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An exploration of student learning for sustainability through the WikiRate student engagement project
... By 2030, under the SDG 8 targets, full and productive employment and decent work for all and equal pay for work of equal value (women and men, young people, persons with disabilities, nationals, and migrants) must be achieved worldwide [2]. Accordingly, future agents of change must be educated in universities that uphold responsible, sustainable, and ethical principles [9] in order for them to develop a sustainability mindset [29] and truly promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all. Thus, HEIs and BSs should respond to the current urgent global challenges for which responsible managers need to be trained [16]. ...
... In order to fill this gap in the research, and using a student perspective, it is necessary to integrate and change the curriculum to develop the necessary content, knowledge, skills, and attitudes to shape a sustainability mindset among students [25,29,55]. ...
... Integrating the SDGs into the BS curriculum can help to advance ESD and achieve SDG target 4.7 [2], which is to "ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development". Accordingly, during the last decade, individual knowledge and skills have reached a position of paramount importance among the practitioner world and academics in different fields, including business studies [29,63]. ...
This paper aims to assess students’ perceptions regarding the extent of integration of the eighth principal Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 8) “promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all” into an undergraduate business school (BS) course. We analyzed students’ perceptions with respect to three pedagogical themes: content/curriculum; knowledge and skills; and awareness and attitudes. Based on legitimacy theory, we conducted a survey of 124 students at a globally accredited business school that has been a pioneer in terms of integrating SDGs into business school education in the Middle East and particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which we refer to as Alpha Business School (ABS). A Q-methodology approach was adopted by designing a concourse of 37 statements. Our research findings highlight that in response to institutional governmental pressure to implement the SDGs at all levels in the country, ABS has begun to integrate the SDGs into its practice, including undergraduate courses. However, after a more in-depth analysis, the findings suggest that traditional learning methods and a “business as usual” mentality continue to prevail as a management paradigm among students and that, therefore, ABS has only embedded SDG 8 symbolically without undergoing a full substantive change. In conclusion, further work is needed to incorporate the SDGs into all dimensions of the business school’s activities and to promote new methodologies, skills, and competencies. This paper is helpful for accounting educators and curriculum setters in the process of revamping accounting curricula to reflect the importance of sustainability education. The results of this study have professional, academic, and policy-making implications.
... At the time of writing, this is the first published study to apply the SMI in a responsible management learning programme and to illustrate how this contributes to differing dimensions of learning (cognitive, behavioural and affective). This builds on previous studies across education and management learning contexts, which include the importance of experiential learning and the application of the SMPs in shaping future leaders' social impact and entrepreneurial action for the SDGs (Tomasella et al., 2022), how the SMPs provide a basis for "deeper" learning (Hermes and Rimanoczy, 2018) and the SMPs contribution to student learning for sustainability (Wersun et al., 2019;Yang et al., 2021). It also contributes key theoretical contributions in advancing the discourse around responsible management education through an analysis of the alignment of global sustainability competency frameworks with the SMPs. ...
Purpose
Organisational responses to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals depend on the competency and mindset of business leaders to lead responsibly. This study is informed and underpinned by the Principles of Responsible Management Education. This study aims to examine how embedding the “sustainability mindset principles” within a university programme can contribute to responsible management education and, by extension, leadership development.
Design/methodology/approach
An illustrative case study using 84 students was applied, including undergraduate, postgraduate and executive Master of Business Administration students. An exploratory, qualitative design was followed, primarily adopting focus groups.
Findings
Evidenced learning gains in connecting sustainability knowledge with personal beliefs and behaviours, provide a compelling basis for educational and business practitioners to focus on the sustainability mindset principles (SMPs). Mapping of mindset against leading global competency frameworks provides important theoretical insight. Learning is illustrated through multiple dimensions (i.e. cognitive, behavioural and affective) to inform leadership development approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The mapping of sustainability competency frameworks against the SMP, alongside qualitative research insights, provides a compelling basis for further research into the learning gains from embedding the mindset principles. The situated nature of the study and the lack of longitudinal measurement of what students take forward into their lives and workplaces is a limiting factor to be considered.
Practical implications
This study evidences the value of “whole-person” learning for responsible management, which can helpfully inform the design of both educational and workplace leadership development programmes.
Originality/value
This study is original in the pedagogic examination of the learning dimensions of the SMPs in a Business and Management programme. It also offers new insights in terms of the implications for leadership development.
... Higher education curricula must incorporate competencies that prepare graduates with the necessary knowledge and values (Quelhas et al., 2019;Alm et al., 2022). Higher education should develop the capacity of graduates to prioritise actions taking into account social, environmental and economic costs and benefits (Wersun et al., 2019). ...
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the current situation of higher education institutions in Spain regarding the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals in the classroom, and what is the role of mathematics in this task.
Design/methodology/approach
A review is made of how the concept of sustainability has evolved in higher education, its gradual introduction in the University and the way in which this subject is approached in the field of mathematics.
