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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
10.25.2006 - 11:01am ET
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Survey Shows MBA Students Believe Business Should Be Agent of Social Change
(CSRwire) Cleveland, Ohio - With the corporate scandals of recent years
exposing severe moral and ethical transgressions, business schools have
come under fire for failing to instill adequate ethical standards in
students, while questions have been raised as well about the character of
the students themselves. Several studies, for example, have found that
business students cheat more than other students or are less concerned
about economic and social justice.
Given this background, a Net Impact survey of more than 2,000 MBA
students conducted within the past month gives cause for
encouragement.
The survey suggests that the overwhelming majority of today's MBA students
believe that businesses should work toward the betterment of society, that
managers should take into account social and environmental impacts when
making business decisions, and that corporate social responsibility should
be integrated into core curricula in MBA programs.
Initial results of the survey were reported on Tuesday, October 24, by
Liz Maw, executive director of Net Impact, at the Business as an Agent of
World Benefit Global Forum in Cleveland. Net Impact is an
international network of MBAs, graduate students and professionals
committed to using the power of business to improve the world. The survey
results will also be available at the annual Net Impact conference, Oct.
27-29 in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois.
"While we don't have earlier results for comparison, it may be that these
responses reflect, at least in part, the extensive coverage of the
corporate scandals of the recent past and the trials of the top executives
implicated in them," Ms. Maw surmises. "It would hardly be surprising for
such ethical disasters to enhance students' appreciation of corporate
social responsibility."
The Net Impact survey was conducted online from September 25 to October
15, 2006 at 110 MBA programs in the US and Canada. A total of 2,112
students from 87 programs, 70% of whom were in the first year and 30% in
the second, responded to 31 questions. Forty-five percent of the
respondents were female, and 34% were people of color. Thirty-seven
percent were members of Net Impact, whose membership exceeds 10,000
worldwide.
Among the findings:
Eighty-one percent agreed with a statement that businesses should
work toward the betterment of society, although only 18% believed most
corporations are currently working toward that goal.
Seventy-eight percent agreed that the subject of corporate social
responsibility should be integrated into the MBA core curriculum, and 60%
said they believed CSR makes good business sense and leads to profits.
Seventy-nine percent indicated they would seek employment that is
socially responsible in the course of their careers, and 59% said they
would do so immediately following business school.
Eighty-nine percent said business professionals should take social
and environmental impacts into account when making business decisions.
While the 37% of the respondents who were Net Impact members were the most
likely to be partial to social responsibility, social commitment proved
strong even among the 63% who were nonmembers. Thus, among respondents who
said they were not interested in becoming Net Impact members, 81% believed
business professionals should take into account social and environmental
impacts when making decisions; 64% said the subject of corporate social
responsibility should be integrated into core MBA classes; 66% said
business should work toward the betterment of society; and 60% said they
would seek socially responsible employment.
The Net Impact survey was presented as part of a three-day global forum
in Cleveland from Oct. 22nd to 25th. Convened by the Academy of
Management, Case Western Reserve University and the United Nations Global
Compact, the Business as an Agent of World Benefit Global Forum brings
over 400 on-site and 700 virtual participants representing 40 different
countries together to discuss issues of corporate social responsibility
and sustainability.
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