Students' perceptions regarding CSR success of the US forest products industry

Abstract

PurposeFrom the standpoint of the future of corporate social responsibility, students' perceptions are an important research proposition. Several studies have been conducted to examine this phenomenon, yet sector‐specific studies are rather scant. The primary purpose of this work is to examine students' perceptions regarding social responsibility in the context of the US forest products industry.Design/methodology/approachA total of 257 graduate and upper level undergraduate students from Oregon State University and University of Montana, pursuing different academic majors, were surveyed to examine the differences in their perceptions of the US forest products industry's success in fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities.FindingsResults suggest that business and forest ecology/environmental science students were least satisfied with industry fulfilling its economic responsibilities. Regarding fulfillment of socio‐environmental responsibilities, forest ecology/environmental science students were significantly less satisfied than any other study major. Additionally, a comparison between male and female students suggested that males and females have a similar level of satisfaction regarding industry fulfilling its economic responsibilities. However, males were found to be more satisfied with industry fulfilling its socio‐environmental responsibilities than females.Research limitations/implicationsStudents for the study were not selected randomly and as such the results of the study can, at best, be considered indicative. Study findings have implications for academic curriculum designers as well as for industry policy makers.Originality/valueThis is the first attempt to examine students' perceptions about the social responsibility success of the US forest products industry.

Employee attitudes towards corporate social responsibility: a study on gender, age and educational level differences

“…Regarding gender differences, male employees are, on average, slightly more trustful in and satisfied with CSR performance than their female colleagues. These results are coherent with those obtained by Panwar et al (), who find men to be more satisfied that their company is fulfilling their socio‐environmental responsibilities, and by Smith and Kumar (), who find men to be more affected by CSR initiatives. Gender differences in terms of demandingness of CSR are not significant, however.…”

“…In terms of CSR satisfaction, Panwar, Hansen, and Anderson () examined students' perceptions of social responsibility within the context of the US forest products industry, and found males to be more satisfied than females that such an industry was fulfilling its socio‐environmental responsibilities. Moreover, Smith and Kumar () found men to be more strongly affected by CSR initiatives than women.…”

The Relationship between Social Responsibility and Business Performance: An Analysis of the Agri-Food Sector of Southeast Spain

“…There are numerous definitions provided by academic literature and by organizations and institutions involved in CSR. However, some concurrent elements can be extracted from a series of highly cited definitions found in the literature [10,16,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. CSR is understood as the company's assumption of a series of voluntary responsibilities [16,45], which go beyond legal and regulatory requirements [10] and that involve a long-term commitment to incorporate the interests of the plurality of agents involved in or affected by its management decisions [46][47][48].…”

Gender balance on boards and corporate sustainability for the 2030 Agenda

“…In some authors' opinion, that embrace the selfschema theory (Konrad et al, 2000), women in top positions run the business differently, because of their values. Women have a more relevant inclination than men have towards ethics, philanthropy and social themes (Eagly et al, 2003;Nielsen and Huse, 2010;Post et al, 2011;Wang and Coffey, 1992), with connected effects on CSR and corporate social strategies (Bear et al, 2010;Burton and Hegarty, 1999;Galbreath, 2011;Ibrahim and Angelidis, 1994;Kruger, 2009;Marz et al, 2003;Panwar et al, 2010;Smith et al, 2001;Zhang et al, 2013). Women among board members can drive a change in the leadership style (Paoloni and Lombardi, 2017): for some scholars women seem to adopt a servant leadership style focused on service to others and confident that the role of organization is to create people who can build a better tomorrow (Fridell et al, 2009;Parris and Peachey, 2013).…”

“…The gender diversity in corporate boards and the connected impact on corporate sustainability objectives and strategies are matters studied by many scholars (Hyun et al, 2016). Someone suggests that women have a more relevant inclination than men have towards ethics and social themes, affecting corporate strategies (Burton and Hegarty, 1999;Byron and Post, 2016;Cook and Glass, 2017;Marz and Powers, 2003;Panwar et al, 2010;Smith et al, 2006). At the same time, the presence of boards made up by men and women marks a corporate sensibility for women potentiality, giving a signal of equal opportunity promotion at social level (Bernardi and Threadgill, 2010;Ramirez, 2003).…”