Relationships between religion, spirituality, and socially responsible engineering

ABSTRACT

This research explored the social responsibility (SR) attitudes of engineering students with respect to their self-reported religious beliefs and the religious affiliation of their institution. The study measured SR attitudes using 50 items on a 7-point Likert metric. Over 1900 responses were received in spring 2014 from undergraduate engineering students attending 5 Christian-affiliated and 12 secular universities. On average, students attending Christian-affiliated institutions had more positive SR attitudes than students attending secular institutions. However, an individual's religious beliefs were more important than the institution in predicting SR attitudes. Students who stated that they were very active in an organized religion had more positive attitudes toward SR than students who self-characterized as spiritual, who were in turn more positive than students less active in their religious preference, indifferent, or atheist. College courses were reported to have impacted views of SR by 42–74% of the students attending various institutions; among these students, 32% of the students attending Christian-affiliated institutions indicated that religion-related courses had an impact. The results indicate a need to further explore how religious beliefs impact SR beliefs, toward the goal of more effectively encouraging all engineering students – religious or not – to recognize the importance of socially responsible engineering.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• spirituality
• social responsibility

Acknowledgments

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹Zandvoort “Editors' Overview”, 2013, p. 1414.

²ABET, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs; 2013; ASCE, Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge, 2008; Herkert, Social, Ethical, and Policy Implications of Engineering, 1999; NAE, Educating the Engineer of 2020, 2005.

³Munoz and Mitcham, “Chapter 3 – Humanitarian Engineering,” 2012; Roeser, “Emotional Engineers,” 2012.

⁴Bierhoff and Rohmann, “Altruistic Personality,” 2004; Riley, Engineering and Social Justice, 2008; Segal, “Social Empathy,” 2011; Steele et al., “The Role of Altruistic Behavior,” 2008.

⁵Bielefeldt and Canney, “Impacts of Service-Learning,” 2014; Canney and Bielefeldt, “Differences in Engineering Students’ Views,” 2015; Canney and Bielefeldt, “Gender Differences in the Social Responsibility Attitudes of Engineering Students,” 2015.

⁶Perkins, “Student Religiosity and Social Justice Concerns,” 1992; Todd, “Religious Participation and Social Justice,” 2010.

⁷Angelidis and Ibrahim, “An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Degree of Religiousness,” 2004; Brammer et al., “Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility,” 2007; Ramasamy et al., “Consumer Support for Corporate Social Responsibility,” 2010.

⁸Conroy and Emerson, “Business Ethics and Religion,” 2004; Parboteeah et al., “Ethics and Religion,” 2008; Solihu and Ambali, “Dissolving the Engineering Moral Dilemmas,” 2011.

⁹Mencken and Fitz, “Image of God and Community Volunteering,” 2013; Ozorak, “Love of God and Neighbor,” 2003; Paston et al., “Volunteering and the Dimensions of Religiosity,” 2014.

¹⁰Bradley, “The Interconnection Between Religious Fundamentalism,” 2009; Duriez, “Are Religious People Nicer People?” 2004; Francis et al., “Religious Diversity, Empathy, and God Images,” 2012; Huber and MacDonald, “An Investigation of the Relations,” 2012; Khan et al., “Muslim Attitudes Toward Religion,” 2005; Markstrom et al., “Caring and Helping in Adolescence,” 2010.

¹¹Davidson and Garcia, “Welcoming the Stranger,” 2014, p. 3.

¹²Angelidis and Ibrahim, “An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Degree of Religiousness,” 2004.

¹³Partoteeah et al., “Ethics and Religion,” 2008.

¹⁴Chen and Tang, “The Bright and Dark Sides of Religiosity,” 2013.

¹⁵Hunsberger, “Religion and Prejudice,” 1995; Kossowska and Sekerdej, “Searching for Certainty,” 2015.

¹⁶Canney and Bielefeldt, “Examining the Correlation between Religion and Social Responsibility,” 2013.

¹⁷Kosmin and Keysar, “Religious, Spiritual and Secular,” 2013.

¹⁸Rockenbach et al., Engaging Worldview, 2014.

¹⁹Berry et al., “Measuring Religiosity/Spirituality in Diverse Religious Groups,” 2011; Huber, “Religious Belief, Religious Participation, and Social Policy Attitudes,” 2005; McAndrew and Voas, “Measuring Religiosity Using Surveys,” 2011.

