Corporate responsibility seen influencing MBA grads

August 12, 2008

Students graduating with master's degrees in business administration at 11 top business schools value corporate responsibility highly when evaluating potential employers, a new survey says.

These graduates are willing to sacrifice an average of 14.4 percent of their expected salaries to work at socially-responsible companies, says the study by David Montgomery of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Catherine Ramus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Attributes the students considered when reviewing companies were ethical business conduct, environmental sustainability and care for the community.

Social responsibility ranked third in importance for graduates, following intellectual challenge, which topped the list, and finances, the study says.  

"This augurs well for the character of the 21^st century MBA," Montgomery says in a statement.

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