Iceland

Abstract

Iceland is a small island community, with less than 400,000 inhabitants, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. After World War II, it was transformed from being one of Europe’s poorest nations into an affluent nation, and in 1944 it got full independence from Denmark. The economy is, nevertheless, volatile but after the economic crisis in 2008, the economic return has been remarkable. There is still a lack of trust in institutions of society after the economic crisis. The nation performs well, and ranks high regionally and globally, in regard to many measures of well-being. The Icelandic culture is under influence from Danish, Norwegian, and the United States cultures. Results of this research on the desirability of the CSR and non-CSR attributes of future employers indicate that when choosing future employers, Icelandic university students express a highest preference for Responsibility towards employees’ dimension, with women assigning even higher importance to this dimension than men. Analyses of subdimensions indicated Work atmosphere to be the most desired characteristic of an employer, followed by services to advance employees’ security and health, work-life balance and family-friendly policies, salary and material wealth, fairness and anti-discrimination policies.