Examining the Effectiveness of Social Responsibility Courses in Higher Education.

Individual and corporate social responsibility has been gaining more and more attention over the last several years. We examine the effectiveness of incorporating social responsibility courses into the curriculum in higher education, with a specific look at Butler University. In general, the results indicate that implementing this type of curricular program is beneficial to the students but affects students differently based on their gender and age. Specifically, the results show that female students generally have a higher level of individual social responsibility than their male counterparts. The results also indicate that the students’ level of social responsibility influence their perceptions of how responsible companies should behave for both societal and consumer welfare. We conclude that these courses encourage students to get involved with the community and teach them to become good citizens. This also has a carryover effect and remains with students as they graduate and become part of other communities. Courtney Droms & Sheryl-Ann K. Stephen Examining the Effectiveness of Social Responsibility Courses in Higher Education 16 Journal of Learning in Higher Education 17 Fall 2015 (Volume 11 Issue 2) • Reinforces skills learned in the classroom and demonstrates the relevance of academic work for their personal and professional development • Broadens cultural competency and increases awareness of current societal issues as they relate to academic areas of interest • Improves interpersonal skills • Promotes student development and civic responsibility • Widens networks and affiliations within the Indianapolis Community for references, internships, and job placement • Furthers independent learning and problem-solving skills The ICR courses play a key role in student development by endeavoring to augment students’ understanding of personal and social responsibility, foster ethical behavior, encourage civic mindedness, develop intercultural skills, and enhance overall learning. Moreover, in light of recent corporate scandals, it is incumbent on academicians and university administrators to graduate more socially responsible individuals, as many have argued that these scandals may be directly attributed to a lack of individual and corporate social responsibility. The CCC states the following about the ICR’s impact on the community: • Augments reciprocal partnerships within the Indianapolis community that build on the assets of university students and community members alike. • Furnishes access to relevant university resources to meet community needs. • Offers opportunity for families, children, and community-based organizations to foster today’s generation to become tomorrow’s volunteers and civic leaders. Our study investigates how effective social responsibility courses are at translating into good individual and corporate social responsibility. In other words, can social responsibility be taught? Using the Butler University core curriculum, which requires students to take at least one social responsibility course (the ICR), we examine students’ perceptions of individual and corporate social responsibility. This is important because of the steady movement in the corporate world towards individual and corporate social responsibility as a means of encouraging overall socially responsible behavior, the positive effects of which have already been documented in corporations and the wider society. LITERATURE REVIEW Our study adds to the burgeoning literature on individual and corporate social responsibility. There has been much research on consumers’ reactions to CSR, as well as the benefits, costs and limitations of socially responsible behavior. However, to the best of our knowledge, no one has looked at the effectiveness of including socially responsible courses into the university curriculum, in terms of the impact on students’ perception of individual and corporate social responsibility. Given the current importance that is attached to ISR and CSR, both nationally and internationally, we believe this research is important to gauge the impact on our students. Davis and Blomstrom (1975) defined CSR as “the managerial obligation to take action to protect and improve both the welfare of society as a whole and the interest of organizations”. Since then, other perspectives of CSR have come to the fore including a more encompassing view of CSR as proactive socially responsible behavior by organizations, as well as individuals (McGee, 1998). This includes, but is not limited to, ethical behavior by individuals or groups within an organization. We choose to use McGee’s definition in this study; however, it must be noted that different people in different parts of the world can define corporate social responsibility differently, and we must be careful in using a broad brush to define corporate social responsibility (Campbell, 2007). Financial Performance and CSR Prior research on the impact of CSR on financial performance has been mixed. McGuire et. al. (1988) found a positive relationship between CSR and financial performance, while Freedman and Jaggi (1982) found no relationship between CSR and financial performance. Still, others found mixed results (Coffey and Fryxell, 1991). Notwithstanding these results, Waddock and Graves (1997), in a widely respected study, presented a thorough multidimensional measure of CSR and found a positive relationship between an increase in CSR and an increase in company financial performance. Consumers’ Perception and CSR Research on CSR and consumers’ perception of a company finds that there is a positive association between CSR and the consumers’ perceptions of a company’s products (Brown and Dacin, 1997). In other words, consumers view the products of companies with positive CSR more favorably than other companies viewed as having negative CSR, or no strategic CSR plan. Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) investigate when, how and for whom specific CSR initiatives work. The authors find that both companyspecific factors such as CSR issues and product quality, as well as individual-specific factors such as consumers’ beliefs about CSR issues, impact consumers’ responses to CSR. In addition, the authors conclude that CSR initiatives can sometimes negatively impact consumers’ purchasing decisions. Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) CSR has been talked about for many years now, but the impact of ISR on the communities and the global corporate environment is also becoming increasingly important. ISR has to do with persons becoming responsible in their actions that have a direct impact on the communities outside of their immediate group. ISR includes the engagement of each individual in the community where he/she currently lives, actively participates in its development and works together to solve community problems. One of the main objectives of ISR is to make the community a better place. Benabou and Tirole (2009) examine individuals’ motivation for socially responsible behavior. They find that ISR is driven by intrinsic altruism, material incentives, and social or self-esteem concerns. In addition, the authors find these motives are mutually interdependent, and both policy makers and social activists must have a good understanding of these interactions to effectively influence individuals’ desire to engage in socially responsible behaviors.