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Taking stock of responsible management education in Central and Eastern Europe
Abstract
Corporate social responsibility, business ethics and sustainability – often bracketed under responsible management education (RME) – are topics that are increasingly adopted by universities and business schools across the globe. However, one region where our knowledge regarding the extent of RME is still limited is Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Bringing together a team of scholars (currently or formerly) based throughout the region, we were able to conduct the largest survey to date of RME practices in the CEE region, covering 13 countries. Our findings suggest that, at a declarative level, RME is very much present at CEE universities and business schools, in particular in terms of teaching. However, a pro-RME rhetoric is not necessarily backed-up with substance; in particular, a lack of financial resources was identified as the major barrier to greater engagement with RME practices. We also observed a gap between commitment to RME in teaching versus in research, which could be a potential source of concern as teaching should be informed by research; otherwise faculty remain dependent on imported teaching materials. We contribute to strengthening the RME agenda in management education by discussing the implications of our findings for individual faculty, business school leaders, governments and international associations of management education.
... Taking into account Spain's FE strategy that includes in secondary education the study of essential aspects such as saving, investment, budgeting, spending, income and quality of life, it is foreseeable that the university students surveyed have acquired knowledge and attitudes that tend to develop responsible consumption habits (Preuss et al., 2023). Based on these arguments, the following hypotheses are put forward: ...
In recent years, many countries have implemented policies to promote Financial Education (FE) among citizens as a mechanism for boosting economic development and social prosperity. Since 2008, Spain has had a national FE strategy that primarily promotes basic FE among students in compulsory education. This study analyzes first-year university students' perception of the FE acquired in earlier educational stages and its practical application in their personal lives through the acquisition of responsible consumption habits. A survey is carried out in which students are asked how certain basic financial attributes (savings, investment, budgeting, expenses, income and quality of life), translate into everyday life, and their relationship is analyzed with their perception of the importance of FE, and certain values such as honesty, responsibility and solidarity , by applying a PLS-SEM methodology. The results allow us to extract proposals for improving public policies on FE in university studies and in earlier stages.
... Vse bolj se angažirajo nevladne organizacije in univerze, ki po državah s spodbujanjem interdisciplinarnih pristopov v raziskovanju in izobraževanju o ciljih trajnostnega razvoja podajajo tudi predloge za vključevanje drugih ravni izobraževanj in lastno razvijanje rešitev. Trajnostni razvoj postaja namen izobraževanja (UNESCO 2021), pa tudi organizacijski pristop v poučevanju (PRME 2023;Preuss et al. 2023, Van Tulder, Van Mil 2023. Unesco v poročilu Mednarodne komisije za prihodnost izobraževanja (2021) opozarja na pričakovane motnje zaradi kriz, ki naj bi močno vplivale na štiri pogosto prekrivajoča se področja: okolje, način življenja in interakcije s tehnologijo, sisteme upravljanja in načine/oblike dela. ...
The article deals with the challenges of sustainable development in
times of crisis. It shows that crises and wars are affecting the achievement of all 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not only in conflict or crisis regions, but
everywhere in the world. It outlines the emerging trade-offs in an era of crisis and
war and, based on reviews of SDG (non-)implementation, highlights the biggest
challenges: delays in progress, changing trends, shifting priorities in meeting immediate
needs, constraints and diversions of resources, the creation of institutional
barriers, and reduced communication efforts and coordination of sustainable development
strategies. Multi-level monitoring and up-to-date empirical analyses of
the complex impacts of crises and wars on the SDGs’ implementation are therefore
important measures to help revise scenarios, establish trade-offs between the
SDGs, and pursue a more integrated and effective approach to sustainable development.
Universities have a pivotal role to play in the challenging restructuring process that economies are undergoing due to higher education’s critical role in the information age. Universities can contribute to this process of change by creating new knowledge as well as by shaping new skills, which are necessary for exploiting modern technologies and understanding how technology interacts with society. The aim of this paper is to compare universities from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in terms of creativity related to research and educational activity. The knowledge triangle concept is employed to compare involvement of universities in education, research, and innovation. The divisive hierarchical clustering was used to group countries by knowledge triangle performance. Five clusters have been identified regarding research-education-innovation interactions. The study contributes by shedding light on education as the missing link between research and innovation in the CEE countries and extends knowledge about heterogeneity of this region in terms of creativity. It also contributes to the discourse how innovation policies can support universities’ structural transformations towards integration of their education, research, and innovation activities that will enable to confront an array of societal challenges.
Corporate social responsibility (henceforth, CSR) continues to grow as a topic of interest in academia, business, and government. This handbook reflects recent developments in the field, incorporating new psychological and organizational perspectives on this important, interdisciplinary topic. Highlights of the handbook include chapters by leading scholars in entrepreneurship, international business, law, organizational behavior, psychology, sociology, and strategy who examine micro-based research in CSR, environmental social responsibility and sustainability, strategic CSR, connections between CSR and entrepreneurship (e.g. social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship for and by disadvantaged groups), the role of activists and non-governmental organizations in CSR, and recent improvements in methods and data analysis in CSR research. This handbook is a must for all CSR researchers, consultants, and practitioners.
