Corporate Social Responsibility Perspectives in European Higher Education

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes a significant part of modern-day business organizations' decision making. Not only do companies have their performance assessed by CSR initiatives but also the former strive to strengthen their relationship with society by maintaining a distinctive sustainable corporate culture. Among the most widely adopted approaches for differentiation is the establishment of long-term relationships with customers, partners, employees, shareholders and civil society, among others. Universities are no exception. Modern higher education (HE) institutions place students at the center of the educational process, while maintaining personnel policies to motivate and retain a quality academic and administrative staff (especially given the pressure by the alternative sources of knowledge). In this respect, the aim of this paper is to investigate the opinions of HE representatives on five different dimensions of corporate social responsibility. We base our research on a methodology proposed by European Commission Directorate General for Enterprise.