Perception of Social Responsibility Strategy in Higher Education: Empirical Study in Poland

Abstract

Today, the role of universities in the education of future managers who promote the principles of social responsibility (SR) and CSR in business practice is pivotal. Properly educated management staff of organizations can disseminate knowledge on this subject and apply its principles in practice. The research scope of the paper is to identify the knowledge and perception of the University Social Responsibility Declaration (Polish national programme in this field, hereinafter called USRD) among the students of the University of Economics in Katowice. The research assumes that most of the students do not have any knowledge about such programs as the USRD, and that despite this, they see the need for implementation of the specific principles of the USRD into university’s activities. Significance of specific principles is associated with students’ sociodemographic and psychographic characteristics. The strongest relation between the perception of the importance of the objectives of USRD and students’ characteristics is observed in the declared extent to which respondents implement the principles of social responsibility in their everyday life, as well as in their age and year of study. The more the students use those principles, the higher they personally rate specific principles of the USRD.