Abstract
Background: In the broad scientific debate on the integration of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the strategic planning of universities and on the use of monitoring the results of the strategy of the indicators relating to the pursuit of sustainable development goals (SDGs), there is a lack of studies demonstrating the effective degree of institutionalization of CSR in universities. Methods: This analysis constitutes a pilot study relating to the Italian university context. The study was carried out through an analysis on the contents of the three-year strategic performance plans (2020–2022) drawn up by individual universities and compulsorily published on the national portal of the Public Function Department, as required by article 10, paragraph 1, letter (a) of Legislative Decree 150/2009. A matrix was made with the information extracted by the documents and relative to the presence of the SDGs in the strategic performance plan. Consequently, using a Likert scale, the different degrees of institutionalization of CSR in the strategic plan of the universities were coded. Results: The results of the pilot study highlighted that the strategic planning of Italian universities’ CSR practices and the challenges of sustainable development are hardly ever systematically addressed. Therefore, there is a low degree of institutionalization of CSR in the Italian university system, even though the literature shows a high cultural and scientific commitment to establish university and post-graduate study courses with corporate social responsibility and sustainable development content and an increasing trend in the use of the accountability tools such as the social report or the sustainability report. Conclusions: It is necessary to share the results of scientific research on CSR and SDGs with the government and governance bodies of universities in order to harmonize the CSR and sustainability culture of these bodies with that of academics.
Highlights
In the last few decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a significant topic in management research, but while most of the attention on CSR has been focused on business activities, fewer studies have focused on CSR in nonprofit organizations and in public sector organizations (Costa et al 2020)
There is increasing awareness of the critical role universities have in corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation (MuijenHeidi 2004) and focusing the analysis on the research and teaching activities that incorporate and assimilate corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and sustainable development into their curricula (Setó-Pamies et al 2011; Doh and Tashman 2014; Sherif 2015; Slavova and Bankova 2015; Gulluscio and Torrecchia 2017; Nugra and Pesantez 2021) or on the activities of stakeholder engagement (Mehta 2011; Latif 2018; Aversano et al 2020), there is little available evidence on how, in practice, these entities have integrated social responsibility principles and sustainability criteria finalized at the achievement of sustainable development (SD) in their strategic planning and monitoring of their results
The aim of this study is to provide the degree of CSR institutionalization in Italian universities
Summary
In the last few decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a significant topic in management research, but while most of the attention on CSR has been focused on business activities, fewer studies have focused on CSR in nonprofit organizations and in public sector organizations (Costa et al 2020). There is increasing awareness of the critical role universities have in corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation (MuijenHeidi 2004) and focusing the analysis on the research and teaching activities that incorporate and assimilate corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and sustainable development into their curricula (Setó-Pamies et al 2011; Doh and Tashman 2014; Sherif 2015; Slavova and Bankova 2015; Gulluscio and Torrecchia 2017; Nugra and Pesantez 2021) or on the activities of stakeholder engagement (Mehta 2011; Latif 2018; Aversano et al 2020), there is little available evidence on how, in practice, these entities have integrated social responsibility principles and sustainability criteria finalized at the achievement of sustainable development (SD) in their strategic planning and monitoring of their results This trend seems to contradict the one that instead distinguishes the studies finalized to assess if universities are committed to their social responsibility, and if they provide sufficient information on CSR. This paper is structured as follows: we present a theoretical background of the study, useful for defining our research question; in Section 3, the materials and method of the analysis adopted for the pilot study is described; in Section 4, the results are discussed and concluding remarks are proposed
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