²⁰Chen and Tang, “The Bright and Dark Sides of Religiosity,” 2013; Nasel and Haynes, “Spiritual and Religious Dimensions Scale,” 2005; Tiliopoulos et al., “The Means and Ends of Religiosity,” 2007.

²¹Lindholm et al., “The Spiritual Questing,” 2006.

²²Lindholm et al., “The Spiritual Questing,” 2006, p. 509.

²³Meijknecht and Van Drongelen, “How is the Spirituality of Engineering Taught or Conveyed?” 2004.

²⁴Hess, “Global Portrayals of Engineering Ethics Education,” 2013.

²⁵Engineers Dedicated to a Better Tomorrow, The Online Guide to Engineering Schools, 2012.

²⁶Rawlinson, Religious Reality, 2010.

²⁷Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2000.

²⁸Brammer et al., “Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility,” 2007; Lin, Religion & Corporate Social Responsibility, 2013.

²⁹Schaffer, “Service-Learning in Christian Higher Education,” 2004.

³⁰Comegys, “The Impact of Religiously Affiliated Universities and Courses in Ethics,” 2010; Gonyea and Kuh, “Independent Colleges and Student Engagement,” 2006.

³¹Canney and Bielefeldt, “A Framework for the Development of Social Responsibility in Engineers,” 2015.

³²Schwartz, “Normative Influences on Altruism,” 1977; Schwartz and Howard, “Helping and Cooperation,” 1982; Shiarella et al., “Development and Construct Validity of Scores,” 2000.

³³Graham and Haidt, “Beyond Beliefs,” 2010; Habito and Inaba, The Practice of Altruism, 2006; Saroglou, “Religion, Spirituality, and Altruism,” 2013.

³⁴Ramsey, “A Curricular Framework,” 1989; Ramsey, “The Science Education Reform Movement,” 1993.

³⁵Delve et al., “Promoting Values Development through Community Service,” 1990.

³⁶Carnegie, Carnegie Classifications Data File, 2014.

³⁷Association of Jesuit College & Universities, Jesuit Higher Education, 2014.

³⁸Zandvoort et al., “Editors’ Overview,” 2013, p. 1416.

³⁹Canney and Bielefeldt, “Validity and Reliability Evidence for the Engineering Professional Responsibility Assessment Tool,” in press.

⁴⁰Canney and Bielefeldt, “A Framework for the Development of Social Responsibility in Engineers,” 2015.

⁴¹Canney and Bielefeldt, “Validity and Reliability Evidence for the Engineering Professional Responsibility Assessment Tool,” in press.

⁴²Lugo, The Decline of Institutional Religion, 2013.

⁴³Nasel and Haynes, “Spiritual and Religious Dimensions Scale,” 2005; Tiliopoulos et al., “The Means and Ends of Religiosity,” 2007.

⁴⁴Sax et al., “Assessing Response Rates and Nonresponse Bias,” 2006.

⁴⁵Creative Research Systems, Sample Size Calculator, 2012.

⁴⁶Bielefeldt and Canney, “Humanitarian Aspirations of Engineering Students,” 2015.

⁴⁷Dalecki et al., “Sample Non-Response Bias and Aggregate Benefits in Contingent Valuation,” 1993; Sax et al., “Assessing Response Rates and Nonresponse Bias,” 2006.

⁴⁸Creswell, Educational Research, 2005.

⁴⁹Kallenberg, “Engineering as a Christian Vocation,” 2011.

⁵⁰VanAntwerp et al., “Examining Calling as a Motivator in Career Decisions,” 2011.

⁵¹Ammerman, “Spiritual but Not Religious?” 2013; Zinnbauer et al., “Religion and Spirituality,” 1997.

⁵²Eagan et al., The American Freshman, 2013.

⁵³Canney and Bielefeldt, “Differences in Engineering Students’ Views,” 2015; Canney and Bielefeldt, “Gender Differences in the Social Responsibility Attitudes of Engineering Students,” 2015.

⁵⁴Canney and Bielefeldt, “Examining the Correlation between Religion and Social Responsibility,” 2013; Canney, Assessing Engineering Students’ Understanding of Personal and Professional Social Responsibility, 2013.

⁵⁵Ro et al., “Between-college Effects,” 2013.

⁵⁶Rawlinson, Religious Reality, 2010; Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2000.

⁵⁷Eagan et al., The American Freshman, 2013.

⁵⁸Brammer et al., “Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility,” 2007; Lin, Religion & Corporate Social Responsibility, 2013.

⁵⁹Lugo, The Decline of Institutional Religion, 2013.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number 1158863].