Findings
The study concludes that higher education has a key role to play in designing strategies that lead to the global sustainability of the planet. This implies major changes in degree curricula, assessment, competences and teacher training. Cross-disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity between different subjects within the same degree is a strategy for students to analyse the Sustainable Development Goals using mathematical techniques.
Social implications
The University as an institution must train socially responsible professionals who are aware of the importance of promoting a sustainable world. Changes should be made to introduce values in the classroom that promote and encourage sustainability. Training should be seen as a continuous process that leads to the preparation of professionals committed to society and nature and who develop strategies aimed at improving the planet through values.
Originality/value
Through practical activities, the Sustainable Development objectives can be analysed from several subjects of the same degree, emphasising the interdisciplinary and transversal nature that should be the central axis of higher education. Each subject can develop a strategy for change in favour of sustainability that will be reinforced and increased by working together on the proposed teaching practice. In this way, the contents of the different subjects are not isolated, but rather the student can see how there is an interrelationship between them and with real life.
... ve productively, creating openness and balanced cooperation. Meanwhile, Hampson (2012) added that Ecology is a multidisciplinary science and unification with technology media can be a means of strengthening the educational process. Eco-Literacy will provide a reflection that nature teaches many values of life as the key to success in creating DEL. Wersun et. al., (2019) found that innovations created with DEL form will support changes in skills improvement, understanding, and behavior for SDGs. The main center in this learning process is students with competencies under the objectives of ESD. Pitman & Daniels (2016) stated that ecosystems are processes interrelated in forming connected bonds. ...
The rapid development of computer technology today has implications for high quality educational services and resources. Meanwhile, this era of Smart Education (SE) has given a new picture that the openness and sharing of global knowledge become a top priority for the advancement of education, especially in Digital Eco-Literacy (DEL) learning. The study aims to understand in depth the role of Smart Education (SE) in supporting the development of Digital Eco-Literacy (DEL). The research method used is a qualitative technique with a review paper approach. The findings show that SE will be the key to effectively and efficiently developing DEL Learning. A positive impact on improving student achievement and the ability to understand various environmental problems with a more dynamic and innovative perspective should be considered.
... For this, teaching sustainability requires a shift from a traditional teacher-centered approach to a student-centered one (Richter and Schumacher, 2011). Active approaches are more effective in developing a sustainability mindset (Wersun et al., 2019). In broad terms, professors who include the subject in their syllabi face two simultaneous issues: learning about the concept and questioning their traditional teaching models. ...
It is crucial to understand which conditions or elements are relevant to the development of more holistic and integrative models for implementing sustainability into Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is observed in the literature that there is a mismatch between the highlighted importance of education for sustainability and the actual implementation of its integration in HEIs due to its multifaceted characteristics and complexity. The proposition of analytical models can serve as a very useful tool for successful practical experiences. Therefore, the paper aims to develop a conceptual and analytical framework based on four interdependent dimensions—contextual, organizational, curricular, and pedagogical– that can be used as a guide to integrate sustainability into critical areas in HEIs. We considered four crucial areas: university management, teaching, research, and community outreach. To validate and expand these areas and identify the elements composing them, we conducted a qualitative research based on systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with experts in the field of higher and management education. We explored this integration of sustainability in the context of an emergent country, and for this we performed documental research and interviews with local experts. This study contributes to the field by presenting a multi-analytical model and their specific elements that can guide HEIs to effectively integrate sustainability into management education related to planning and action. Although the results focus on management courses, these elements, if properly adapted, can be used to map and analyze other courses in all types of HEI.
... The WikiRate digital service learning activity described above, and digital service learning in general, can positively influence student learning. It can develop a deep, and critical understanding of the subject matter, advance the ability to undertake professional judgement Wersun et al., 2019), and improve reflective capacity . The use of real-world data to support a global community of interested individuals can further improve student motivation and make the learning experience meaningful for students Perkiss et al., 2018). ...
... However, while many studies affirm the importance of blending sustainability in higher education and even offer frameworks and tools to incorporate sustainability in university culture and curricula [5][6][7][8][9], there is little recent research that examines the state of sustainability integration in higher education-particularly for Asian economies such as South Korea. This includes an exploration of core sustainability themes and keywords in business courses over time, as well as the depth of sustainability integration. ...
Given the growing importance of corporate sustainability in the academic literature and in practice, this study investigates to what extent business schools in South Korea have been reflecting sustainability-linked themes in the curriculum. Based on a review of 20,507 course syllabi from ten sample universities between 2013 and 2019, our findings show an increase in the absolute number and proportion of sustainability-linked courses in Korean business schools, increasing from 12.9% of total courses in 2013 to 14.7% in 2019. The most prominent sustainability keywords were “ethics” and “corporate social responsibility,” with most courses reflecting sustainability keywords by allocating a few weeks to sustainability issues (sustainability-inclusive) rather than sustainability serving as the major theme of the course (sustainability-focused). In terms of degree program, sustainability-linked courses accounted for nearly 15% of total courses at the undergraduate and Master of Business Administration (MBA) levels, respectively, and just 7% of graduate (Master’s/Ph.D.) programs in Business Administration. While our findings suggest overall progress in incorporating sustainability themes in business schools, course offerings are fragmented and generally focus on a narrow concept of ethics rather than constituting a comprehensive curriculum that weaves sustainability throughout functional majors.
