Abstract:

One of the main responsibilities of higher education (HE) institutions is to prepare their future graduates for a successful transition into the global workplace in an uncertain world. Recent negative events initiated by unethical behavior and unsustainable practices toward people and the environment have confirmed the importance of addressing these issues in HE curriculum. This study examines how first semester students just starting their studies at an international hospitality management school in Switzerland perceive ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and sustainability with regard to their academic program and future professional career. Previous literature has examined the opportunities and challenges for HE institutions when implementing ethics, CSR, and sustainability (ECSRS) topics into their curriculum. This quantitative study is based on 300 first year student responses to questions about the perceived importance of ECSRS in the academic program and for their future careers. The students derive from over 100 different nationalities and choose to study in either English or French. The study also examines their perceived level of knowledge regarding these topics and where this knowledge derived. The findings show that students’ prior knowledge about ECSRS predominately emanates from their previous schooling, followed by the media, through television or websites. They rated their existing knowledge of ethics and sustainability as much higher than their knowledge of CSR. Overall, the findings have shown encouraging results as the vast majority of the first semester students in this study rate the importance of ECSRS as extremely important for both the academic program and their future professional careers. From the students’ perspective, there is a clear need and expectation that courses on ECSRS will be taught at some point throughout their academic program to better prepare them for the global workplace and the future of the planet. These results can be used to spark discussion in HE institutions as how to best implement ECSRS in their programs.

Keywords:

Ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, higher education, hospitality management.