Formation of the social responsibility profile of university students - a case study of Slovakia

Abstract The problems of society, summarised in the Sustainable Development Goals, cannot be addressed by national governments alone. Many of them are closely linked to social responsibility at all levels. Given the importance of social responsibility for development, it is important to understand the mindset, attitude and personal behaviour of young. As future job seekers, students can play an important role in promoting social responsibility and sustainable practices in society, the community or the work. Given the constantly changing demands of the labour market, our research question arose: how do students and human resources professionals perceive individual social responsibility as part of the competencies important for employment in the labour market? The research study focuses exclusively on conditions in Slovakia with the aim of identifying the current state of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of young people towards social responsibility and proposing recommendations for decision-makers, practical application, and further research in the field of social responsibility. In relation to the research problem and question, we opted for a mixed research strategy. Based on the interdisciplinarity of the phenomenon, we applied a triangulation of methods, theory and approaches. Our research is based on an emic perspective, so we decided for questionnaire survey, focus group and expert interview. Based on the results, the students have basic knowledge about social responsibility, they apply their skills as well as have the right attitude towards solving challenges. However, according to human resources experts, young people entering the job market do not have the necessary knowledge in the area of social responsibility and do not classify it as a standard. In their opinion, the competence to act in a socially responsible manner can be classified as a competence, but only in combination with other important competences. Given the specifics of the Slovak labour market and the shortage of skilled labour, the social responsibility of job seekers will not be decisive for their recruitment. It is expected that its importance will increase in the future and that for some positions it will be an important part of the competency model. The topic of social responsibility should be a natural part of everyone and the state education system and should be seen in a comprehensive way in relation to agile approach and civic engagement.