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Community development through university social responsibility: precursors and outcomes

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Abstract

Since the funding of higher education has shifted from public to private modes, universities have adopted business models to finance their operations. On the one hand, social responsibility initiatives help universities attract and retain students. On the other hand, it plays a significant role in the development of society as a whole by enhancing institutional capacity and character building of students. Using social influence theory, we examined the mediating effect of university social responsibility in the relationship between precursors and outcomes using a multi-wave data from 359 university students. The results demonstrate that university social responsibility mediates between precursors (education on environmental values, education on social values, and internal management) and outcomes (student engagement and social behavior). This study contributes to the literature by providing an underlying mechanism suggesting that environmental values, educational social values, and internal management as precursors that produce positive effects on students’ outcomes (engagement and social behavior).

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Notes

  1. https://cuiwah.edu.pk/home/outreach Retrieved on January 17, 2023.

  2. https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/universities/QA/Documents/H.pdf Retrieved on January 17, 2023.

  3. https://cuiwah.edu.pk/home/outreach Retrieved on January 17, 2023.

  4. https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/universities/QA/Documents/H.pdf Retrieved on January 17, 2023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Sahiwal Campus, Pakistan

    Muhammad Asrar-ul-Haq & Zainab Raza

  2. Sunwah International Business School, Faculty of Economics, Liaoning University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China

    Muhammad Waheed Akhtar

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  1. Muhammad Asrar-ul-Haq
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  2. Zainab Raza
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Correspondence to Muhammad Waheed Akhtar.

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This paper is part of student’s MS thesis. The COMSATS University Islamabad has a proper mechanism to check and approve all research proposals of MS at University level. It has two steps. At the first step, the proposal reviewed and recommended by a committee of five members (called Research Supervisory Committee). At the second step, proposal recommended by the research supervisory committee, is sent to the another committee headed by the Dean. After approval of this committee, the research project “University Social Responsibility as Antecedent of Students’ Social Behavior and Engagement” is carried out. Further, the human participation in the study was voluntarily. The purpose and confidentiality of the study was well explained in the cover letter and they were allowed to leave their participation at any stage.

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Asrar-ul-Haq, M., Raza, Z. & Akhtar, M.W. Community development through university social responsibility: precursors and outcomes. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-023-09850-4

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