... Innovative practices that provide them with a positive experience could help improve their performance in mathematics and the perception of its usefulness [38]. Therefore, the activities carried out by the teacher in the classroom are very important to motivate students in this subject and to obtain their maximum potential [39][40][41]. ...
Higher education must include training in sustainability to make all actors aware of the serious problems our planet is facing. Mathematics plays an important role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and at the same time these allow working with real situations in the subject of mathematics, providing the student with active learning. Sustainability is used to make the student see the usefulness of mathematics while instilling values and attitudes towards it. A set of problems have been raised during the academic year that are solved with the developed mathematical techniques, and through a survey, the students’ perceptions about the usefulness of mathematics to reach the goals established in the SDG has been evaluated. The results show that, regardless of the student’s gender, the student’s assessment of the usefulness of this subject in solving real problems improved. It has been observed that this teaching methodology has helped to motivate students and even those who do not like this subject have improved their appreciation of it.
... Educators have a responsibility to engage students through thought-provoking, innovative and action-developing activities, in order to strive for a more sustainable future . Educational activities on sustainability must be transformative to encourage self-awareness to aid competence and transformation (Anastasiadis et al. 2020;Wersun et al. 2019). As this paper has discussed, DSL is one experiential learning approach that engages students in real-world activities for the benefit of society and that develops their critical thinking and awareness and intension to act sustainably. ...
To support the development of a society that is attuned to the challenges presented by sustainable development, it is vital that higher education business students understand the value of sustainability, and act in a way that is consistent with these values. This paper explores a sustainability-focused experiential learning activity through investigating the utility of an emerging form of service learning in the digital space for developing global citizens. The paper presents an international case study of educators who employed digital service learning in various business education contexts. The research reports on the perceptions of higher education students in relation to their awareness, critical thinking and action for sustainability. The paper has practical contributions in identifying an opportunity for implementing sustainability curriculum into higher education for business.
... Educators have a responsibility to engage students through thought-provoking, innovative and action-developing activities, in order to strive for a more sustainable future . Educational Educational activities on sustainability must be transformative to encourage self-awareness to aid competence and transformation (Anastasiadis et al. 2020;Wersun et al. 2019). As this paper has discussed, DSL is one experiential learning approach that engages students in real-world activities for the benefit of society and that develops their critical thinking and awareness and intension to act sustainably. ...
To support the development of a society that is attuned to the challenges presented by sustainable development, it is vital that higher education business students understand the value of sustainability, and act in a way that is consistent with these values. This paper explores a sustainability-focused experiential learning activity through investigating the utility of an emerging form of service learning in the digital space for developing global citizens. The paper presents an international case study of educators who employed digital service learning in various business education contexts. The research reports on the perceptions of higher education students in relation to their awareness, critical thinking and action for sustainability. The paper has practical contributions in identifying an opportunity for implementing sustainability curriculum into higher education for business.
... It is worth mentioning that this research formed part of a wider project, in which students from participating universities were also surveyed. While this student-facing data have been published elsewhere Wersun et al., 2019), the focus of this study was to explore educators' experiences. ...
Purpose
Sustainability is one of the leading challenges of our age, and higher education plays a vital role in supporting the implementation of sustainability initiatives. There has been substantial progress in business schools introducing sustainability into courses with extant literature detailing case studies of sustainability education and student perceptions of their learning. The purpose of this paper is to address the gap in literature from educators' perspectives on their experiences of introducing sustainability teaching using specific teaching tools for sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study on a sustainability teaching tool, WikiRate, that was embedded into business and management courses at seven higher education institutions from across the globe. Interviews were conducted after course delivery to gain insights into the practical challenges of designing and implementing a sustainability education activity.
Findings
The findings show that educators perceive sustainability as a complex issue, presenting a challenge to teaching in university systems whose normative curricula are rooted in instrumental problem-solving. Furthermore, educators described challenges to their own learning in order to implement sustainability into curricula including the need for compromises and adaptions.
Originality/value
This empirical study reports on educators' experiences embedding sustainability into their courses through an innovative teaching tool, WikiRate. This paper has implications for reframing how we can approach sustainability education and presents discussion ways to teach complexity without reduction or simplification.
This article provides an overview of the different types of learning outcomes that are available in the increasingly diverse workplace-based learning environment, and explores the relationship between systematic developments in contemporary work environments and emerging Internship and Work-Integrated Learning activities. Of key importance for future internships is a focus on learning outcomes that are aligned with transferable workplace-competency based skills and knowledge, such as information technology skills, teamwork and interactions skills, and communication skills, and their developed in an appropriately contextualized, occupation specific, environment. In addition, advances in technology-based workplace arrangements, Internships and Work-Integrated Learning generally are identified as important enablers of change. This article re-affirms the importance of workplace-based learning for education providers, participants and employers, and provides guidance on how the positive impact of Internships may be maximized in the future.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) educate future leaders with social impact contributing to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). HEIs have an interest in developing leaders with social impact, but there is a lack of knowledge on the best teaching and learning strategies to engage students with social action aimed at the SDGs. This paper fills this gap by addressing the question of how HEIs can shape the sustainability mindsets of future leaders with social impact contributing to the SDGs.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used a mixed method research design, including a quantitative survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews of UK students involved in HEIs experiential learning programmes, focused on social impact and entrepreneurial action, developed in partnership with the organisation Enactus.
