An examination of attitudes and perceptions of Spanish business and accounting students toward corporate social responsibility and sustainability themes

Abstract

This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of business and accounting students toward corporate social responsibility and sustainability and what are the main variables for explaining differences in such attitudes and perceptions. Secondly, we compare the results of our study with those of the previous literature to determine whether there are differences depending on cultural, socioeconomic and legal forces. To accomplish this task, a survey was administered to be fulfilled by Spanish business and accounting students. In total, we received 319 surveys duly responded. Our results show that business and accounting students surveyed in our research have manifested a greater concern for the social and environmental dimensions of the corporate social responsibility and sustainability term. Meanwhile students surveyed in previous studies showed a strong commitment to the economic dimension of the corporate social responsibility and sustainability concept. Such differences are supported by cultural, socioeconomic and legal forces as well as by the institutional commitment of the university.