This article familiarizes readers with the international research project ‘The Missing Link: Exploring Organized Interests in Post-Communist Policy-Making’ (OrgIntCEE). The project team has focused on how populations of organized interests in the region have evolved, how they interact with state institutions as well as the group-specific characteristics driving access to policy-makers. The project also explores how Europeanization has affected post-communist interest groups as well as other factors contributing to their “coming-of-age.” We provide a comprehensive overview of the population ecology and survey datasets, while shedding light on the challenges during the data collection process. After a short overview of the project context and structure, we present some country-specific aggregated data on organizational densities and their political activity. We also reflect on potential uses for the data, before wrapping up the article with a self-critical assessment of what could have been done differently as a roadmap for future research.
War produces devastating impacts on humankind, especially in terms of lives and livelihoods. While war is a widely studied topic in history, it remains relatively understudied in business. To address this gap, this article explores the impact of war for business and society. To do so, this article undertakes a prospective evaluation of the Ukraine and Russia conflict as a recent case of war. In doing so, this article reveals that a war can impact society within (e.g., limit access to basic necessities and monetary resources, increase unemployment and reduce purchasing power, and increase asylum seekers and refugees) and outside (e.g., supply shortage and inflation and threat of false information) as well as business within (e.g., threat of cyberattacks, threat to digital and sustainable growth, and short-term and long-term sanctions and support) and outside (e.g., test of business ethics and moral obligations and test of brand management) war-torn countries. The article concludes with an agenda for future research involving war, business, and society.
The sizeable theoretical and empirical literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics in Western, developed economies indicates that the topic has attracted significant interest from academics and practitioners. There is, however, less evidence of the practice of CSR and business ethics in non-Western, transition economies, as insufficient attention is paid to the contextual specifications and underlying processes that may lead to different versions of CSR. Therefore, this paper examines the practice and sense-making of CSR and business ethics from the perspective of the fertile and under researched post-communist context of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), to join the growing academic debate about the impact of cultural and historical traditions on the practice and sense-making of CSR and business ethics in non-Western contexts. The study adopts a particular focus on the post-communist and under researched context of Bulgaria where CSR is still a relatively new phenomenon. By following an exploratory research design and by collecting qualitative data from 34 executives employed by public and private sector organisations in Bulgaria, the study finds that the local business environment is composed of a complex mix of various institutionalised pressures and challenges that predispose organisations to adopt a particular approach to CSR, ethical misconduct and CSR-washing. Apart from the significant contributions related to the practice, understanding and contextualisation of CSR in non-Western countries, the study also identifies challenges of business ethics in transition economies and adds depth to the emerging literature on CSR-washing by proposing a model for neo-communist CSR-washing. The study also offers contributions for practitioners and policy-makers.
This special issue focuses on the developments in ethical standards in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) including the former Soviet Union. Over thirty years have elapsed since the demise of the Soviet Bloc and, despite some common institutional features, the societies have had very different experiences with uneven developments across the region since the collapse of communism. In this special issue, the authors explore business and management ethics situated within the context of the challenges that face these still transforming post-communist societies. The papers cover a range of issues and countries including Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia. Potential further avenues for research are identified in the field of business ethics in post-communist societies.
Existing scholarly work on corporate social responsibility (CSR) frequently emphasizes either normative/ethical claims about social progress or instrumental/strategic claims about corporate effectiveness, yet less often acknowledges the moral conditions of those undertaking CSR within a specific cultural context. In this paper, we draw attention to the social conditions in which CSR takes place and the related ethics of the subjects that must enact it. Our approach is to document the lived experiences of practitioners in Romania, a post-communist society. Drawing from fifty-three depth interviews with both corporate responsibility practitioners, and managers in non-profit organizations who together work on CSR projects, we describe their experiences of the social and organizational environment, the CSR practices that are undertaken in this context, and the intended and unintended consequences of such work. Using Bauman’s theorization of ethics, including adiaphora and moral distancing, and Borţun’s interpretation of Romanianness, we then theorize liquid CSR as an ambivalence between adiaphoric practice (instrumental morality, careerism and self-interest) and the moral impulse to do good, resulting in both intended (short-term promotion and competitive victimhood) and unintended consequences (a potential for corruption and collateral beneficiaries).
Higher education systems are caught between two dynamic processes, one referring to economic value and the other to status value. Although these political rationalities are presented as part of a coherent programme of reform and ‘modernization’, they pull higher education systems and the actors within them in contradictory directions. Their impact can collectively be referred to as research selectivity, since these rationalities encompass both research performativity and institutional practices of recognition and reward and subjective strategies. In this paper, we first aim to map the dominant orientations of higher education studies research and how they reflect the relationship between neoliberalism and the restructuring of higher education systems and research infrastructure. Our reading shows that this is a significant context for inquiring into research selectivity as it is enacted and, at the same time, suggests that we need to pay attention to the privileging of existing centres of higher education research and the relative absence of sustained focus on research selectivity in the non-core regions of Europe. Secondly, the paper puts forward the case for a sustained research agenda that focuses specifically on the identification of the differential impact of processes of research selectivity in non-core regions of Europe, organized around three intersecting themes – linguistic, epistemological, and disciplinary impact. Arguing for the importance and relevance of this research agenda for empirical research in Europe and globally, the paper emphasizes that its main objective is to create a critical space within which we can, collectively, think higher education otherwise.
