Social business: perception, awareness and the degree of interest of the theme for the undergraduate students in Business Administration

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the perception and knowledge that students from the FEA-USP hold on the theme of social business. Social enterprises are businesses that align market logic and social logic, i.e., seek self-sufficiency through the sale of products and services along with creating social value. It was considered important to identify the extent to which Business Administration students have interest in this type of organization. We made a quantitative survey with a sample of 515 Business Administration undergraduate students from the FEA-USP. Among the findings, we highlight: most of the students believe that their knowledge is basic; they have high interest and think it is important; they have never participated in extracurricular activities; they depend on the recommendation of friends and relatives to understand and take part; they don't know the subject in depth, but they make many correct associations between concepts; and they believe that the major difficulties of social enterprises are financial self-sufficiency and attracting investors. The main contribution of this study is on the observation that there is a gap in Business Administration teaching regarding the training of managers for social enterprises.