From campus to community: The role of corporate social responsibility at educational institutions in shaping student environmentally sustainable behaviors

I examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and students’ ecological behavior within the Chinese higher education sector, whilst controlling for the mediating variables of commitment to environmental sustainability at the educational institution and students’ environmental knowledge, as well as the moderating variable of the students’ environmental concern. The data were obtained from 348 students at universities in Xi’an, Chengdu, and Hangzhou. The findings, analyzed through SMART-PLS, point toward a direct relationship between CSR and students’ ecological behavior and mediating effects of environmental sustainability commitment at the institution and students’ environmental knowledge. The findings also support a significant moderation role of students’ environmental concern. Such insights might be used for designing educational approaches toward CSR, focused on establishing positive attitudes toward environmental sustainability and improving the level of environmental knowledge within the interface of academic and practical contexts.