Hesitant advocates of sustainability
What and how do business schools communicate about sustainability?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2023.07-08.05Keywords:
sustainable business education, sustainability and education, the future of higher education, mixed-methodological textual analysisAbstract
Current and future economic leaders are among the most critical actors in launching and guiding the transition towards a sustainable economy and society; preparing them for this responsibility falls to higher education institutions, especially business schools. In this paper, the authors analyse the external communication of 100 highly ranked business schools to understand how they incorporate the issue of sustainability. Moreover, they also aim to delineate the relationship between their understanding of sustainability and the futures they present. The findings show that in education-related texts, almost half of institutions fail to touch on the issue of sustainability at all, while the other half narrow down the concept to its economic aspects. They also show that a neoliberal worldview is more dominant in the corpus, and that the only aspects of sustainability emphasised by business schools are those which are compatible with this perspective.
Downloads
References
AACSB International (2020). 2020 Guiding principles and standards for business accreditation. https://www.aacsb.edu/-/media/aacsb/docs/accreditation/business/standards-and-tables/2020%20business%20accreditation%20standards.ashx?la=en&hash=E4B-7D8348A6860B3AA9804567F02C68960281DA2
Amsler, S., & Facer, K. (2017). Contesting anticipatory regimes in education: exploring alternative educational orientations to the future. Futures, 94, 6-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2017.01.001
Aleixo, A. M, Ulisses, S. L., & Azeiteirod, M. (2018). Conceptualization of sustainable higher education institutions, roles, barriers, and challenges for sustainability: An exploratory study in Portugal. Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 1664-1673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.11.010
Badea, L., Șerban-Oprescu, G.L., Dedu, S., & Piroșcă, G. I. (2020). The impact of education for sustainable development on Romanian economics and business students’ behavior. Sustainability, 12(19), 8169. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198169
Balsiger, J. (2015). Transdisciplinarity in the class room? Simulating the co-production of sustainability knowledge. Futures, 44(2), 127-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.08.005
Bansal, P., Grewatsch, S., & Sharma, G. (2021). How COVID‐19 informs business sustainability research: It’s time for a systems perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 58(2), 602-606. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12669
Barber, N., Wilson, F., Venkatachalam, V., Cleaves, S., & Garnham, J. (2014). Integrating sustainability into business curricula: University of New Hampshire case study. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 15(4), 473-493. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2013-0068
Beusch, P. (2014). Towards sustainable capitalism in the development of higher education business school curricula and management. International Journal of Educational Management, 28(5), 523-545. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-12-2012-0132
Beynaghi, A., Moztarzadeh, F., Maknoon, R., Waas, T., Mozafari, M., Huge ,́ J., & Leal Filhom W. (2014). Towards an orientation of higher education in the post Rio + 20 process: How is the game changing? Futures, 63, 49-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.08.004
Bieler, A., & McKenzie, M. (2017). Strategic planning for sustainability in Canadian higher education. Sustainability, 9(2), 161. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9020161
Bizerril, M., Carvalho, M. J. R. T., & Pedrosa, J. (2018). Sustainability in higher education: A review of contributions from Portuguese speaking countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 171, 600-612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.048
Brennan, J., & Teichler, U. (2008). The future of higher education and of higher education research. Higher Education, 56(3), 259-264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9124-6
Brinkman, B. (2014. September 16). Sustainability: the first postmodern discipline. Huffington Post. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-brinkmann/sustainability-the-first-_b_5831654.html
Bostrom, N. (2013). Existential risk prevention as global priority. Global Policy, 4(1), 15-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12002
Brundiers, K., Wiek, A., & Redman, C.L. (2010). Realworld learning opportunities in sustainability: from classroom into the real world. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), 308-324. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371011077540
Csillag, S., Géring, Zs., Győri, Zs., & Szegedi, K. (2020). „Kódexem, kódexem, mondd meg nékem...” Etikaikódex-fejlesztési folyamat egy magyar egyetemen. Vezetéstudomány, 51(10), 2-14. https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2020.10.01
