Millennials’ Awareness and Approach to Social Responsibility and Investment—Case Study of the Czech Republic

• Main Authors: Sylvie Formánková, Oldřich Trenz, Oldřich Faldík, Jan Kolomazník, Jitka Sládková
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: corporate social responsibility; Millennials; sustainable and responsible investment; students
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/504

We live in a new era with contradictory views on society, industries, and the whole world. Raising consumerism is compensated by raising the responsibility of the new generation, the so-called Millennials. The paper deals with the awareness of Millennials of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and their attitude to sustainable and responsible investment (SRI). The research is focused specifically on students of economically oriented higher education institutions (HEI), studying in the Czech Republic. For the purpose of general awareness of the term CSR, a sample of 1073 HEI students from different institutions was analyzed and evaluated. For the evaluation of their attitude to SRI, 213 respondents from Mendel University in Brno were interviewed. The research brought surprising results—bachelor’s degree students have a better awareness of the term than master’s degree students. This surprising fact can be explained by the fact that CSR courses have been incorporated into studies in recent years. Another important finding from the second research is that 57% of respondents are willing to sacrifice part of their return in the case of an investment in socially responsible instruments. This fact can be used for the design of an investment strategy offered by investment institutions.