Findings
This research highlighted the importance of experiential learning, as it develops the knowledge, values and competency underpinning the sustainability mindset of future leaders contributing to the SDGs, in particular their emotional intelligence.
Originality/value
This research shows that HEIs can educate future leaders with social impact contributing to the SDGs, through real-world experiential learning that develops their sustainability mindset; in terms of aligning the curriculum to the SDGs, more focus on the systems perspective of the sustainability mindset framework is needed.
It is considered to be crucial for firms to incorporate the notion of sustainability in their business to achieve success in today's ever-changing commercial world. Hence, it is essential that students' awareness of sustainability and related actions is enhanced by embedding this notion in the curriculum in 21st century business education. Guidelines for developing a sustainability-based curriculum are provided in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). Since previous researchers have mentioned the need to move the development of a sustainability curriculum in higher education institutions (HEIs) to the experimental stage, the aim of this study was to enhance the sustainability learning outcomes of undergraduate students in business programmes based on designing a PRME-based ESD course. 96 students participated in a quasi-experimental intervention. The project performance of both the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG) was used as a pre-test and post-test, and the results indicated that the students' sustainability learning outcomes were effectively enhanced by the PRME-based ESD course. Therefore, the PRME can be used as a framework for the reform of the business curriculum for sustainability, and the ESD's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8, 9, 11, 12, and 17 can be undergraduate business students' basic learning objectives.
The effects of epistemic motives and individual social structure on behaviors that affect cooperation in a learning environment have important implications for cooperative learning and management education. Specifically, the impacts of these two factors on promotive behaviors that are essential to cooperative learning are examined. The effect of social structures and epistemic motives on learning outcomes is introduced into the cooperative learning and management education literature. Hypotheses are developed and tested. The results suggest that social structures have different implications for individuals depending on their epistemic motives. For individuals with a need for closure, social networks offer protection from social ambiguity and assignment uncertainty, whereas, for individuals with a need for cognition, social networks provide social opportunity and assignment sustenance in an interdependent cooperative learning environment. The results have important implications for other learning approaches (e.g., active learning, experiential learning, service learning) that lean on cooperation among students for important learning outcomes. Implications and recommendations are discussed.
Since the end of the 20th century, the role of private multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been recognized as critical in implementing increased sustainable production and consumption patterns. Particularly after the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2030, this role has increased. In this sense, this paper aims to analyze the measures and actions taken by companies in their contribution to the achievement of the SDG 12. Through the identification of more than 52 metrics in sustainability reports of 854 firms, findings suggest that direct greenhouse gas emissions and indirect greenhouse gas emissions are the most often reported corporate metrics to measure their impact on specific SDGs. This reveals the importance of sustainability actions in emerging market firms as a mechanism to gain legitimacy when operating in foreign markets and as an opportunity to create more sustainable production models.
This report is the product of a year-long international collaboration across eight countries. The research was initiated to explore the multiple ways the WikiRate Student Engagement Project was being implemented in higher education institutions in diverse classrooms around the world. By eliciting the perspectives of students and teachers, our aim was to learn more about its impact, challenges and potential.
The need for a more sustainable world was unanimously acknowledged by United Nations members in September 2015, when 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set, positioning education at the heart of the strategy to promote sustainable development. This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to education for sustainable development, and to illustrate how to advance it, acknowledging different perspectives of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of diversity. It examines the broad agenda of the SDGs, which requires the participation of multiple disciplines and sectors to be delivered. Considering the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), the paper reviews the literature regarding interdisciplinarity and its application in education for sustainable development, including practices and barriers to enhance it. A case study is provided to illustrate how to advance interdisciplinary education for sustainable development amongst postgraduate MBA students from different backgrounds, in a course where sustainable development concepts are already embedded across disciplines. The case illustrates the application of the Six Principles of PRME and explains how a sustainability and CSR module can encourage students to combine knowledge from all disciplines in order to advance their understanding and action on sustainable development issues.
Faculty social and Behavioural sciences, institute cultural anthropology and development sociology, leiden university, leiden, the netherlands ABSTRACT One of the main outcomes of the Rio + 20 Conference was the agreement to set Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The most common terms in the17 goals are economic growth, resilience and inclusion, all of which are critically examined in this article. This article discusses how these goals are reflected within existing sustainability programs at a vocational college, and at the undergraduate and postgraduate university levels in The Netherlands. Within all three institutions the author has integrated lectures on sustainable development with specific emphasis on the SDGs. The aim was to engage students in critical discussion, allowing reflection on the issues and paradoxes that characterise the larger discourse of sustainability. The case studies illustrate how curriculum aimed at this awareness can be developed stimulating the students' recognition of critique of economic development, inclusion and resilience. As a result of the courses, the students were able to develop a certain degree of critical, imaginative, and innovative thinking about sustainable development in general and the SDGs in particular. Cradle to cradle and circular economy approaches were named as more promising for current production systems. This article concludes with the recommendation as to how the SDGs can be critically taught.