Firms often lack competences and capabilities for creation and commercialization of innovations. The solution to this problem lies in sharing or acquisition of relevant resources through collaboration. The success of collaborative relationships depends on the type and the quality of partners involved and proximity between them. This is particularly true in emerging innovation systems of countries in transition from middle to high income levels. The objective of this paper is to explore whether collaboration with suppliers, customers, universities and research institutes and intra-group collaboration with partners of different origin in nine emerging innovation systems of Central and Eastern Europe facilitates commercialization of existing marginally modified, incrementally novel and radically novel products. Results of treatment analysis on a sample of over 10.000 firms from the Eurostat’s Community Innovation Survey reveal that domestic innovation competences and capabilities mostly fuel commercialization of existing products and that firms rely on a diverse network of collaborators. We find evidence of positive impact of collaboration on commercialization of existing products and to a lesser extent on incremental and radical innovations. Relevance of individual collaboration channels differs over countries. Among foreign partners, collaboration with entities from other European Union member states facilitates commercialization of existing products while partners from United States, China and India have positive effects on commercialization of incremental and radical innovations suggesting that cognitive proximity is more important than geographical, social, organizational and institutional proximities. Recommendations for formulation of innovation policies in emerging innovation systems are provided.
University and business cooperation offers many benefits not only for the parties involved. It translates into innovation and competitiveness of the economy. The relationship encounters many barriers that are related to the environment (both internal and external) in which it is implemented. The aim of the article is to identify the determinants of university-business cooperation (areas of cooperation, barriers, motivations) and to point out recommendations from the perspective of scientists in Poland and the United States (USA). The experience of USA researchers can be used as a background for considerations about cooperation between universities and business in Poland, and as an example of good practices for the purpose of supporting and improving the analyzed relationships. The article focuses on selected determinants of university and business cooperation: areas of cooperation, barriers limiting it, motivations for cooperation and the possible options for its improvement (recommendations of researchers). In order to achieve the assumed goals, an individual, in-depth interview was conducted with the use of a questionnaire as the research tool. The presented results of the research showed significant differences between the models of university and business cooperation in Poland and the USA.
This study reviews the presence of articles related to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in Web of Science (WOS).Bibliometric analysisfirst reveals the trends of CEE-related articles in the areas of international business (IB),management and economics up to 2016. The results show steady growth in absolute and relative numbers after1990, intensifying since 2010. Second, we conduct topic research using network analysis with blockmodeling.We identify a network of topics and their interrelations over time and used them to periodise the CEE-relatedresearch in IB. The most-cited CEE-related IB articles and the main citation path are also presented. The analysisadds to the discussion of how the CEE region is explored in IB research, its contributions, impacts and thechallenges facing regional research in the future. In this study, a methodology and framework for performing acomprehensive bibliometric analysis on regional IB research is applied.
This chapter discusses the institutionalization of responsible management education (RME). We start by reviewing different types of institutional pressures that have shaped the diffusion of RME, and we also discuss the relevance of selected institutional entrepreneurs which have influenced the acceptance of RME as a legitimized social practice. The following section focuses on the current status of institutionalization by demonstrating that many schools only symbolically adopt RME and hence decouple their public commitments from actual implementation practices. We review different types of decoupling in the business school context and discuss what determines whether a school decouples or not. The final section takes a look into the future and outlines an agenda for forthcoming scholarly work in this area. This section also discusses in what ways educational and organizational practices can be improved to avoid decoupling and to therefore move more strongly towards substantive implementation of RME.
The innovative environment and its elements are crucial determinants of the innovation activity of enterprises in developed economies. Also public authorities also focus on innovation environment development, which are being implemented with fi nancial support from public budgets. In developed countries, these incentives are geared to promoting cooperation, as it is a key element of any innovative environment. In Western economies, a certain Western innovation model is being implemented. However, its application in the CEE countries is signifi cantly limited due to the specifi c characteristics of these economies. Therefore, the main focus of the paper is to examine the impact of cooperation with different types of innovation partners on product innovation performance of manufacturing companies in small CEE countries. In the fi rst phase of the research, CIS data (from Eurostat) and its own regression models identify the types of co-operating partners (private and public) that have the most signifi cant impact on product innovation (researched separately in selected CEE countries). In the second part, the model is constructed so as to identify the predictors, the variables having a signifi cant impact on product innovations across countries (using a merged dataset from all analysed CEE countries). To expand knowledge about innovation and business performance, three variables were added to the model as control variables: Market orientation, company ownership, and public funding. The combined dataset of the fi ve CEE countries was again used to examine the impact of different types of co-operating partners on product innovation through a binary logistic regression model. Findings of logistic regression are encouraging; pointing out that the transition to a market economy with a delay has also encouraged the establishment of relationships between fi rms and private institutions in favour of boosting innovation performance. In doing so, CEE countries are gradually approaching the behaviour of fi rms in Western European countries.
This Issue begins with a paper by Kirchmayer, Remišová and Lašáková on ethical leadership in public and private organisations in Slovakia. Authentic leadership and interpersonal conflicts in Poland are further taken up by Sypniewska and Gigol. Perceptions of the ethical climate in Serbian tourism industry are explored by Dragin, Jovanović, Mijatov, Majstorović and Dragin. Prus takes us to the promotion of sustainable agriculture through the focused higher education on agriculture in Poland. Saveanu, Abrudan, Saveanu and Matei call for finding out predictors of CSR in small and medium enterprises operating in Romania. Potocan, Mulej and Nedelko at-tempt empirical investigation of employees’ attitudes towards natural, social and economic aspects of CSR in Slovenian organisations during two periods – economic crisis and recovery for a post-transition context. Rybnikova and Toleikienė turn to formal and informal elements of ethics management infrastructure in Lithuanian local government. This Issue concludes with a research note on the development towards corporate sustainability (morality and responsibility) in Estonian business by Kooskora and Cundiff.
