Elite MBA graduates recognise the growing importance of social responsibility to a company's reputation yet green business policy was the lowest rated factor influencing them when choosing a job, according to a new report from PR consultancy Hill and Knowlton.

Released yesterday, the Corporate Reputation Watch 2008 report found 58 per cent of elite MBA students chosen from the world's top business schools rated social responsibility as extremely or very important in determining a company's reputation – although management and financial performance were rated much higher.

However, the report argued that "while social responsibility is not a dominant factor, it is nonetheless important to a large section of the talent pool" and advised firms to consider the impact environmental performance can have on recruitment.

The report found European students are most concerned about businesses reducing their carbon footprint. They are also twice as likely to reject a job offer from a company with poor environmental credentials as students in America and Asia.

While 95 per cent of MBAs ranked career opportunities as very or extremely important to choosing a job, only a third viewed a company's green policy in the same way.

"MBAs are very concerned about ethics but the environment will never be the single most important factor in differentiating a company from its competitors, " said a Hill and Knowlton spokesman.