Proposing a Conceptual Framework for Assessing the Performance of Universities' Social Responsibility with an Emphasis on Stakeholder Orientation and Sustainability

The universities by accepting social responsibility, implement a modern management system to ensure their sustainability. Promoting this approach requires investment, persistent effort, and addressing strategic aspects. The university's social responsibility flourishes when, in addition to fulfilling its fundamental roles ,i.e. education and research, it voluntarily undertakes actions beyond legal requirements to enhance the public benefits while preserving environmental sustainability. First, this research examines the evolution of the concept of university social responsibility and its current position. Then it presents a conceptual framework based on a stakeholder-oriented approach to assess the university's social responsibility performance (focusing on stakeholder activities dimensions and impact assessment criteria). The relevant stakeholders include students, academic staff, governmental agencies, peer universities, communities, the environment, and university financial supporters. The research method involved a targeted literature review, exploratory interviews, open questionnaires, and data summarization. The key dimensions in assessing university social responsibility activities and impact assessment criteria were determined based on the opinions of 30 experts from the scientific and executive community using the snowball sampling method. The data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached. The obtained information was integrated by removing duplicates and overlaps, as summarized and classified in tables. This framework, as a management tool, provides the basis for developing university social responsibility indicators for ranking universities and aids in the sustainable development of university social responsibility.