The ethics of care as a determinant for stakeholder inclusion and CSR perception in business education

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to show that among business students, care ethics is a determinant for corporate social responsibility (CSR) perception and stakeholder inclusion. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted using a quantitative approach. The population for this study consisted of students from a leading French business school. Findings Stakeholder inclusion is related to care ethics among students. CSR perception is related to stakeholder perception. CSR perception is related to care ethics. Research limitations/implications Population sampled has cultural and curricula specificities. Further research should extend the findings to other populations. Practical implications If business schools want their students to implement CSR when they later become managers, they should build a bridge in the curriculum between business ethics education based on the care theory (“educare”) and CSR teaching. Originality/value Empirical exploration of the relationship between teaching CSR and teaching care ethics has not been undertaken. Relationship between care ethics and stakeholder theory has been addressed in the literature but only from a theoretical perspective and not from an empirical perspective.