Exploring CSR-Related Entrepreneurial Human Capital: The Association Between Transformational Leadership and Entrepreneurial Competencies in Higher Education Institutions

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly become a strategic and governance-relevant domain that depends on internal capability development to translate stakeholder and sustainability expectations into credible action. In emerging economies, higher education institutions (HEIs) are key arenas where future managers and intrapreneurs acquire human-capital foundations relevant to CSR-related strategy implementation. This exploratory study examines whether students’ self-reported transformational leadership (TL) is associated with entrepreneurial competencies (EC) that are relevant for responsible value creation and stakeholder-oriented execution. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional correlational design, we surveyed 207 senior undergraduate students from business-related programs in a private HEI in Peru. TL was measured using the MLQ-5X (transformational subscale), and EC were assessed through a content-validated and reliability-tested eight-dimension scale (networking, problem solving, achievement orientation, risk taking, teamwork, creativity, autonomy, and initiative). Given distributional characteristics, Spearman’s rho was used for hypothesis testing. Because the design was intentionally limited to first-order associations, no control variables or multivariate models were incorporated. Results show a strong, positive association between TL and overall EC (ρ = 0.822, p < 0.001), with statistically significant positive relationships across all EC dimensions (ρ = 0.709–0.807). These findings are consistent with a microfoundational view of CSR, indicating that leadership-related developmental behaviors are systematically aligned with competence bundles that may support CSR-related strategy enactment under stakeholder complexity and sustainability constraints. The study does not measure CSR outcomes or CSR communication directly; rather, it provides capability-level evidence with implications for HEI curricula and leadership development aimed at preparing graduates for responsible innovation and stakeholder-sensitive decision-making in emerging-economy contexts.