Corporate Social Responsibility and Pro-Environmental Behavior of the Individuals from the Perspective of Protection Motivation Theory

Ghulam Jilani, Guangqin Yang and Irfan Siddique
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Ghulam Jilani: School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China
Guangqin Yang: School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China
Irfan Siddique: Faculty of Management Studies, University of Central Punjab, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-20

Abstract: Several research studies have investigated the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and pro-environmental behavior of individuals in the industrial context (considering the employees as individuals) while ignoring the non-industrial context. Climate change and related issues associated with the interaction of humans with the environment are of great importance in today’s context, hence, it is equally important to test such a relationship in a non-industrial context. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the relationship between CSR and pro-environmental behavior of students (SPEB) in the higher education sector of Pakistan. Given that university students are more inclined to act pro-environmentally, as they partake in different climate change activities and are part of the debate on the global environmental crisis, considering this sector to promote SPEB is of the utmost importance. The current study also proposes emotional affinity towards students (EATN) as a mediator between the proposed relationship. The current study data were collected from university students ( n = 656) studying in different universities of Pakistan. The results were validated by employing the structural equation modeling technique (SEM). The results confirmed that there exists a positive association between CSR perception of a university and SPEB, and EATN partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the current study will be helpful to the higher education policymakers in Pakistan to mitigate the country’s environmental footprint by promoting the sustainable behavior of students as an outcome of CSR. Moreover, these findings will also be helpful to the academia for policymaking pertinent to educational governance.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; pro-environmental behavior; sustainability; higher education; emotional affinity; stakeholders; educational governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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