WikiRate is a Collective Awareness Platform for Sustainability and Social Innovation (CAPS) project with the aim of " crowdsourc-ing better companies " through analysis of their Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) performance. Research to inform the design of the platform involved surveying the current corporate ESG information landscape, and identifying ways in which an open approach and peer production ethos could be effectively mobilised to improve this landscape's fertility. The key requirement identified is for an open public repository of data tracking companies' ESG performance. Corporate Social Responsibility reporting is conducted in public, but there are barriers to accessing the information in a standardised analysable format. Analyses of and ratings built upon this data can exert power over companies' behaviour in certain circumstances, but the public at large have no access to the data or the most influential ratings that utilise it. WikiRate aims to build an open repository for this data along with tools for analysis, to increase public demand for the data, allow a broader range of stakeholders to participate in its interpretation, and in turn drive companies to behave in a more ethical manner. This paper describes the quantitative Metrics system that has been designed to meet those objectives and some early examples of its use.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the understanding and presence of sustainability
within entrepreneurship education. The extant literature on sustainability within the entrepreneurship
discipline remains extremely limited. Previously, sustainability within an entrepreneurship context
has related to economic viability as opposed to sustainability in its broadest sense. This study
explores, through a survey of entrepreneurship educators, three key research questions, namely,
how entrepreneurship educators believe that entrepreneurs can contribute to solving sustainability
problems. Second, to what extent education about sustainability is integrated within existing
entrepreneurship curricula. Finally, what considerations are being made to include sustainability
within future programmes.
Design/methodology/approach – This study represented part of a larger university project
exploring the associations between the sustainability and entrepreneurship disciplines. This part of
the study involved a web-based survey from entrepreneurship academics drawn from Australia,
New Zealand, UK, and the USA which provided 54 completed questionnaires.
Findings – The study uncovered much good practice led by “champions” within the entrepreneurship
discipline. However, embedded sustainability practice was typically limited and it was more typically
regarded as an “add-on” to traditional entrepreneurial teaching.
Practical implications – The study proposes three ways in which sustainability might be more
meaningfully integrated into entrepreneurship programmes. First, the QAA (2012) guidelines for
enterprise and entrepreneurship need to be reconsidered to encapsulate the sustainability agenda.
Second, for entrepreneurship educators to reconsider their pedagogical approaches to encapsulate
systems thinking as more holistic educational perspective. Finally, the authors call for
entrepreneurship educators to revise their programmes to embed the core facets of social,
environmental, economic, and more recently ethical sustainability.
Originality/value – The study offers a novel insight into entrepreneurship educators attitudes to
sustainability and their approach to it within their curricula. This study provides an initial benchmark
regarding the levels of sustainability provision within entrepreneurship curricula which will be of interest
to the entrepreneurship academic community, the sustainability community, and policy makers.
Organizations are increasingly subject to rating and ranking by third-party evaluators. Research in this area tends to emphasize the direct effects of ratings systems that occur when ratings give key audiences, such as consumers or investors, more information about a rated firm. Yet, ratings systems may also indirectly influence organizations when the collective presence of more rated peers alters the broader institutional and competitive milieu. Rated firms may be more responsive to ratings systems when surrounded by more rated peers, and ratings may generate diffuse or spillover effects even among unrated firms. We test these arguments by analyzing how rated and unrated firms change their pollution behavior when more firms in their peer group are rated on environmental performance. Results indicate that the presence of more rated peers is often associated with emissions reductions. This relationship varies, however, by whether a firm was rated, whether the rating was positive or negative (if rated), and, often, features of the competitive and regulatory environment.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have increasingly utilized experiential approaches in business education; however, some researchers have suggested that further research is required to investigate the effectiveness and student reaction to such approaches. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of an experiential learning approach on the perceived development of entrepreneurial traits and to measure the level of both student engagement and satisfaction. The approach was designed and tested during a Higher National Diploma (HND) entrepreneurship module in a British HEI. Traditional taught sessions were blended with applied activities that required students to utilize the skills they learned to complete steps of the activities, which increased in length and complexity. Results found both a high level of student satisfaction and engagement and the belief that the module's experiential approach had, in many instances, helped to develop entrepreneurial traits. Successful practice and modifications are discussed.
