PROSOCIALITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. THE CASE OF STUDENTS OF A CONFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY IN CHILE

Prosociality is of greater interest in recent decades due to events that have questioned the socially responsible behavior of decision-makers in various organizations. The objective of this research is to describe statistically significant differences in prosocial attitudes through sociodemographic characteristics among students at a confessional university in Chile. A quantitative, descriptive, and non-experimental cross- sectional study was carried out. A non-probabilistic convenience sample of students of the last three years of studies at a confessional university located in south-central Chile was considered. The short scale of prosocial behavior was used, and a descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and inferential analysis were performed. Prosocial attitudes are composed of three new dimensions, which are grouped according to the variables scale of prosocial behavior: comfort and commitment to others, empathy and detachment, and solidarity and help. Gender and religion stand out as statistically significant variables. Future research should consider a more diverse study group, including both denominational and non-denominational universities. Likewise, it would be convenient to study the stability of prosocial attitudes throughout the life cycles and their relationship with other transcendent variables such as personality and self-efficacy.