Corporate social responsibility (CSR) education is one of the main determinants of executive attention to stakeholder issues and corporate citizenship awareness. Thus, how higher education institutions (HEIs) manage the introduction of corporate responsibility among the teaching topics will influence the business propensity towards this theme in the future. This paper presents an analysis of CSR education in Italian economics departments. Following a presentation of the Italian context, a quantitative and qualitative methodology is proposed to verify the extent to which CSR issues are incorporated in teaching activity, and prevailing approaches, by conducting an exploratory study involving the Department of Economics of the University of Perugia. First, the supply side of the educational offer is considered, and then, to take the demand side into account, a survey of undergraduate students is conducted, in order to assess the effectiveness of CSR education. Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn regarding the challenges involved in integrating CSR in economics and business administration curricula, particularly with regard to the choice between offering standalone CSR courses and CSR embedded in courses on a variety of topics.
CSR Education in Italian Economics Departments. An Exploratory Study
CHIRIELEISON, CECILIA
2017
Abstract
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) education is one of the main determinants of executive attention to stakeholder issues and corporate citizenship awareness. Thus, how higher education institutions (HEIs) manage the introduction of corporate responsibility among the teaching topics will influence the business propensity towards this theme in the future. This paper presents an analysis of CSR education in Italian economics departments. Following a presentation of the Italian context, a quantitative and qualitative methodology is proposed to verify the extent to which CSR issues are incorporated in teaching activity, and prevailing approaches, by conducting an exploratory study involving the Department of Economics of the University of Perugia. First, the supply side of the educational offer is considered, and then, to take the demand side into account, a survey of undergraduate students is conducted, in order to assess the effectiveness of CSR education. Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn regarding the challenges involved in integrating CSR in economics and business administration curricula, particularly with regard to the choice between offering standalone CSR courses and CSR embedded in courses on a variety of topics.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