Over the past two decades, more and more U.S. firms are voluntarily issuing costly standalone Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports. Nevertheless, firms’ motivations for issuing standalone CSR Reports are not clear. In this paper, we consider two different explanations: signaling and greenwashing. The first explanation, signaling, proposes that firms use standalone CSR Reports as a signal of their superior commitment to CSR, which suggests firms with stronger social and environmental records will be more likely to issue standalone CSR Reports as compared to those without. The second explanation, greenwashing, proposes that firms use standalone CSR Reports to pose as “good” corporate citizens even when they do not have stronger social and environmental records. To provide insight into these explanations we compare the CSR performance scores of firms that issue CSR reports to those firms that do not. We control for firm size, leverage, profitability and industry. We find that firms that voluntarily issue standalone CSR Reports generally have higher CSR performance scores, which suggests that firms are using voluntary CSR Reports to publicize stronger social and environmental records to stakeholders.
Although a centuries-old phenomenon, emotional intelligence has received an enormous amount of attention and popularity in various academic and non-academic circles during the last two decades. Emotionally intelligent abilities, capacities and skills are increasingly becoming significant and inevitable almost in all works of life ranging from effective leadership, building teams, to the globe-spanning network of communication, development of human potential and performance, social skills and economic and political life. In this dynamic and complexly integrated international economic system, tomorrow's leaders will have to facilitate others to develop their own leadership, skills and potential with the help of emotional intelligence. Be that as it may, there still exists continuing debate among researchers pertaining to the best method for measuring this construct of emotional intelligence. Keeping this in view, the present paper aims to introduce a new measure, based on a holistic and system modelling approach, to conceptualise and measure the phenomenon of emotional intelligence. It develops, constructs and validates a model that conceptualises and measures the phenomenon of emotional intelligence by constructing and using a latent variable structural equation model within the certain boundaries of the psychosocial system. It will provide us with a measurement or index of emotional intelligence at individual level. An emotional intelligence index will indicate the extent to which a particular individual or a group of people is emotionally intelligent and which areas lack this intelligence, if any. Strengths and weaknesses of various components of the model will also indicate characteristics at a certain level in order to pinpoint what exactly an individual or group of individuals requires to improve its emotionally intelligent capabilities.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on efforts to develop two stand‐alone subjects on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a mainstream business curriculum at Monash University, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents details on the educational rationale and design of the two subjects in corporate sustainability and CSR.
Findings
Although many universities offer support for education for sustainability, previous research indicates that most curriculum initiatives in this area have been driven by individual faculty. This paper provides examples of curriculum development that emerged from the grass‐roots initiative, in the absence of an integrated and mainstreamed programme for sustainability.
Practical implications
The paper encourages all faculty, no matter their circumstances, to consider the development of curriculum for sustainability. While individual subjects cannot effect wholesale change, each effort can, no matter how piecemeal, make a difference.
Originality/value
The cases in this paper highlight the importance of skills, knowledge and values to the curriculum for sustainability and CSR. Because there is no formula for how these are integrated into the curriculum, the paper illustrates how individual faculty members have brought their own disciplinary and pedagogical backgrounds to their curriculum design.
Purpose
The current UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development echoes many scholars' calls to re‐envision education for sustainability. Short of a complete overhaul of education, the paper seeks to propose learning objectives that can be integrated across existing curricula. These learning objectives are organized by head, hands and heart – balancing cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains. University programs and courses meeting these learning objectives exhibit an emergent property here termed transformative sustainability learning (TSL).
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretically, TSL grew from traditions of sustainability education and transformative education. Practically, TSL emerged from experimental learning collaborations sponsored by the University of British Columbia in 2003 and 2004 in an effort to enable explicit transitions to sustainability‐oriented higher education. Primarily through action research, these community‐based, applied learning experiences constituted cyclical processes of innovation, implementation and reflection.
Findings
The paper finds: advancement of head, hands and heart as an organizing principle by which to integrate transdisciplinary study (head); practical skill sharing and development (hands); and translation of passion and values into behaviour (heart); development of a cognitive landscape for understanding TSL as a unifying framework amongst related sustainability and transformative pedagogies that are inter/transdisciplinary, practical and/or place‐based; creation of learning objectives, organized to evaluate a course or program's embodiment of TSL.
Originality/value
By enabling change within existing structures of higher education, the paper complements and contributes to more radical departures from the institution. The work to date demonstrates potential in applying this learning framework to courses and programs in higher education.
The emerging academic field focused on sustainability
has been engaged in a rich and converging
debate to define what key competencies are considered
critical for graduating students to possess. For more than a
decade, sustainability courses have been developed and
taught in higher education, yet comprehensive academic
programs in sustainability, on the undergraduate and
graduate level, have emerged only over the last few years.
Considering this recent institutional momentum, the time is
seemingly right to synthesize the discussion about key
competencies in sustainability in order to support these
relatively young academic programs in shaping their profiles
and achieving their ambitious missions. This article
presents the results of a broad literature review. The review
identifies the relevant literature on key competencies in
sustainability; synthesizes the substantive contributions in
a coherent framework of sustainability research and problem-
solving competence; and addresses critical gaps in the
conceptualization of key competencies in sustainability.
Insights from this study lay the groundwork for institutional
advancements in designing and revising academic
programs; teaching and learning evaluations; as well as
hiring and training faculty and staff.
