Business students’ perception of corporate social responsibility: an exploratory study

Literature provides evidence that business students consider stakeholders’ theory than shareholders’ wealth maximization theory (Larran et al. 2018). They do consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) ranking of companies while making a job choice decision (Leveson and Joiner 2014). They are more sensitive towards societal issues being addressed by the business vis-à-vis definition of ‘CSR’ (Andre Soc Bus Rev 11(2):217–230, 2016). The age, gender, nationality, cultural and individual values, religiousness, and emotional stability do influence the CSR perception of business students. (Gonzalez-Rodriguez et al. Qual Quant 47:2361–2377, 2013, Holtbrugge and Oberhauser J Indian Bus Res 11(2):162–178, 2019 and Wong et al. Corp Soc Responsib Environ Manag 17:299–310, 2010). Female business students are more concerned about corporate social responsibility, and male business students assign greater importance to economic dimensions of it (Alonso-Almeida et al. Bus Ethics Eur Rev 24(1):1–17, 2015, Galvao et al. J Clean Prod 215:290–304, 2019, Haski-Leventhal et al. J Bus Ethics 146:219–239, 2017, and Wang and Juslin J Acad Ethics 10:57–82, 2012). The present 15-year study of 1587 students of business schools, located in 14 different States and one Union Territory of India, finds a significant and perceptible shift in future business leaders’ perception of corporate social responsibility. Two surveys have been conducted to capture the perception of business students of different times. Four perspectives of social responsibility orientation: strategic, short term, trade-off, and stakeholders, have emerged. Social responsibility orientation of future business leaders is time-variant. The ‘strategic perspective’; the numero uno social responsibility orientation in 2008 has given way to the ‘short-term perspective’ in 2019. Future business leaders had embraced the ‘doctrine of social responsibility’ and shunned the profit maximization goal in 2008. However, the drift in perception suggests that ‘if the stockholders are unhappy, nothing else matters.’ It is a silver lining. Gender, age, and experience explain significantly the corporate social responsibility orientation of business students. The design and pedagogy of business ethics course in management education curriculum need to be explored further.