Social Responsibility Education in Turkey

Abstract

As a developing country that has experienced severe economic, social, and environmental conditions due to the absence of institutional supports and arrangements, Turkey urgently needs to adopt a new business paradigm that is built on a strong commitment to sustainable development with the integration of diverse stakeholders. In doing so, the concept of social responsibility can provide a viable framework at the individual, organizational, and national levels. Springing the new ideas and conveying these ideas into the real systems though their students, the universities have critical roles in such a large-scale transformation of individuals, organizations, and nations towards sustainable and socially responsible philosophy. Despite its increasing importance over the business sector and academic community, the nature, structure, and implications of social responsibility education has not properly explored in Turkish context. The purpose of this study is to give an overall profile of social responsibility education at Turkish universities, and then provide the quality and quantity of social responsibility education at Yasar University as one of the best cases in Turkey. The results of the survey which was conducted on 239 students at Yasar University reveal that when the students view social responsibility as a critical element of doing business, their attitudes as consumers and prospective employees significantly positively changes towards socially responsible organizations.