A company's CSR performance is a major factor when selecting a new employer, according to a survey of graduating MBAs in the US, and they are even willing to sacrifice a portion of their salary to work for a firm that shares their outlook.

The survey of 759 graduating MBAs from 11 top business schools across the US was undertaken by David Montgomery of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Catherine Ramus of the University of California Santa Barbara, and found that the intellectual challenge offered by a role was the number one factor in selecting a job, while money and location were tied for second place.

However, a reputation for "ethical conduct and caring policies" were also ranked highly by respondents, who weighted them as having 75 per cent of the importance within the intellectual challenge criteria. Meanwhile, other components of CSR policies, such as environmental performance and community relations, were also cited by respondents as having a significant effect on graduates' job selection decisions.

"I was frankly surprised that ethics and caring about people came up so frequently as they did," said Montgomery. "This augurs well for the character of the 21st century MBA."

The study also found that graduates would be willing to consider lower salaries to work for firms that boast a strong CSR track record.

It revealed that on average, graduates expected to a salary of $103,650 a year from their first job, but over 97 per cent would be willing to sacrifice almost $15,000 a year to work at a company that exhibited a combination of good employee and stakeholder relations, strong environmental performance and ethical business conduct.

The results of similar studies have been openly questioned by critics who claim that respondents only tend to rate CSR as an important factor in response to inquiries from researchers, because they do not want to appear greedy or selfish.

However, Montgomery said that the online survey had been carried out anonymously, limiting the chances of biased responses, and that previous research had suggested that graduates do tend to select roles based on their ideals. He cited previous research that had asked graduates to predict the type of role they would accept, and had then tested their responses against the jobs they ended up with. It found that students had made a correct prediction 68 per cent of the time, suggesting that the majority would follow through on their commitment to look favourably on ethical employers.