SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN MANAGEMENT’S EDUCATION: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY ABOUT THE VISION OF THE STUDENTS

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to study the perceptions of undergraduate business management students about the teaching of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In this context, a quantitative research method was employed. As empirical setting, we interviewed eighty five students of four different universities in the state of Rio de Janeiro who either attended the last year of business school or graduated one year before. Data was collected by a questionnaire based on a previous qualitative study of the authors Silva and Chauvel (2009). The results showed that the students considered CSR to be a very important subject of study. However, the respondents believed that CSR is only superficially addressed in undergraduate programs. They believed that the degree of attention dedicated to CSR was insufficient and superficial. In their view, they have learned more about CSR in magazines, newspapers and at work than in business school. In addition to that, they revealed to have numerous questionings about the theme CSR. Last but not least, they believed the teaching of CSR should be more emphasized, both from theoretical and practical perspectives. Therefore, a relevant field of study from the students’ standpoint is the understanding of how firms translate CSR into practice.