Answering the stated propositions (see Table 5.2, Table 5.3) one can draw an overall picture of the different patterns of students’ legitimacy within English and German universities. Opposite to the expectations one can say that English and German universities reveal a similar degree of students’ legitimacy. However, this students’ legitimacy appears to be motivated by different cultural dimensions differently, therefore leading to different patterns of students’ legitimacy.
While English universities reveal more positive behaviours related to the dimensions of institutional collectivism and gender egalitarianism, German universities do better in terms of
5
Note: While the interviewer clearly asked for CSR activities, many respondents used the word sustainability
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uncertainty avoidance and human orientation (see Table 5.3). These conclusions are based on the different institutional behaviours which reflect the cultural dimensions – ethical rule following, sensitivity towards students’ well-being, consideration of students in the decision making process and gender equality and awareness of female students’ needs.
Table 5.2: Propositions on Students’ Legitimacy Answered
Proposition Confirmed Not Confirmed
1a The higher the uncertainty avoidance of the culture a university is settled in, the higher the degree of students’ legitimacy, because it leads to stricter ethical rule following.
X
1b The high degree of uncertainty avoidance of both Germany and England is expected to lead to a high degree of students’ legitimacy within universities.
X
1c With Germany scoring significantly higher on uncertainty avoidance than England, one can expect that German universities reveal an even higher degree of students’ legitimacy than English universities.
X
2a The higher the human orientation of the culture a university is settled in, the higher the degree of students’ legitimacy, because it increases the sensitivity towards students’ well- being.
X
2b The intermediate degree of human orientation of both Germany and England is expected to lead to an intermediate degree of students’ legitimacy within universities.
X
2c With England scoring significantly higher on human orientation than Germany, one can expect that English universities reveal a
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higher degree of students’ legitimacy than German universities.
3a The higher the institutional collectivism of the culture a university is settled in, the higher the degree of students’ legitimacy, because it fosters the consideration of stakeholders in the decision making process.
X
3b The intermediate degree of institutional collectivism of Germany is expected to lead to an intermediate degree of students’ legitimacy within German universities.
X
3c The high degree of institutional collectivism of England is expected to lead to a high degree of students’ legitimacy within English universities.
X
3d With England scoring significantly higher on institutional collectivism than Germany, one can expect that English universities reveal a higher degree of students’ legitimacy than German universities.
X
4a The higher the gender egalitarianism of the culture a university is settled in, the higher the degree of students’ legitimacy, because it positively influences gender equality and the awareness of female students’ needs.
X
4b The intermediate degree of gender egalitarianism of England is expected to lead to an intermediate degree of students’ legitimacy within English universities.
X
4c The low degree of gender egalitarianism of Germany is expected to lead to a low degree of students’ legitimacy within German universities.
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4d With England scoring significantly higher on gender egalitarianism than Germany, one can expect that English universities’ reveal a higher degree of students’ legitimacy than German universities.
X
Table 5.3: The Observed Influence of the Cultural Dimensions on Students’ Legitimacy
Dimension/Degree of Students’ Legitimacy
Low Intermediate High
Uncertainty Avoidance England Germany
Human Orientation England Germany
Institutional Collectivism Germany England
Gender Egalitarianism Germany England
Figure 5.1: The Observed Influence of the Cultural Dimensions on Students’ Legitimacy for England
Influence Positive Intermediate Negative E N G L A N D
English universities’ students’ legitimacy (see Figure 5.1) is negatively influenced by a lack of ethical Uncertainty Avoidance Human Orientation Institutional Collectivism Gender Egalitarianism Students‘ Legitimacy
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rule following (uncertainty avoidance) and a lack of sensitivity towards students’ well-being (human orientation). A great positive impact on English universities’ students’ legitimacy can be observed via their consideration of students’ in their decision making processes (institutional collectivism).
Figure 5.2: The Observed Influence of the Cultural Dimensions on Students’ Legitimacy for Germany
Influence Positive Intermediate Negative G E R M A N Y
Furthermore, German universities’ students’ legitimacy (see Figure 5.2) is negatively influenced by a lack of gender equality and awareness of female students’ needs (gender egalitarianism) and positively influence by a great sensitivity towards students’ well-being (human orientation).
Although not every aspect of students’ legitimacy is directly related to the universities’ implementation of CSR, there are many impacts that determine these institutional behaviours. Therefore, focusing more specifically on the way in which these differences in students’ legitimacy influence the implementation of CSR to sum up one can say that English and German universities have different strengths and weaknesses in the way they implement CSR in their operations. English universities involve students in the process of CSR implementation via their formal governance structure giving students a greater say in and influence on the universities’ CSR. In addition, they see the ethical education and transfer of norms and values towards their students as one of their main responsibilities. This emphasises that these English institutions incorporate socially responsible
Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty Avoidance Human Orientation Institutional Collectivism Gender Egalitarianism Students‘ Legitimacy
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behaviour into their core task of teaching. Moreover, perceiving gender issues in general to be part of their CSR English universities show that they have a comprehensive understanding of CSR. However, English universities often fail to incorporate CSR issues via a strategic focus into their organisational structure. Although they enable students’ to participate in the decision making process they fail to support CSR implementation processes via a CSR focus or strategy.
In contrast, German universities more often have a more developed focus or strategy when it comes to CSR. So in general one can say that in comparison the approach of German universities towards the implementation of CSR is more structured than that of English universities in terms of both the formal governance structure and the organisational culture. In addition, German universities, just like English universities, concentrate on the ethical education and transfer of norms and values onto their students. However, about half of the German institutions fail to incorporate students adequately in decision making processes regarding CSR. It is observed that German universities more often perceive the decision making power to be located at the top-level of the organisation, thereby revealing more hierarchical structures. Furthermore, German universities often fail to link gender issues to their CSR agenda making gender issues less relevant and weakening the focus on female students’ needs.
Taking these observations together, one can clearly observe different patterns of students’ legitimacy which result in different patterns of CSR implementation when comparing German and English institutions. This indicates that national culture influences the implementation of CSR within universities via students’ legitimacy as perceived by these universities. Considering these differences one can say that although not all behaviours reflecting students’ legitimacy were relevant in terms of CSR, there are many aspects that stress the impact students’ legitimacy has on the implementation of CSR.
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