Sustainable development of social responsibility in universities in the digital era: Perceptions and advances

Abstract

The strategy of transforming universities into producers of new knowledge for technological enhancement through digital technologies, aimed at improving the quality of life and ensuring social responsibility and sustainability by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, underscores the relevance of our research. This research aims to investigate the evolution of students’ social responsibility within university settings amidst the backdrop of educational digitalization. The research methodology was based on a model of social responsibility as an integrative personal quality. The study revealed the insufficiency of the formation of the motivational factor of social responsibility among undergraduate students and the prevalence of instrumental motivation among a significant number of master's students. The null hypothesis was refuted and a pronounced positive dynamics of students’ social responsibility in the learning process was demonstrated. The need to orient the higher education system toward the development of students’ moral aspirations for conscious regulation of their educational and future professional activities was substantiated. The results of the study can be used to solve theoretical, methodological and practical problems of sociology. Future research aims to explore the driving components of students’ social responsibility motivation, to study comparative attitudes towards social responsibility between students and teachers, and to study the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the context of universities’ corporate social responsibility. This expansion will include diversifying the respondent pool to cover other educational institutions, as well as expanding the sample to different cultural contexts.