The perceptions of community college faculty, students, and businesspersons of the social responsibility of business

The problem of this study was to determine similarities and differences among the perceptions of faculty, students, and businesspersons of the social responsibility of business.

After a review of literature on social responsibility in business, the researcher developed a questionnaire which consisted of 37 statements reflecting attitudes toward seven issues on business social responsibility. The questionnaire was divided into four major sections: (1) Respondent Identification, (2) Issues Priority Selection, (3) Opinionative Response, and (4) Issues Ranking. After the questionnaire was pilot tested, it was administered to 567 students and 26 faculty in introduction to business and economics courses in seven community colleges in Middle and East Tennessee and a sample of 60 businesspersons selected from Chamber of Commerce members near the seven institutions. The completed questionnaires were analyzed using the Chi-Square statistic and Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance.

The Issues Priority Selection section showed overall differences among respondent group perceptions of the social responsibility issue of greatest concern at the community and national levels.

The Opinionative Response section showed overall differences in respondent group perceptions of the role of business and government in dealing with the seven social responsibility issues. Significant differences were not found among perceptions of the shared costs to consumers and business of dealing with Environmental Pollution and Occupational Safety.

The Issues Ranking section found differences in perceptions of the urgency of community and national action in dealing with the issues. Significant relationships were found within respondent group rankings; however, differences were found among respondent group rankings of the issues.