Attitudes of millennials toward corporate responsibility: a 28-society multilevel analysis

Purpose We examined the attitudes of millennial-aged business students toward economic, social and environmental corporate responsibility (CR). Currently, these individuals are of an age that they have entered the workforce and are now ascending or have ascended into roles of leadership in which they have decision-making power that influences their company’s CR agenda and implementation. Thus, following the ecological systems perspective, we tested both the macro influence of cultural values (survival/self-expression and traditional/secular-rational values) and structural forces (income inequality, welfare socialism and environmental vulnerability) on these individuals’ attitudes toward CR. Design/methodology/approach This is a multilevel study of 3,572 millennial-aged students from 28 Asian, American, Australasian and European societies. We analyzed the data collected in 2003–2009 using hierarchical linear modeling. Findings In our multilevel analyses, we found that survival/self-expression values were negatively related to economic CR and positively related to social CR while traditional/secular-rational values was negatively related to social CR. We also found that welfare socialism was positively related to environmental CR but negatively related to economic CR while environmental vulnerability was not related to any CR. Lastly, income equality was positively related to social CR but not economic or environment responsibilities. In sum, we found that both culture-based and structure-based macro factors, to varying extents, shape the attitudes of millennial-aged students on CR in our sample. Originality/value Our study is grounded in the ecological systems theory framework, combined with research on culture, politico-economics and environmental studies. This provides a multidisciplinary perspective for evaluating and investigating the impact that societal (macro-level) factors have on shaping attitudes toward businesses’ engagement in economic, social and environmental responsibility activities. Additionally, our multilevel research design allows for more precise findings compared to a single-level, country-by-country assessment.

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Publication Details

Journal
Cross Cultural & Strategic Management
Published
2024-12-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1108/ccsm-03-2023-0041
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.55
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article

Attitudes of millennials toward corporate responsibility: a 28-society multilevel analysis

Jaime Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Yusuf Sidani, Marina Dabić, Jane Terpstra Tong et al.
1 citations
Cross Cultural & Strategic Management
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
0.55
article

Attitudes of millennials toward corporate responsibility: a 28-society multilevel analysis

Jaime Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Yusuf Sidani, Marina Dabić, Jane Terpstra Tong, David A. Ralston, Mario Marco Molteni, Olivier Furrer, José Pla Barber, Audra I. Mockaitis, Ruth Alas, Charlotte M. Karam, María Teresa de la Garza Carranza, Carolyn P. Egri, Ian Palmer, Emmanuelle Reynaud, Tânia Casado, Malika Richards, Irina Naoumova, Pingping Fu, Wade Danis, Yong-Lin Moon, Narasimhan Srinivasan, Chay Hoon Lee, Laurie P. Milton, Arif Nazir Butt, Min Hsu Kuo, Luiza Zatorska, Beng Chia Ho, Modestas Gelbuda
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Purpose We examined the attitudes of millennial-aged business students toward economic, social and environmental corporate responsibility (CR). Currently, these individuals are of an age that they have entered the workforce and are now ascending or have ascended into roles of leadership in which they have decision-making power that influences their company’s CR agenda and implementation. Thus, following the ecological systems perspective, we tested both the macro influence of cultural values (survival/self-expression and traditional/secular-rational values) and structural forces (income inequality, welfare socialism and environmental vulnerability) on these individuals’ attitudes toward CR. Design/methodology/approach This is a multilevel study of 3,572 millennial-aged students from 28 Asian, American, Australasian and European societies. We analyzed the data collected in 2003–2009 using hierarchical linear modeling. Findings In our multilevel analyses, we found that survival/self-expression values were negatively related to economic CR and positively related to social CR while traditional/secular-rational values was negatively related to social CR. We also found that welfare socialism was positively related to environmental CR but negatively related to economic CR while environmental vulnerability was not related to any CR. Lastly, income equality was positively related to social CR but not economic or environment responsibilities. In sum, we found that both culture-based and structure-based macro factors, to varying extents, shape the attitudes of millennial-aged students on CR in our sample. Originality/value Our study is grounded in the ecological systems theory framework, combined with research on culture, politico-economics and environmental studies. This provides a multidisciplinary perspective for evaluating and investigating the impact that societal (macro-level) factors have on shaping attitudes toward businesses’ engagement in economic, social and environmental responsibility activities. Additionally, our multilevel research design allows for more precise findings compared to a single-level, country-by-country assessment.

Cross Cultural & Strategic ManagementVol. 32(2)
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (IT), Monash University Malaysia (MY), Pennsylvania State University (US), University of Nottingham Ningbo China (CN), Seoul National University (KR), University of Connecticut (US), University of Ottawa (CA), Estonian Business School (EE), University of Fribourg (CH), National University of Ireland, Maynooth (IE), Universitat de València (ES), Universidad de Los Andes (CO), University of Hartford (US), National University of Singapore (SG), University of Calgary (CA), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), Simon Fraser University (CA), University of Zagreb (HR), SGH Warsaw School of Economics (PL), Lahore University of Management Sciences (PK), University of Victoria (CA), Aix-Marseille Université (FR), ISM University of Management and Economics (LT), Technological Institute of Celaya (MX), RMIT University (AU), American University of Beirut (LB), Yuan Ze University (TW)
No poverty
Openalex Percentile: Top 19%
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
0.55
DOISourceOpenAlex
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