Fyfe, J. C., Kharin, V. V., Swart, N., Flato, G. M., Sigmond, M., & Gillett, N. P. (2021). Quantifying the influence of short-term emission reductions on climate. Science Advances, 7(10), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf7133
Gayá, P., & Brydon-Miller, M. (2017). Carpe the academy: Dismantling higher education and prefiguring critical utopias through action research. Futures, 94, 34-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2016.10.005
Géring Zs. (2014). Profit és/vagy közösségi szerepvállalás? Vállalati társadalmi felelősségvállalás vezetői szemmel. Vezetéstudomány, 45(12), 53-66. https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2014.12.05
Géring Zs. (2017). Kevert szövegelemzési módszertan alkalmazása gazdasági és társadalmi jelenségek vizsgálatához: Online CSR-kommunikáció vizsgálata tartalomelemzéssel és diskurzuselemzéssel. Vezetéstudomány, 48(4), 55-66. https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2017.04.08
Ghoshal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(1), 75-91. https://www.corporation2020.org/documents/Resources/Ghoshal.pdf
Gowdy, J. (2020). Our hunter-gatherer future: Climate change, agriculture and uncivilization. Futures, 115, 102488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2019.102488
Grey, C. (2002). What are business schools for? On silence and voice in management education. Journal of Management Education, 26(5), 496-511. https://doi.org/10.1177/105256202236723
Global University Network for Innovation – GUNI. (2019). Higher education in the World. humanities and higher education: synergies between science, technology and humanities. Barcelona: Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi). https://www.guninetwork.org/report/higher-education-world-7
Hicks, D. (2012). The future only arrives when things look dangerous: Reflections on futures education in the UK. Futures, 44(1), 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2011.08.002
Hitt, M. A., & Greer, C. R. (2012). The value of research and its evaluation in business schools. Journal of Management Inquiry, 21(2), 236-240. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492611428721
Hopwood, B., Mellor, M., & O’Brien, G. (2005). Sustainable development: mapping different approaches. Sustainable Development, 13(1), 38-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.244
Kallio, T.J. (2007). Taboos in corporate social responsibility discourse. Journal of Business Ethics, 74(2), 165–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9227-x
Kanda, W., & Kivimaa, P. (2020). What opportunities could the COVID-19 outbreak offer for sustainability transitions research on electricity and mobility? Energy Research & Social Science, 68, 101666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101666
Kasza-Kelemen, K., Neulinger, Á. Kiss, G., Veress, T., & Lazányi, O. (2022). A társas tanulás eredményei a fenntartható fogyasztást előmozdító budapesti gyakorlatközösségekben. Vezetéstudomány, 53(1), 2-14. https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2022.01.01
Kiss, G., Veress, T., & Köves, A. (2021). Learning responsibility – teaching sustainability. experiential and transformative learning in a business school. Vezetéstudomány, 51(7), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2021.07.03
Landrum, N.E., & Ohsowski, B. (2017). Content trends in sustainable business education: an analysis of introductory courses in the USA. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(3), 385-414. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2016-0135
Leal Filho, W., (2011). About the role of universities and their contribution to sustainable development. Higher Education Policy, 24, 427-438. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2011.16
Levy, O., Goldberg, Y., & Dagan, I. (2015). Improving distributional similarity with lessons learned from word embeddings. Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, 3, 211-225. https://doi.org/10.1162/tacl_a_00134
Lozano, R. (2008). Envisioning sustainability three-dimensionally. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(17), 1838-1846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.02.008
Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., Alonso-Almeida, M., Huisingh, D., Lozano, F.J., Waas, T., Lambrechts, W., Lukman, R., & Huge, J., (2015). A review of commitment and implementation of sustainable development in higher education: results from a worldwide survey. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcle- pro.2014.09.048
Lozano, R., Barreiro-Gen, M., Lozano, F. J., & Sammalisto, K. (2019). Teaching sustainability in European higher education institutions: assessing the connections between competences and pedagogical approaches. Sustainability, 11, 1602. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061602
MacVaugh, J., & Norton, M. (2012). Introducing sustainability into business education contexts using active learning. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 13(1), 72-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371211190326
Málovics Gy. (2011). A vállalati fenntarthatóság értelmezéséről. Szeged: JATEPress.
