The Importance of a Potential Employer’s Stance Regarding Corporate Social Responsibility on Undergraduate Students’ Decisions Regarding Full-time Employment

Abstract

Many assumptions have been made in the popular media about the Millennial generation (those born after 1982), including a sweeping generalization that as a group they embrace, to a greater extent than the previous generations (“Baby Boomers” born between 1946-1964 and “Generation X” born between 1965-1981), a desire to link their career paths with both doing “well,” i.e. financial success, with doing “good,” i.e. having their work contribute to positive social and environmental outcomes. This mixed-methods study used both surveys and interviews of undergraduate business students at a large research university in the Midwest to explore these Millennials’ views of corporate social responsibility in several areas, and seeks to answer the following research question: What is the relative importance of a corporation's stance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the decisions undergraduate business students make about internships and employment following graduation? The setting for this research was a top-20 ranked undergraduate business degree program in a major Midwestern land-grant university. At the time of this research, all student research participants were either currently enrolled in or had completed a required first-year business ethics course which covered in depth the concepts of both business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Using Spence’s “signaling theory” as a theoretical framework, the research attempted to first assess the impact of the required business ethics course on the students enrolled in the course, and second to assess the impact on signals employers sent to students as potential future employees during the recruiting and internship processes leading toward decisions about full-time employment upon graduation. Sources of other signals about corporate social responsibility that emerged from this research were academic and co-curricular experiences. In the quantitative study, 145 students currently enrolled in the required first-year business ethics course completed three surveys at the beginning, middle and end of the semester. Results of repeated measures t-tests showed statistically significant changes in the mean scale scores over time for all students for each administration of the survey, indicating stronger agreement with the items relating to the importance of elements of a company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives. Independent samples t-tests also measured the differences between males and females, and one-way analyses of variance measured the differences between different sections of the course and between students who had indicated intended academic major. In the first qualitative study, 20 students who were sophomores and juniors who had completed an internship but who had not yet accepted an offer of employment after graduation were asked to answer brief demographic questions and then were asked seven open-ended interview questions. Themes which emerged from these answers indicated that the students had a wide variation in their perspectives on corporate social responsibility with regard to their future employment decisions, and described “signals” received from employers, course work (including study abroad), and co-curricular activities. In the second qualitative study, 20 students who were seniors who had accepted an offer for employment after graduation were asked to answer brief demographic questions and then were asked seven open-ended interview questions. Themes which emerged from these answers indicated that the students also had a wide variation in their perspectives on corporate social responsibility with regard to the decisions they had made about offers for full-time employment upon graduation, and these students also described “signals” received from employers, course work (including study abroad), and co-curricular activities. The results of the study showed that students have a variety of opinions and perspectives on corporate social responsibility, and that one cannot assume that these students, as members of the Millennial generation, respond in a predictable or consistent way to the same signals. The implications in these findings should be helpful for those who teach, recruit, advise or study college students and their decisions about corporate social responsibility and career decisions.