Service-Learning (SL) is a teaching innovation method that combines learning and social service objectives to improve educational quality and graduate employability. To date, there are hardly any studies on its global impact on university students. This paper describes and evaluates an SL experience for Sustainability Entrepreneurship in the context of Spanish Higher Education. Based on knowledge acquired in classrooms, multi-disciplinary teams of students from different subjects related to Business Administration offered support to potential entrepreneurs from rural municipalities in the complex task of writing a successful Business Plan for their projects for local sustainability. Within this academic framework, our study has two goals: (1) to assess the self-perception of university students about the improvement in their curricular development, professional skills and civic-social responsibility after participating in the SL experience; and (2) to estimate its possible effect on academic performance. The results show that the students acknowledged they had improved their social and sustainability commitment and their curricular development, and had acquired skills that society increasingly demands from future business professionals. Furthermore, service-students achieved significantly higher academic performance than a control group of non-participating students. These findings highlight the effectiveness of SL to provide a more holistic education for business university students.

ResumenA diferencia del resto de entidades del sistema financiero español, las Cajas de Ahorros desarrollan una función social, además de la financiera. Dada esta peculiaridad, este trabajo pretende profundizar en la relación entre la responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC) y el resultado financiero en este sector, donde apenas ha sido tratada hasta la actualidad. En concreto, tratando de superar algunas limitaciones importantes de la evidencia empírica previa, su principal objetivo es analizar la doble dirección de la causalidad entre ambas variables, dado que la realización de actividades sociales puede tanto influir en los resultados alcanzados, como ser influida por estos. Utilizando el gasto en obra social como medida de la RSC, es decir, actividades sociales que siempre conllevan un coste para las cajas, y la rentabilidad económica y financiera como indicadores del resultado empresarial, los hallazgos encontrados tras realizar distintas estimaciones con un panel de datos (1996-2006) sugieren la existencia de una relación interactiva negativa. Por tanto, nuestros resultados avalan la hipótesis de sinergia negativa entre el gasto en obra social y rentabilidad en el sector de las Cajas de Ahorros.AbstractIn contrast with other financial institutions in Spain, Saving Banks play a social function as well as a financial function. Considering this fact, and the limited evidence up to date, our paper aims to make an in-depth study of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-financial performance relationship in this sector. More specifically, the main goal is to analyze such a relationship in both directions, trying to overcome the major limitations of previous studies. After employing different panel data methods (1996-2006), results showed a negative interactive relationship between CSR, measured as «obra social» — a CSR practice that incurs a cost for the Saving Banks — and financial performance, measured as ROA (return on assets) and ROE (return on equity). Consequently, results support the negative synergy hypothesis in Spanish Saving Banks

The purpose of this article is to study the relevance of ownership and top management characteristics in the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Specifically, it is proposed that ownership structure characterised by the presence of large shareholders is related to CSR activities and that this relationship may be mediated by the CEO management profile in accordance with the Agency–Stewardship approach. The results of mediation analysis on a sample of 101 non-listed companies in Spain show that those with a higher ownership concentration tend to be run by managers whose profile is closer to the steward than the agent model and to be more involved in CSR activities. Our findings also support the existence of the suggested mediating effect. This article goes further than existing research on owners and top managers as determinants of CSR and unveils new ways to address this topic empirically.