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Applying social psychology to the challenge of embedding CSR into the Business School curriculum

Applying social psychology to the challenge of embedding CSR into the Business School curriculum
Applying social psychology to the challenge of embedding CSR into the Business School curriculum
Continuing business scandals and their negative consequences for society have led to increasing calls for business schools to incorporate CSR into the curriculum. However embedding CSR issues across the business school curriculum is not always effective due to factors such as lack of expertise, confidence, resources and/or motivation on the part of faculty staff. On the other hand, stand-alone courses tend to be optional, thus allowing many students to graduate with little to no coverage of ethical issues. In addition, the effectiveness of business ethics and CSR education has been challenged by a number of studies, raising the question of how to measure effectiveness and which pedagogical methods to use. The main contention of this chapter is that the underlying aim behind efforts to integrate ethics into the business school curriculum is in order to motivate and enable future business leaders to manage ethically and respond effectively to the challenges of sustainable development. Conceptualising ethics education in terms of eliciting behavioural change enables access into the insights provided by social psychological research into factors affecting behaviour, such as self-efficacy, subjective norms, knowledge, awareness, attitudes and role models. These insights suggest exposure to role models of ethically motivated enterprises via an experiential service learning initiative best addresses these key factors identified as predicting behavioural change. This contention is supported by a content analysis of reflections of MSc students who took part in a service learning initiative, whereby they applied their entrepreneurial skills to assist local social enterprises as part of their assessed coursework for their entrepreneurship module.
9781781905890
Emerald Publishing
Baden, Denise
daad83b9-c537-4d3c-bab6-548b841f23b5
Ahmed, J.
Crowther, D.
Baden, Denise
daad83b9-c537-4d3c-bab6-548b841f23b5
Ahmed, J.
Crowther, D.

Baden, Denise (2013) Applying social psychology to the challenge of embedding CSR into the Business School curriculum. In, Ahmed, J. and Crowther, D. (eds.) Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: International Perspectives. Bingley, GB. Emerald Publishing.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Continuing business scandals and their negative consequences for society have led to increasing calls for business schools to incorporate CSR into the curriculum. However embedding CSR issues across the business school curriculum is not always effective due to factors such as lack of expertise, confidence, resources and/or motivation on the part of faculty staff. On the other hand, stand-alone courses tend to be optional, thus allowing many students to graduate with little to no coverage of ethical issues. In addition, the effectiveness of business ethics and CSR education has been challenged by a number of studies, raising the question of how to measure effectiveness and which pedagogical methods to use. The main contention of this chapter is that the underlying aim behind efforts to integrate ethics into the business school curriculum is in order to motivate and enable future business leaders to manage ethically and respond effectively to the challenges of sustainable development. Conceptualising ethics education in terms of eliciting behavioural change enables access into the insights provided by social psychological research into factors affecting behaviour, such as self-efficacy, subjective norms, knowledge, awareness, attitudes and role models. These insights suggest exposure to role models of ethically motivated enterprises via an experiential service learning initiative best addresses these key factors identified as predicting behavioural change. This contention is supported by a content analysis of reflections of MSc students who took part in a service learning initiative, whereby they applied their entrepreneurial skills to assist local social enterprises as part of their assessed coursework for their entrepreneurship module.

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More information

Published date: 7 March 2013
Organisations: HRM and Organisational Behaviour

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 349806
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/349806
ISBN: 9781781905890
PURE UUID: fe639c1b-b474-40bb-ac8a-7eec54aa8f63
ORCID for Denise Baden: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2736-4483

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Mar 2013 16:07
Last modified: 05 Jan 2024 02:36

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Contributors

Author: Denise Baden ORCID iD
Editor: J. Ahmed
Editor: D. Crowther

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