Purpose
This paper aims to conceptualize impacts of higher education institutions (HEIs) on sustainable development (SD), complementing previous literature reviews by broadening the perspective from what HEIs do in pursuit of SD to how these activities impact society, the environment and the economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2005 and 2017. Inductive content analysis was applied to identify major themes and impact areas addressed in the literature to develop a conceptual framework detailing the relationship between HEIs’ activities and their impacts on SD.
Findings
The paper identifies six impact areas where direct and indirect impacts of HEIs on SD may occur. The findings indicate a strong focus on case studies dealing with specific projects and a lack of studies analyzing impacts from a more holistic perspective.
Practical implications
This systematic literature review enables decision-makers in HEIs, researchers and educators to better understand how their activities may affect society, the environment and the economy, and it provides a solid foundation to tackle these impacts.
Social implications
The review highlights that HEIs have an inherent responsibility to make societies more sustainable. HEIs must embed SD into their systems while considering their impacts on society.
Originality/value
This paper provides a holistic conceptualization of HEIs’ impacts on SD. The conceptual framework can be useful for future research that attempts to analyze HEIs’ impacts on SD from a holistic perspective.
The adoption of market orientation practices at the Higher Education Institutions is a rising trend, since the challenges of changing the global higher education environment raise a growing issue for meeting the needs of the global market. Developing an appropriate strategy to cope with all of the requirements of the global education market changes and competitive pressures is especially challenging for University Business Schools in transition countries. The paper is based upon an identification of a variety of theoretical perspectives about the global education market, its trends and influences on those schools in the aspects of market orientation. Conceptual framework analysis was used to characterise the market orientation of Business Schools as an opportunity for the strategic business model of University Business Schools in transition countries. Key factors and indicators for understanding their environment were identified, structured and categorised within a theoretical framework. These factors reflect the evolving context of reformation of the existing business model of University Business Schools in transition countries in a comprehensive way, since the framework outlines the complexity of their adaptation, considering the linkages and dependencies of all the crucial global external in internal environment trends and aspects. The authors suggest that, in order to align their business model more adequately to the global market needs and develop a sustainable competitive position, University Business Schools from transition countries have to follow the market orientation principles, taking into account also the limitations and challenges from a wider social and institutional environment.
In our research, we examine the efforts made by Latin American business schools in the last decade to deliver a value-based education. We carry out a survey with a sample of faculty members and program directors from the whole region. We find that societal demands influenced the direction of managerial education toward values and social responsibility, changing contents and teaching methodologies in the process. Our research shows that the teaching of value-based contents—social responsibility, business ethics and environmental sustainability—has gained ground in the region in the last decade, and that the emphasis on value-based contents goes hand-in-hand with a more intensive use of active learning methodologies—the case method in particular. From the perspective of respondents, the emphasis on active learning seems to correlate positively with observed changes in students’ civility.
Purpose
The authors concentrated on ESD principles and their manifestation in higher education in Central and Eastern European countries which share a similar policy situation owing to post-socialist transition processes.
Design/methodology/approach
Observations from comprehensive mapping of ESD in professional development of university educators in CEE within the UE4SD project provided the initial input for this research. To justify the findings, a questionnaire was distributed among informed respondents and assessed qualitatively. ESD success factors were identified to support the interpretation of the results within the overall HE policy context.
Findings
Opportunities for educators’ competence development are lower and less diverse in the CEE region than in other parts of Europe. Historical reasons and the policy context may contribute to this situation; the most important factor being the underfinanced higher education sector which is currently undergoing profound structural transformation.
Research limitations/implications
The sample of respondents is not representative; they are informed experts in ESD. The results are of an illustrative nature; different sources of information are combined to draw a broad picture.
Practical implications
Originality/value
This research is based on more than two years of cooperation within a broad partnership of European universities; it represents a contribution to the debate from a specific regional perspective. It shows opportunities for critical, creative and participatory approaches in HE, analyzes current trends in historical and policy contexts, and provides impulses for theoretically and practically oriented efforts.
There is a resurgence in responsible management education, with business schools' considering its adoption as vital for business courses. Nevertheless, initiating institution-wide changes for responsible management education is an inherently complex activity in business schools, requiring not only revisions in their curriculum, but also sustained faculty and institutional support. This paper explores this complexity in one UK business school, a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Management Education, who have commenced a programme of change in RME. Based on primary data obtained from two workshops with the business schools' faculty, a student survey and a systematic analysis of the curriculum of four undergraduate degrees and two post-graduate degrees, we find that misalignment between faculty skills and institutional bureaucracy, together with an inconsistent focus on responsible management across the curriculum raises key challenges for its adoption. We extend the premise that significant change in RME, requires fundamental changes of a business school's own ethos of what responsibility means to itself.
The aim of the article is to examine to what extent can the different formal components of an
ethics program of the organization influence ethical thinking of managers. As the main source
of information, an extensive empirical research was carried out on a sample of 810 managers
working in the Slovak business environment. The authors studied eleven formal elements of
the ethics program and found out that all positively referred to the ethical thinking of managers.
