Sustainability Attitudes of College Students as Future Business Leaders

Abstract

Limited time and finite resources are motivating firms to make significant changes in policy and business practices to maintain profits, sustain the environment, and further a companies’ strategic goals. Managers now value sustainability information and do not discard sustainability activities as being a burden for a firm's financial viability. This is a step in the right direction, but the current CEOs and leaders of today’s business world will only drive businesses for so long and will eventually hand to reins to a new generation of business leaders. The future of business lies with college students, the soon-to-be future employees in the business world. Sustainability has become an almost ubiquitous term at colleges and universities across the United States and world. Professors and managers can stress the importance of sustainable business practices to their students and employees respectively, but are they listening and comprehending? Several recent studies on business education indicate that including sustainability as a topic in the curriculum of universities and business schools is becoming a trend. Introducing a select few students is just the first step though. To witness real change, sustainability must become a focus across all curriculums. This is just the first piece to our two-pronged question. Whether students are conceptualizing sustainability remains to be seen. During the Spring, 2018 semester, an electronic survey will be distributed to undergrads in classrooms through Qualtrics Solutions. Survey participants undergrad students currently studying supply chain management at East Carolina University. These are students who have been introduced to the concept of sustainability. We will be testing to see what their attitudes and behaviors towards the concept are, and if there is any effect on their employment choices later in life.