Málovics, Gy., Juhász, J., Hajdu, K. & Gyarmati, L. (2016). Az egyetemek környezeti fenntarthatóságának megközelítései – a Szegedi Tudományegyetem esetén keresztül. Vezetéstudomány, 47(6), 16-29. https://doi.org/10.14267/VEZTUD.2016.06.02
Monteiro, F., Leite, C., & Rocha, C. (2019). Ethical education as a pillar of the future role of higher education: Analysing its presence in the curricula of engineering courses. Futures, 111, 168-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2018.02.004
Mulá, I., Tilbury, D., Ryan, A., Mader, M., Dlouhá, J., Mader, C., Benayas, J., Dlouhý, J., & Alba, D. (2017). Catalysing change in higher education for sustainable development: A review of professional development initiatives for university educators. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(5), 798- 820. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-03-2017-0043
Naeem, M.A., & Neal, M. (2012). Sustainability in business education in the Asia Pacific region: A snapshot of the situation. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 13(1), 60-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371211190317
Naeem, M.A., & Peach, N.W. (2011). Promotion of sustainability in postgraduate education in the Asia Pacific region. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12(3), 280-290. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371111148063
Pfeffer, J., & Fong, C. T. (2004). The business school ‘business’: Some lessons from the US experience. Journal of Management Studies, 41(8), 1501-1520. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2004.00484.x
Rieckmann, M. (2012). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44, 127-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2011.09.005
Scott, R. W. (2003). Organizations. Rational, Natural, and Open Systems. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Slager, R., Pouryousefi, S., Moon, J., & Schoolman, E. D. (2020). Sustainability centres and fit: how centres work to integrate sustainability within business schools. Journal of Business Ethics, 161, 375-391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3965-4
Stough, T., Ceulemans, K., Lambrechts, W., & Cappuyns, V. (2018). Assessing sustainability in higher education curricula: a critical reflection on validity issues. Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 4456-4466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.02.017
Sylvestre, P., McNeil, R., & Wright, T. (2013). From Talloires to Turin: A critical discourse analysis of declarations for sustainability in higher education. Sustainability, 5(4), 1356-1371. https://doi.org/10.3390/su5041356
THE (2019). Times Higher Education World University Ranking List – Business and Economics list. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/subject-ranking/business-and-economics#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats
Trkman, P. (2019). Value proposition of business schools: More than meets the eye. The International Journal of Management Education, 17(3), 100310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2019.100310
Veblen, T. (1918). The higher learning in America. New York: B. W. Huebsch.
Verhulst, E., & Lambrechts, W., (2015). Fostering the incorporation of sustainable development in higher education. Lessons learned from a change management perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 189- 204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.049
Waas, T., Huge, J., Ceulemans, K., Lambrechts, W., Vandenabeele, J., Lozano, R., & Wright, T. (2012). Sustainable higher education: understanding and moving forward. Flemish Government – Environment, Nature and Energy Department, Brussels. https://ees.kuleuven.be/eng/klimos/toolkit/documents/396_sust_higher_educ.pdf
Wright, T. (2004). The evolution of sustainability declarations in higher education. In Corcoran, P. B. & Wals, A. E. J. (Eds.), Higher education and the challenge of sustainability (pp. 7-19). Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48515-X_2
Yanez, G. A., Thumlert, K., de Castell, S., & Jenson, J. (2019). Pathways to sustainable futures: A “production pedagogy” model for STEM education. Futures, 108, 27-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2019.02.021
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Vezetéstudomány / Budapest Management Review
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors assign copyright to Vezetéstudomány / Budapest Management Review. Authors are responsible for permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.
