Corporate social responsibility, stakeholder engagement, and universities: New evidence from the Italian scenario

Abstract This paper aims at analyzing the connection among the corporate social responsibility (CSR), stakeholder engagement and universities, proposing the analysis of universities' financial reporting to draft their third mission and social impact. Particularly, our analysis is based on the sensitivity demonstrated by the Italian public universities in terms of transparency on issues of social responsibility with reference to the heritage assets' reporting and disclosure. We used a qualitative methodology, adopting the content analysis to collect data from the financial reporting of all Italian public universities. Our findings show as heritage assets represent the strategic area for the assessment of the third mission and social impact by the Italian universities even if the level of their disclosure seems low. Evidence of our paper is directed to support the academic community, practitioners, and policymakers proposing a new theoretical and practical advance of the CSR and stakeholders engagement' studies.