Measuring student attitudes towards social business

Abstract

There is a focus on awareness and general perceptions held by Australian university students regarding social business and social entrepreneurship. The research objectives address awareness levels, what attracts young Australians to social business, and what motivates students to think about how social business can alleviate social problems. It was found that there is an agreed definition of social business. Ethical issues arise when using new business models that affect others in society. The methods used in this study incorporated exploratory and descriptive research to gain a snapshot of information for use by our clients. Conclusions drawn from this report are that sampling error occurred, as can be seen in age and discipline data distribution. Additionally, most statistically significant relationships were found to be very weak, and therefore not appropriate measures for decision making without further research. The high rate of neutral responses might be due to non-sampling error, such as poor survey comprehension. There is an implication of education in social business playing a large role in motivation and attraction to social entrepreneurship. It is recommended that promotional activities be undertaken to build awareness, as well as more educational opportunities provided to better understanding of social business, and attract more social entrepreneurs.