Personal values and attitudes towards societal and environmental accountability: a study of MBA students

Efforts to promote corporate societal and environmental accountability (SEA) should be informed by an understanding of stakeholders' attitudes toward enhanced accountability standards. However, little is known regarding current attitudes on this subject or the determinants of these attitudes. To address this issue, this study examines the relationship between personal values and support for social and environmental accountability for a sample of Indian MBA students. Selected contemporary social and environmental issues were used to assess the students' support for social and environmental accountability. Principal component analysis was used to explore the underlying dimensions or factors that shape social and environmental beliefs and attitudes. Multiple regression models were run for each of the SEA dimensions to test the hypotheses and the relationship between the values and support for SEA. Exploratory factor analysis of the items revealed two distinct factors: (1) endorsement of the general proposition that corporations and executives should be held accountable for the social and environmental impacts of their actions and (2) agreement that the government should adopt and enforce formal SEA standards. The results indicate that the security and universalism value type is positively associated with general support for SEA but not with support for government enforcement of accountability standards. The study found that the benevolence value type is negatively associated with general support for SEA. Gender also has a significant impact on support for government enforcement of SEA standards.