Shaping Students’ Attitudes towards Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Education Versus Personal Perspectives

Business ethics and corporate social responsibility education is typically considered one of the main determinants of executive attention to ethical decision making, commitment to stakeholder issues and corporate citizenship awareness. However, some scholars also highlight the role of individual level factors and beliefs in shaping students’ future behaviours. The main purpose of this research is to compare the impact of business ethics and corporate social responsibility education with that of personal perspectives on students’ attitudes. Three aspects are taken into account: the expectations of business responsibilities, the propensity to act as a responsible consumer, and behavioural intentions as a future employee. This exploratory study provided the administration of a research questionnaire to a sample of 200 undergraduate students. The statistical analysis reveals that while education has a positive, although limited impact, a strong relationship exists between personal perspectives and students’ attitudes.