Thus organizations, in which formal elements of an ethics program are applied, have a greater
ability to influence the ethical thinking of managers than organizations, which avoid the
respective ethical mechanisms.
Full text available open access at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951617304388
While studies on international corporate social responsibility (CSR) have expanded significantly, their true global nature can be questioned. We systematically review 494 articles in 31 journals over a 31-year period. We assess the embeddedness of CSR in international management/business (IB); analyze the coverage of developing, emerging, and developed countries; map the literature thematically; summarize key findings; discuss main empirical features; and identify unanswered questions, implications, and best practices. We find that international CSR research is far from being global and still emerging in ‘mainstream’ IB. This comprehensive review also helps to set an agenda for future international CSR scholarship.
Do firms benefit from their voluntary efforts to alleviate the many problems confronting society? A vast literature establishing a “business case” for corporate social responsibility (CSR) appears to find that usually they do. However, as argued herein, the business case literature has established only that firms usually benefit from responding to the demands of their primary stakeholders. The nature of the relationship between the interests of business and those of broader society, beyond a subset of powerful primary stakeholders, remains an open question despite this vast literature. This article develops a set of propositions that highlight constraints on firms’ ability to profit from CSR and outlines a set of managerial challenges on which researchers must focus their attention to truly determine whether and when firms can profit by responding to the needs of society.
This article introduces the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the seemingly oxymoronic context of Chinese “authoritarian capitalism.” Following an introduction to the emergence of authoritarian capitalism, the article considers the emergence of CSR in China using Matten and Moon’s framework of explaining CSR development in terms both of a business system’s historic institutions and of the impacts of new institutionalism on corporations arising from societal pressures in their global and national environments. We find two forms of CSR in China, reflecting the “multiplexity” of its business system: one in the mainly family-owned small and medium-sized enterprise sector reflecting concern with local reputation, and another in the corporate, mainly state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector, reflecting global and national societal expectations. We investigate the dynamics of CSR in China through the interplay of the global and national societal pressures and mediating and even leading roles played by the State and the Party. We consider the conceptual integrity and practical prospects for “state-led society-driven” CSR and future research opportunities, including those opened up by the three contributing articles to this special issue.
As demand grows from various stakeholders for responsible management education (RME) in business schools, it is essential to understand how corporate social responsibility (CSR) and RME are perceived by various subgroups of business students. Following the principles of theories on moral orientation and moral development, we examined the role of gender and age in determining four indicators of business students’ moral approach (i.e., values, CSR attitudes, corporate responsibility priorities, and suggestions toward RME) in the context of business schools committed to RME and CSR. Based on nearly 1300 responses to a survey, conducted with the United Nations-supported principles for responsible management education, we show that overall, female students placed a higher value on ethical responsibilities than male students. Female students were also more welcoming than male students regarding curriculum changes that were focused on CSR-related studies (or RME). In addition, older age groups ranked transcendent values and positive CSR attitudes higher than younger age groups. We also found that the subgroups of the age variable could better discriminate the differences in choices made by the respondents between the four indicators of students’ moral approach. The implications of our findings to RME, business schools, and other stakeholders are discussed.
Knowledge transfer between universities and organizations is essential, not only for the organizations involved but also for the broader innovation system. Understanding the factors that drive or inhibit this process thus becomes a priority. Yet, the increasingly prolific academic literature dealing with university-business cooperation possesses a strong focus on barriers rather than drivers and only examines few of the cooperation activities that exist in practice. This paper offers a comprehensive review and analysis of an extensive set of barriers and drivers across seven university-business cooperation activities with a large sample of European academics from 33 countries. Results highlight that while the identified drivers significantly affect the development of all cooperation activities, barriers have more diverse effects. While significantly limiting research and valorization activities, they barely impact cooperation in education. Additionally, results show that even if academics perceive no barriers they still may not cooperate with business if there are no drivers in place. This paper concludes by discussing the relevant implications for research, management and policy development regarding university-business cooperation, leading to directions for future research.
This contribution summarizes the outcomes of the research produced within the framework of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme Jean Monnet’s BRIDGE project and focuses on the research dissemination in the field of economic governance that must be considered by the Central and Eastern European countries in the EU context. The topics mentioned above became the core of this special issue of Economics and Sociology journal. Prior to the EU enlargement, the EU accession and the subsequent Euro adoption were viewed as a solution to economic problems such a lack of fiscal discipline, high inflation expectations, volatile exchange rates, and a lack of efficient investments into R&D and technology. The scope of these problems was defined by both the transition from the socialist to market economy as well as the economic policies preceding the EU entry. Moreover, the changing global environment and demographic trends also had their significant role. After the EU accession and a relatively short interim period, the financial crisis changed the EU economic governance and consequently the implications of the EU entry for the CEE.
The purpose of this article on corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts and practices, referred to as just 'social responsibility' (SR) in the period before the rise and dominance of the corporate form of business organization, is to provide an overview of how the concept and practice of SR or CSR has grown, manifested itself, and flourished. It considers how the CSR concept, expanded from its focus on a few stakeholders, close at hand, to be more far reaching and inclusive, eventually becoming global in scope. In addition, it briefly considers what organizational activities and changes have taken place to accommodate these new initiatives, to the point at which it has become fully institutionalized today. It becomes apparent that today, well into the first decade of the 2000s, CSR in many firms is moving towards full integration with strategic management and corporate governance.
