Business Ethics: A Eur Rev. 2020;00:1–11. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/beer | 1 © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1 | INTRODUCTION In this study, we identify some factors responsible for students’ perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a developing country setting. We test whether gender, academic status (level of study), and taking business ethics courses influences these percep- tions. Students in less developed countries (LDCs) often are not familiar with the concept of CSR despite its potential to shape and sharpen their disposition to fairness and social justice, especially in the workplace, either as employees or managers of businesses (Amaeshi, Adi, Ogbechie, & Amao, 2006; Kolodinsky, Madden, Zisk, & Henkel, 2010). However, studies show that CSR enables businesses to function maximally, stimulates favorable policies for businesses to thrive, and fulfills the duty businesses have to society with respect to social good (Kilcullen & Kooistra, 1999; Kolodinsky et al., 2010; Rupp, Wright, Aryee, & Luo, 2015). Conversely, favor- able policies will tend to stimulate businesses to give back to the society via CSR. The ease of doing business is arguably the most significant difference between developing and developed countries. Policies, processes, and procedures for starting and running businesses are by far more efficient, secure, and supportive of entrepreneurs in the latter than in the former. As students in Africa observe and thereby experience the complexity and challenges facing busi- ness effectiveness and performance in developing countries, they are unlikely to be CSR-sensitive. Many students in sub-Saharan African settings such as Nigeria seek education primarily to eman- cipate from poverty, that is, to lead a more prosperous life and secure a more sustainable future. Thus, they seek gainful em- ployment after leaving school, further implicating the possibility that their primary motivation is survival. Job-seeking graduates in Nigeria are first likely to seek secure jobs in the civil services or in high-paying private sectors or with multinational companies, for example, Shell, Chevron, MTN, Coca Cola, and others. The CSR disposition of these graduate employees will, therefore, depend on the CSR behavior of their employers. Conversely, students Received: 30 August 2018 | Revised: 2 June 2020 | Accepted: 9 June 2020 DOI: 10.1111/beer.12306 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Students' perception of corporate social responsibility: Analyzing the influence of gender, academic status, and exposure to business ethics education Felix Okechukwu Ugwuozor Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Correspondence Felix Okechukwu Ugwuozor, Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka PMB 41001, Nigeria. Email: Fugwuozo@yahoo.com Abstract Studies on students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been growing in western scholarship. For students in African countries, such as Nigeria, there is little that is known about how and whether gender, level of study, and being enrolled in business education courses impact their perception of and disposition towards CSR. This study explores the significance of gender, academic status or level of study, and exposure to business ethics education (BEE) on Nigerian students' per- ception of CSR as a veritable business ethic. Specifically, the effects of these factors on students' perception of CSR are examined using analysis of variance. The results show a significant effect of exposure to BEE and gender on CSR-sensitivity, and a mild, but significant effect of academic status. This implies that male students and female students had different perspectives on CSR issues. Students who took ethics courses and those who did not would run businesses differently. However, age and experience on campus did not influence students' perception or position on CSR. The study recommends that more behavioral models be estimated with the inclusion of more demographic and socioeconomic variables to elicit more robust results.