Personal values and approach of undergraduates towards corporate social responsibility

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to broaden the knowledge to identify which factors influence the relationship between business undergraduates and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach - Hypotheses have been developed to test the relationship between personal values of business undergraduates and CSR. Results have been achieved from 434 questionnaires within a survey through seven campuses of Brazilian universities. The data were primarily submitted to descriptive statistics – univariate analysis, followed by a four-factor analyses and finally, a structural model – one of the components from the structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied. Findings - The results identified that undergraduate students who valued issues and behaviours connected with self-direction, stimulation, universalism and benevolence are more prone to value organizational philosophy towards CSR. Furthermore, it was identified that the more business administration students value such themes, there will be a higher chance of them of getting involved in CSR, when occupying decision-making positions. Further results show that women valued the issue more – and their interest increased, as they become older. Practical implications - The results contribute to the identification of a student profile with increased affinity towards CSR, as well as highlighting gaps in business education, which will affect future managers’ social responsibility standards and decisions. Originality/value - This paper suggests new hypotheses and adopts measures towards personal values and CSR, which had not been used together previously.