This paper evaluates the ways in which European business schools are implementing sustainability and ethics into their curricula. Drawing on data gathered by a recent large study that the Academy of Business in Society conducted in cooperation with EFMD conducted, we map the approaches that schools are currently employing by drawing on and expanding Rusinko’s (Acad Manag Learn Educ 9(3):507–519 2010) and Godemann et al.’s (2011) matrice of integrating sustainability in business and management schools. We show that most schools adopt one or more of the four approaches outlined by Godemann et al. (2011). However, we also argue that a fifth dimension needs to be added as the existing matrices do not capture the systemic nature of such curricular initiatives and how these are influenced by internal factors within the business school and external factors beyond. We suggest calling this fifth dimension ‘Systemic Institutional Integration’ and demonstrate that any business school which aims to integrate sustainability further into the curricula cannot succeed without the following: (1) Systemic thinking and systemic leadership, (2) Connectedness to business, the natural environment and society and (3) Institutional capacity building. Utilising further literature and the answers provided by the deans and faculty, we discuss each factor in turn and suggest paths towards the successful systemic institutional integration of sustainability and ethics into management education.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to gain a greater depth of understanding of both the pressures and barriers for embedding responsible management education (RME) within business and management schools.
Design/methodology/approach
– This paper utilises a longitudinal case study design of six business/management schools.
Findings
– This research identifies a set of institutional pressures and barriers for RME in the business schools selected. First, the pressures appear to come from a number of external business school sources and the barriers from a series of organisational resource and individual factors.
Research limitations/implications
– RME cannot be seen as just a bolt on. The orientation needs to change to view RME as requiring a shift in culture/purpose/identity. Due to the barriers this will require systemic organisational change at all levels and an organisational change process to bring about implementation.
Practical implications
– The results clearly show these market pressures are no passing fad. Failure to respond in a systemic way will mean business schools will run into serious problems with legitimacy.
Originality/value
– This paper fulfils a need for an in depth study of a number of business schools to identify the barriers to RME. This is now a critical issue for schools and this research has provided a number of practical recommendations which will help business schools overcome the identified barriers.
The corporate social responsibility strategies that companies will incorporate depend on the commitments and decisions that future generations will make. Under the Principles for Responsible Management Education framework, universities must foster skills that will influence the ethical behaviours and decisions of their students so that they can respond to the new needs of business. In the business world, ethical commitment is articulated through corporate social responsibility (CSR); therefore, it is of interest to know the extent to which a university's ethical instruction is received by students and the factors that influence it, as well as the extent to which they are associated with their orientation toward CSR.
This study analyses the impact of university instruction in business ethics on students' economic and social visions and the effect they have on their orientation toward CSR. Based on the answers to a questionnaire from a sample of 151 students, the relationship between ethical instruction and CSR orientation and the factors that reinforce this relationship are analysed using structural equations. The results show that the instruction given, family education (values) and social vision are positively associated with the students’ orientation toward CSR, while economic vision, which is traditionally transmitted through the subjects of the degree, is negatively associated.
The paper explores the process of integration of CEE countries into the broader EU and global research landscapes in social sciences. We use bibliometric data extracted from the Scopus database for the 1996–2017 period and investigate changes between pre- and post-EU accession periods for 11 new and 4 prospective EU members, all post-socialist countries. In line with the previous literature, the descriptive statistic indicates that productivity in terms of the number of papers as well as the ratio of published papers in non-CEE vs. CEE journals has improved. The citation ratios are strongly in favor of non-CEE journals across all fields of social sciences. In general, productivity rises, while impact remains moderate with variations across scientific fields. Thus, the process of integration is in place, albeit at a slow pace.
The study aims to identify the typical key factors of ethical thinking and behaviour in Central and East European (CEE) countries, and regard them from the experience of privatization and transformation process in the Czech Republic. The background of ethical scandals and dilemmas of CEE countries reflects their roots in socialist education and state-planned economy, which are based on Marxism, which had and has serious consequences. The study describes the main philosophical reasons affecting the managerial limits in the ethical context of business and management behaviour after the transformation period with the apparent challenges in management thinking and executive education for today. The following description and interpretation of the fundamental implications of the presented analysis for managerial responsibility and ethics are discussed with the relevant professional literature that illuminates the personal, social and economic long-term consequences. Cross-country comparisons reflect developments in the European Union, the Amnesty International Corruption Index and other specific influences according to regional sources. Resulting challenges relate to challenges of business and management philosophy in business schools. The conclusion shows the space for the following professional discussion with European partners and PRME signatories regarding the ethical challenges for executive education and sustainability management in CEE. Recent academic publications show that managerial responsibility and ethical behaviour are increasingly in the focus of interest of both academics and company management.
This paper is intended to foster debate on the relevance of social responsibility (SR) and sustainability maturity integration in education for sustainable development goals to be fully achieved. Several contributions are made. First, a set of criteria for the identification, description, and categorisation of the maturity of SR/sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs) is provided. Therefore, the basis for the development of reliable tools for the assessment of the effectiveness of responsibility teaching in HEI's are posed. The theoretical value of the paper also results from proposing an integrated conceptual framework of SR/sustainability maturity integration in HEIs, which allows for future empirical research in the field. HEI's management and educators may also find areas where improvements in the effectiveness of their commitment towards social responsibility and sustainability are advisable and identify measures with the greatest viability and potential. Finally, academia executives and policymakers may derive policy indications for the enhancement of the university system and the development of policies that would facilitate HEIs embracing Education for Sustainable Development.
