University of Economics, Katowice
International Business
Corporate social responsibility is a relatively new concept in the marketing sector. Until now it referred mainly to politics and economics, because it was the economic situation of many countries that gave rise not so much to the concept... more
Corporate social responsibility is a relatively new concept in the marketing sector. Until now it referred mainly to politics and economics, because it was the economic situation of many countries that gave rise not so much to the concept as to the new business model of both state-owned enterprises, and later – private ones. Corporate social responsibility concerns mostly big companies, but elements of it can be also found in activities carried out by small organizations, also by students’ organizations. University student and doctoral organizations, such as scientific associations, artistic and sports teams, are organizations of students and doctoral students on a voluntary basis. They bring together people who want to develop individual interests, acquire skills and expand knowledge in various fields of science. A frequent form of participation are training, symposia and scientific conferences, at local, regional and national levels. Members of these organizations deepen their knowledge, conducting various scientific research, in which publications are published, as well as organized training and scientific workshops. In addition, charity campaigns, sporting events, tourist and recreational trips as well as numerous cultural events are held as part of the students’ organization.
The author of this thesis was interested in students’ organizations, if they are socially responsible and if yes – how. The inducement of writing a dissertation about social responsibility in students’ organizations was the need of self-cultivation and broadening the topic on which not much has been written so far. The opportunity of spending half a year studying abroad gave the author the possibility of getting to know three organizations, which were found interesting and worth analyzing in terms of their structure, work, and social responsibility. These organizations are KMŠ – Klub Mariborskih Študentov, NZS – Niezależne Zrzeszenie Studentów and ESN – Erasmus Student Network. They work on local, national, and international level respectively.
The main aim of this paper was to analyze these three students’ organizations
in terms of their aims, missions, work and to check if they are perceived to be socially responsible by international students. The research questions were as follows:
1. Are the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN known by students?
2. Are the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN perceived as socially responsible?
3. How are the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN socially responsible?
4. What can the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN do to become more socially responsible?
To find the answers to these questions, three different groups of at least 100 respondents were asked to fulfill the questionnaire. The hypothesis stated was that these three organizations are perceived to be socially responsible by international students. To check whether it is true, the quantitative research was conducted.
The theoretical part of the thesis was written with the use of Polish and English literature concerning CSR and concepts related to it. All the necessary information was found in many different sources of information, namely in scientific articles, scientific journals, books on CSR, business related websites and reports such as the ones presented by European Commission in Brussels. To gather more information about students’ organizations, the members of each organization were asked to take part in a brief interview to describe the given organization from their point of view.
In the first chapter, all the necessary definitions are presented to give some background knowledge to the reader. The terms such as corporate social responsibility, social responsibility, non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, social enterprises and other concepts related to the topic of CSR are explained there. The second chapter presents the three students’ organizations regarding their structure, functions and social responsibility.
The third chapter contains the description of the study, research questions, all the needed information concerning how the research was made and the data obtained and analyzed results in the form of separate analysis of each students’ organization and collective comparison at the end of the chapter. The whole thesis is summarized with the concluding remarks which were found during the analysis.
The author of this thesis was interested in students’ organizations, if they are socially responsible and if yes – how. The inducement of writing a dissertation about social responsibility in students’ organizations was the need of self-cultivation and broadening the topic on which not much has been written so far. The opportunity of spending half a year studying abroad gave the author the possibility of getting to know three organizations, which were found interesting and worth analyzing in terms of their structure, work, and social responsibility. These organizations are KMŠ – Klub Mariborskih Študentov, NZS – Niezależne Zrzeszenie Studentów and ESN – Erasmus Student Network. They work on local, national, and international level respectively.
The main aim of this paper was to analyze these three students’ organizations
in terms of their aims, missions, work and to check if they are perceived to be socially responsible by international students. The research questions were as follows:
1. Are the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN known by students?
2. Are the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN perceived as socially responsible?
3. How are the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN socially responsible?
4. What can the organizations of KMŠ, NZS, and ESN do to become more socially responsible?
To find the answers to these questions, three different groups of at least 100 respondents were asked to fulfill the questionnaire. The hypothesis stated was that these three organizations are perceived to be socially responsible by international students. To check whether it is true, the quantitative research was conducted.
The theoretical part of the thesis was written with the use of Polish and English literature concerning CSR and concepts related to it. All the necessary information was found in many different sources of information, namely in scientific articles, scientific journals, books on CSR, business related websites and reports such as the ones presented by European Commission in Brussels. To gather more information about students’ organizations, the members of each organization were asked to take part in a brief interview to describe the given organization from their point of view.
In the first chapter, all the necessary definitions are presented to give some background knowledge to the reader. The terms such as corporate social responsibility, social responsibility, non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, social enterprises and other concepts related to the topic of CSR are explained there. The second chapter presents the three students’ organizations regarding their structure, functions and social responsibility.
The third chapter contains the description of the study, research questions, all the needed information concerning how the research was made and the data obtained and analyzed results in the form of separate analysis of each students’ organization and collective comparison at the end of the chapter. The whole thesis is summarized with the concluding remarks which were found during the analysis.