International certifiable management standards that have been advocated as a governance mechanism for firm self-regulation of corporate social responsibility issues are effective only if certified firms comply with the requirements of the standards. Our empirical analysis shows that ISO-certified firms in China strategically select their level of compliance depending on customer preferences, customer monitoring, and expected sanctions by customers. Our findings have implications for the effectiveness of a global system of self-regulation based on certifiable standards, research on certifiable standards, and for practicing managers who require suppliers to obtain standard certifications. Journal of International Business Studies (2006) 37, 863–878. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400231
Utilizing data on a sample of large firms, we estimate a model of corporate reputation. We find reputation, derived from the assessments of managers and market analysts, to be determined by a firm's social performance, financial performance, market risk, the extent of long-term institutional ownership, and the nature of its business activities. Furthermore, the reputational effect of social performance is found to vary both across sectors, and within sectors across the various types of social performance. Specifically, our results demonstrate the need to achieve a 'fit' among the types of corporate social performance undertaken and the firm's stakeholder environment. For example, a strong record of environmental performance may enhance or damage reputation depending on whether the firm's activities 'fit' with environmental concerns in the eyes of stakeholders. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.
This paper explores how partnership with students can help sustainability educators with refining the living theory of their practice and improving the implementation of this practice in real world contexts. It draws from the case study of an undergraduate module within a UK Higher Education Institution committed to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and that has sought to embody a shift towards more active, student-centred and problem-based pedagogical approaches. The module leaders aimed to draw out a more nuanced appreciation of the knowledge, skills, values, and attributes necessary for business and management graduates to contribute to more sustainable futures. We argue that whilst attempts to reform higher education in this direction are on the rise worldwide, there remains a relative lack of research into the students' perspectives of these Education for Sustainable Development initiatives. Drawing from the applied research work of Swanson and Chermack (2013) and Kim-Eng Lee and Mun Ling (2013), it is argued that robust strategies for listening to students provide a vital praxis lens through which the intended, enacted and lived curriculum can be refined and brought closer together by business school educators.
The aim of this paper is to present a teaching concept by which students develop a solution to one concrete challenge posed by the SDGs via a structured participatory process. The aim of the concept is twofold. First, to create an active learning process in which students move from being informed about the pressing challenges described by the SDGs, i.e., from a mere passive-learning setting to developing possible solutions on their own. Second, it aims to provide students with a concrete tool by which they can implement a participatory process in their future professional endeavours. For this, a five-level teaching concept – the Public Participation Spectrum (PPS) developed by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) – was used as structural framework. Our proposed concept is based on a thorough literature review on teaching sustainability to business students, and on a case study about a pilot course implemented with undergraduate students. In the pilot course, the content-related objectives could be achieved satisfactorily. However, after evaluating the extended feedback given by the students and the experience of the teacher, it seemed obvious that the applied collaborative learning experience among peers and the cooperation with external stakeholders needs to be specifically addressed and enhanced.
This paper examines the field of Responsible Management Education (RME) in the context of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), situating the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME) in relation to a range of associated initiatives and organisations using a light, Bourdieusian theoretical framing. The emergence of the SDGs as a frame or doxa for RME and the role of UN PRME as an agent in this field is explored in the context of the literature on how business schools have delivered on sustainability and responsibility imperatives. The field of RME is partially mapped, loosely categorising actors and initiatives as membership or affiliation networks, teaching and learning initiatives and student-centred or student-led groups. Their differing aspirations are discussed, and tentative conclusions are drawn on the extent to which the SDGs are acting as a unifying paradigm, and on the future roles that UN PRME may play in the field.
Sustainability has received increasing attention in management education over the past ten years. This article reviews a decade’s worth of research in a systematic analysis of 63 articles published in international higher education and management education journals between 2003 and 2013. The purpose of this article is to map and review the publications based on the analysis according to the following four categories: (1) Types of papers, (2) Challenges, (3) Teaching techniques, and (4) Curriculum orientation. The scientific value of this article focuses on three main contributions to management education. First, while most articles are descriptive, focusing on specific, unique experiences in a given institution or with a particular teaching method or tool, few situate themselves within the broader philosophy and design of management education. The second contribution is an evaluation of the status of sustainability in management education as a field of study. This systematic review highlights the lack of consistency in the concepts used: no stable categories emerge from these articles and very few studies integrate the three levels of educational philosophy - teaching, program design, and learning. Third, this review highlights future directions for sustainability in management education institution-wide. While all articles highlight the need for curriculum change, very few specify how this change could and would be achieved by course design or explicit educational paradigms.
In this paper, we review efforts by business school academics to integrate corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and sustainable development in their teaching and coursework. We draw from recent research to describe the challenges and constraints to such integration, as well as the opportunities and potential of such efforts. We then report on the results of a survey of academics in business schools which underscore these challenges and constraints. We conclude with suggestions regarding how individual faculty members, business schools, and the broader field and its institutions can respond to the relative absence of these subjects and their integration in business school curricula. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Standard Western civilizations curricula of the premodern period, while ably incorporating postcolonial, feminist, and ethnic
studies scholarship, reflect virtually nothing of the larger cultural consciousness regarding sustainability or the critiques
and findings of environmental history. At the same time, world environmental histories tend to treat this period only selectively,
do not often engage directly with the current discourses of sustainability, and are not inclined toward the humanities-oriented
tasks of deep, sustained reflection on primary texts and historical narratives, the aims of a Western civilizations curriculum.