We investigate how media attention to large-scale corporate scandals has changed over time, and how the clustering of different scandals alters media attention to individual scandals. Building on the literature on media agenda-setting, we examine quality newspaper coverage for a sample of 123 major corporate scandals between 1990 and 2016. Whilst previous studies have typically examined specific corporate scandals in isolation, we find that the interplay of scandals is characterized both by crowding-in processes (or hype effects) – which predominantly occur when scandals fall into different categories – and crowding-out processes (or boredom effects) – which dominate when scandals are of one and the same category. Over time, and reflecting the emergence of social media, we find substantial changes in attention patterns, where more recent scandals have attracted significantly higher peaks of attention followed by a much steeper decline.
Embedded Politics offers a unique framework for analyzing the impact of past industrial networks on the way postcommunist societies build new institutions to govern the restructuring of their economies. Drawing on a detailed analysis of communist Czechoslovakia and contemporary Czech industries and banks, Gerald A. McDermott argues that restructuring is best advanced through the creation of deliberative or participatory forms of governance that encourages public and private actors to share information and take risks. Further, he contends that institutional and organizational changes are intertwined and that experimental processes are shaped by how governments delegate power to local public and private actors and monitor them. Using comparative case analysis of several manufacturing sectors, Embedded Politics accounts for change and continuity in the formation of new economic governance institutions in the Czech Republic. It analytically links the macropolitics of state policy with the micropolitics of industrial restructuring. Thus the book advances an alternative approach for the comparative study of institutional change and industrial adjustment. As a historical and contemporary analysis of Czech firms and public institutions, this book will command the attention of students of postcommunist reforms, privatization, and political-economic transitions in general. But also given its interdisciplinary approach and detailed empirical analysis of policy-making and firm behavior, Embedded Politics is a must read for scholars of politics, economics, sociology, political economy, business organization, and public policy. Gerald A. McDermott is Assistant Professor of Management in The Wharton School of Management at The University of Pennsylvania. His research applies recent advances in comparative political economy and industrial organization, including theories of social networks, historical institutionalism, and incomplete markets to analyze issues of economic governance, firm creation, and industrial restructuring in advanced and newly industrialized countries. As evidenced by Embedded Politics, his current focus is on problems of institutional and organizational learning in the formation of meso-level governance institutions in emerging market and postsocialist economies. © by the University of Michigan Press 2002. All rights reserved.
Scholarly impact is typically conceptualized and measured as an internal exchange that occurs among researchers in the form of citations in journal articles. We offer an expanded conceptualization and measurement of scholarly impact by investigating knowledge transfer to a critical management education constituency: students. To do so, we investigated which sources (e.g., peer-reviewed journals, business periodicals); individual items (e.g., journal articles, book chapters); and authors are most frequently cited in 38 widely used organizational behavior, human resource management, strategic management, and general management undergraduate-level textbooks. By extracting all endnotes and references, we created a database including 7,445 sources, 33,719 articles and book chapters, and 32,981 authors (and their affiliations) cited at least once. Results showed a weak relationship between journals, articles, and authors cited most frequently in journals and those most frequently cited in textbooks. We also found that students are exposed to knowledge and content originating both in academic and non-academic outlets. Results have implications for theory and practice regarding the science–practice gap and a consideration of students as stakeholders, the conceptualization and measurement of scholarly impact and the design of academic performance management and reward systems, and choices regarding what knowledge academics create and disseminate.
This paper examines the area of business ethics in subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in the Czech Republic. The empirical investigation involved 335 subsidiaries from sectors in which business activities in the Czech Republic predominate according to the official CZ NACE statistical european classification (Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Com-munautés Européennes), with differentiation according to the size, legal form and ownership of the multinational company in the subsidiary operating in the Czech Republic. The results obtained indicate that a code of ethics has a significant prevalence in subsidiaries of multinational companies. It was demonstrated that the introduction of a code of ethics is related to the national culture of the head office, which is its main creator. By contrast, the effects of a code of ethics on financial performance are not statistically significant. © 2018, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co. All rights reserved.
The article introduces a special issue of Policy Futures in Education on changes and challenges in educational policies and systems of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The countries in the region share some characteristics, such as their historical experience with the authoritarian–socialist or communist rule and its impact on education policies, as well as their long-lasting economic semi-peripherality. Differences within the region are also discussed in the article: from macro-level economic gaps to relative dissimilarities of education systems’ structures, as well as international assessment benchmarks. The articles in this issue present analyses of educational policies in Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. A theme that emerges most clearly across these texts is the complexity of East–West relationships. Read together, the contributions serve as a call for a more nuanced and contextualized look at CEE. Transformation of educational systems that entails the interplay of past legacies and borrowed policies can bring about troubling outcomes, exacerbated by the entanglement of education in a wider agenda.
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.
