su13010333
Morales-Gualdrón, S.T., La Rotta Forero, D.A., Arias Vergara, J.A., Montoya Ardila, J., & Herrera Bañol, C. (2020). Corporate social responsibility practices of Colombian companies as perceived by industrial engineering students. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26(6), 3183–3215. Springer Science and Business Media B.V. doi: 10.1007/s11948-020-00264-8
Nunnally, J.C. (1967). Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Pätäri, S., Arminen, H., Albareda, L., Puumalainen, K., & Toppinen, A. (2017, April). Student values and perceptions of corporate social responsibility in the forest industry on the road to a bioeconomy. Forest Policy and Economics, 85, 201–215. Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.forpol.2017.10.009
Porter, M.E., & Kramer, M.R. (2011, January–February). La creación de valor compartido. Harvard Business Review. América Latina, 89, 3–18.
Rulifson, G., & Bielefeldt, A.R. (2019). Evolution of students’ varied conceptualizations about socially responsible engineering: A four year longitudinal study. Science and Engineering Ethics, 25(3), 939–974. Springer Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/s11948-018-0042-4
Severino-González, P., Acuña-Moraga, O., Expósito, C., Santander-Ramírez, V., Arenas-Torres, F., Campos-Troncoso, R., . . . Díaz-Arce, M. (2023). Responsabilidad social corporativa y gestión estratégica en instituciones de salud. Percepción de los estudiantes universitarios. Interciencia: Revista de Ciencia y Tecnología de América, 48(10), 521–529.
Severino-González, P., Villalobos-Antunez, J., Vergara-Gómez, J., & Yáñez-Venegas, M. (2021). Perception of corporate social responsibility by higher education students in Chile. Formacion Universitaria, 14(4), 39–48. Centro de Informacion Tecnologica. doi: 10.4067/S0718-50062021000400039
Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S.J., Rallapalli, K.C., & Kraft, K.L. (1996). The perceived role of ethics and social responsibility: A scale development. Journal of Business Ethics, 15, 1131–1140.
Smith, J.M., & Lucena, J.C. (2018, June). Social responsibility in engineering education and practice: Alignments, mismatches, and future directions. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. American Society for Engineering Education. doi: 10.18260/1-2--30973
Smith, J.M., McClelland, C.J., & Smith, N.M. (2017). Engineering students’ views of corporate social responsibility: A case study from petroleum engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 23(6), 1775–1790. Springer Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/s11948-016-9859-x
Smith, M., Rulifson, J., Stanton, J., Sarver, E., Smith, N., Battalora, L., . . . Claussen, S. (2020). Counteracting the social responsibility slump? Assessing changes in student knowledge and attitudes in mining, petroleum, and electrical engineering. In 2020 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
Teixeira, A., Ferreira, M.R., Correia, A., & Lima, V. (2018). Students’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility: evidences from a Portuguese higher education institution. International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, 15(2), 235–252. Springer Verlag. doi: 10.1007/s12208-018-0199-1
Ugwuozor, F.O. (2020). Students’ perception of corporate social responsibility: Analyzing the influence of gender, academic status, and exposure to business ethics education. Business Ethics, 29(4), 737–747. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. doi: 10.1111/beer.12306
Vasquez, J.L., Licandro, O., & Lanero, A. (2013). Education of corporate social responsibility in the university: A comparative study between Uruguay and Spain. Contemporary Research on Organization Management and Administration, 1, 6–16.
Zandvoort, H., Børsen, T., Deneke, M., & Bird, S.J. (2013). Editors’ Overview perspectives on teaching social responsibility to students in science and engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 19(4), 1413–1438. doi: 10.1007/s11948-013-9495-7
Zhang, Q., Jiang, X., Tong, D., Davis, S., Zhao, H., Geng, G., . . . Feng, T. (2017). Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade. Nature Publishing Group, 543(7647), 705–709. Nature Publishing Group. doi: 10.1038/nature21712