This essay reflects on a course, “Western Civilization and Sustainability: Beginnings to 1600,” developed to fill this gap.
It describes how a multilayered approach that critically assesses sustainability and pairs traditional and environmental histories
with analysis of primary texts has the capacity to reorient historians' questions, narratives, and periodization at the same
time that it leads to fertile engagement between environmental history, sustainability, and the humanities.
The authors review the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature based on 588 journal articles and 102 books and book chapters. They offer a multilevel and multidisciplinary theoretical framework that synthesizes and integrates the literature at the institutional, organizational, and individual levels of analysis. The framework includes reactive and proactive predictors of CSR actions and policies and the outcomes of such actions and policies, which they classify as primarily affecting internal (i.e., internal outcomes) or external (i.e., external outcomes) stakeholders. The framework includes variables that explain underlying mechanisms (i.e., relationship- and value-based mediator variables) of CSR–outcomes relationships and contingency effects (i.e., people-, place-, price-, and profile-based moderator variables) that explain conditions under which the relationship between CSR and its outcomes change. The authors’ review reveals important knowledge gaps related to the adoption of different theoretical orientations by researchers studying CSR at different levels of analysis, the need to understand underlying mechanisms linking CSR with outcomes, the need for research at micro levels of analysis (i.e., individuals and teams), and the need for methodological approaches that will help address these substantive knowledge gaps. Accordingly, they offer a detailed research agenda for the future, based on a multilevel perspective that aims to integrate diverse theoretical frameworks as well as develop an understanding of underlying mechanisms and microfoundations of CSR (i.e., foundations based on individual action and interactions). The authors also provide specific suggestions regarding research design, measurement, and data-analytic approaches that will be instrumental in carrying out their proposed research agenda.
In spite of a number of Sustainable Development (SD) initiatives and an increasing number of universities becoming engaged with SD, most higher education institutions (HEIs) continue to be traditional, and rely upon Newtonian and Cartesian reductionist and mechanistic paradigms. As a result many universities are still lagging behind companies in helping societies become more sustainable. This paper analyses the texts of eleven declarations, charters, and partnerships developed for HEIs, which can be considered to represent university leaders’ intentions to help improve the effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The analysis was done against two sets of criteria: (1) the university system, including curricula, research, physical plant operations, outreach and engagement with stakeholders, and assessment and reporting; and (2) the texts’ complexity, number of bullet points, and number of words. The analysis was done continuously; whenever a new element was found in a text it was added to the university system (first criteria set) and applied to the analysis of the other texts. In this way, the system was augmented with the following elements: collaborating with other universities; fostering transdisciplinarity; making SD an integral part of the institutional framework; creating on-campus life experiences; and ‘Educating-the-Educators’. The authors of the paper propose that for universities to become sustainability leaders and change drivers, they must ensure that the needs of present and future generations be better understood and built upon, so that professionals who are well versed in SD can effectively educate students of ‘all ages’ to help make the transition to ‘sustainable societal patterns’. In order to do so, university leaders and staff must be empowered to catalyse and implement new paradigms, and ensure that SD is the ‘Golden Thread’ throughout the entire university system.
This paper describes an approach to teaching systems thinking and associated capacity building for a team of professionals and managers from a developing country (Vietnam), engaged in the sustainable management of a world biosphere reserve. Vietnamese environmental and development managers and UNESCO were attracted to a systems approach to managing the Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve because it offered a way to address components of sustainability holistically, while transcending organisational and disciplinary ‘silos’. Key features of the training approach include learning as a group of professionals, with senior organisational support and commitment to apply systems approaches in the workplace; enjoyable adult learning approaches tailored to the needs of participants; complementing teaching of systems thinking and techniques with participatory methods for working with the participants in developing solutions to their sustainability issues; and building in evaluation at every stage, through participatory methods taught in the course. The paper highlights the importance of teaching systems thinking and provides an example curriculum and teaching strategy based on adult learning principles. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Because learning and instruction are increasingly competence-based, the call for assessment methods to adequately determine competence is growing. Using just one single assessment method is not sufficient to determine competence acquisition. This article argues for Competence Assessment Programmes (CAPs), consisting of a combination of different assessment methods, including both traditional and new forms of assessment. To develop and evaluate CAPs, criteria to determine their quality are needed. Just as CAPs are combinations of traditional and new forms of assessment, criteria used to evaluate CAP quality should be derived from both psychometrics and edumetrics. A framework of 10 quality criteria for CAPs is presented, which is then compared to Messick's framework of construct validity. Results show that the 10-criterion framework partly overlaps with Messick's, but adds some important new criteria, which get a more prominent place in quality control issues in competence-based education.
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