Globally, societies face enormous social, economic and environmental challenges, such as scarcity of resources, demographic developments, climate change, inequality, etc. The degree of success in coping with these complex issues and fostering sustainable development depends largely on educational standards in society. This paper aims at investigating the relationship between sustainable development goals (SDGs) and education in business schools. Therefore, a case study of a business school in Germany is analysed based on its educational activities (curricula, co-curricula and outside university) in the field of sustainable management education. The methods employed for the analysis are action research and keyword search. The contribution of this work is firstly to outline the implementation practice of sustainable management education in a business school and secondly to propose a conceptual model of how business schools can contribute to SDGs. The findings offer valuable insights for other business schools into how to integrate sustainability into their management education. On the policy level the proposed influence of business schools on SDGs is beneficial for educational institutions such as PRME.
Using a sample of 72 European and 22 North American educational institutions, we examine the extent to which business schools in North America and Europe are driving educational programs and initiatives in corporate social responsibility and sustainability (CSRS). Drawing on several theoretical perspectives, such as institutional-comparative perspectives and resource dependence theory, the study indicates the increasing prominence of CSRS education in business schools on both continents. It does so through analysis of the extent to which business schools offer (a) dedicated CSRS programs, (b) CSRS tracks and majors, (c) compulsory CSRS classes or modules, and (d) optional CSRS modules across the range of taught programs. Contrary to some previous findings, religious affiliation, public/private status, and program size had only a negligible direct association with schools' commitment to CSRS education. However, business school prestige showed a statistically significant relationship. Finally, the study highlights how European respondents' perceptions concerning the primary drivers and constraints of CSRS initiatives differed from those in North America.
In February 1921 Russia established a State General Planning Commission to work out and implement a unified economic plan for the national economy. For 70 years this Commission, known as Gosplan for short, played a significant, but varying role in Russian and Soviet economic life. Under the influence of the Soviet example, planning organizations spread throughout the world, to state socialist countries, to OECD countries such as France, the Netherlands and Japan, and also to third world countries such as India. In April 1991, deeply discredited by the poor performance of the Soviet economy and the ideological developments of 1985–90, Gosplan was trans-formed into a Ministry of Economic Affairs and Forecasting with substantially different tasks. Socialist planning had come to an end in the USSR even prior to the end of the USSR itself. What explains these dramatic developments?
The development of CSR in Lithuania is closely related to the European Union harmonisation processes and other external pressures such as those exerted by western business contractors, which demand social and environmental standards from their suppliers. The country’s CSR is dominated by large often foreign companies operating in service industries such as telecommunications and banking that bring considerable expertise and investments in CSR programmes as a part of their reputation and brand management. CSR management systems with institutionalised tools or new business models only exist in a few companies. Small and medium sized companies lack the motivation and resources to implement CSR. Barriers to CSR development exist not only due to economic factors such as low purchasing power but also socio-cultural factors. In particular, the rudiments of the Soviet past impede this development, as society has become used to imitating standards or presenting descriptions of the desired situation as reality, violating laws and regulations without any consequences to the violators, problem-solving through talking to acquaintances or friends in power or kick-backing, and CSR statements or reports still being viewed with scepticism as public relations campaigns. The civic society is fragmented and not ready to encourage responsible businesses through their purchasing decisions. Public institutions demonstrate little accountability to tax payers and high officials escape responsibility for socially detrimental decisions, providing bad examples and role models to business and society and generating scepticism about the possibility of change. Therefore, CSR remains an aspiration rather than a reality.
The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility is a review of the academic research that has both prompted, and responded to, the issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Business schools, the media, the corporate sector, governments, and non-governmental organizations have all begun to pay more attention to these issues in recent years. These issues encompass broad questions about the changing relationship between business, society and government, environmental issues, corporate governance, the social and ethical dimensions of management, globalization, stakeholder debates, shareholder and consumer activism, changing political systems and values, and the ways in which corporations can respond to new social imperatives. The book, which provides clear thinking and new perspectives on CSR and the debates around it, is divided into seven key sections: introduction; perspectives on CSR; critiques of CSR; actors and drivers; managing CSR; CSR in a global context; future perspectives and conclusions.
Sustainable development is a matter of great concern to both countries and individuals alike. Whereas in the late 1980s sustainable development was perceived as a matter of concern only to nations, there has been an increased awareness about the fact that it permeates all parts of our lives. Some of the trends related to the evolution of sustainable development can be seen among various sectors, also at universities. Due to their relevance, universities are uniquely placed to pass on the messages of sustainable development to a wide audience. Yes, this potential has not yet been fully realised. This paper describes the evolution of the concept of sustainable development and process behind the its establishment at university level, including an analysis of the problems related to it and their roots. It also states what universities need to do in order to claim excellence in the held of sustainable development, listing a set of criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to achieve this goal.
As examinations of the ethics of business practice have increased so too have questions regarding the role of business schools. A key aspect of this re-evaluation has been the emergence of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education, reflecting the growing emphasis upon ‘soft regulation’ and voluntary action within new governance frameworks around responsible business practice. This article focuses upon the changing nature of responsible management education within UK business schools and examines the potential role of Principles for Responsible Management Education in shaping these developments. The article examines the findings of two surveys of responsible management education conducted in 2006/2007 and 2009/2010, and qualitative data derived from case studies of five Principles for Responsible Management Education signatory schools. The article questions whether there is any direct evidence for Principles for Responsible Management Education as a driver of curriculum change. It suggests that its primary impact may lie with its facilitative capacity and the ability of active faculty members in utilising this capacity.