A Framework for the Development of Social Responsibility in Engineers

This paper presents the Professional Social Responsibility Development Model, which is a framework to help understand the development of personal and professional social responsibility in engineers. Social responsibility is seen as a foundational disposition that informs how engineers relate to many professional skills valued in engineering including ethics and the impacts of engineering on society. This framework is rooted in the Ethic of Care philosophy, and uses three realms to describe the development of social responsibility: the development of personal social awareness, the development of professional skills and how they relate to social considerations, and the connection between personal and professional views of obligation or responsibility. Qualitative data from interviews with engineering students are used to exemplify development in each realm. This conceptual framework is intended as a blueprint for developing studies and assessment instruments which examine the development or identification of social responsibility in engineers or other professionals. Results from one such tool are presented to exemplify one way in which this framework could be used.