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Reflections and reflective practice to advance responsible management education for sustainability: the case of an Australian MBA programme

Ki-Hoon Lee (Griffith Business School, Griffith University Brisbane, Gold Coast, Australia)
Rob Hales (Griffith University Brisbane, Gold Coast, Australia)

Rob Hales is the Director of the Griffith Centre for Sustainable Enterprise in the Griffith Business School. The Centre oversees the sustainability strategy and initiatives of the Griffith Business School. He is the co-chair of the Griffith’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Working Group which oversees the SDG Strategy and Times Higher Education Impact ranking processes of the university.

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

ISSN: 1467-6370

Article publication date: 28 October 2021

Issue publication date: 10 May 2022

795

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore Master of Business Administration (MBA) students’ “reflections” and/or “reflection on practice” of sustainability into responsible management education using Bain et al.’s (2002) 5Rs (reporting, responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing) reflective scale.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a case study approach using content analysis and written reflective journals analysis from MBA students’ assignments.

Findings

This study revealed that responding and relating (emotionally-based reflections) scales are dominant reflections while reasoning (cognitively-based reflections) is a slightly less dominant reflection. The findings confirm that effective management education for sustainability should encourage and motivate students to reflect on their emotional learning to improve leadership values, attitudes and activities. Such reflection can lead to transformative experiences.

Research limitations/implications

This study adopted a small-scale content analysis using an Australian university’s MBA case. To increase validity and generalisation, researchers will benefit from a wide range of quantitative analyses in different countries and cultural contexts.

Practical implications

Curriculum design using reflections and reflective journals should be enhanced in management education for the practice of sustainability and/or sustainable development.

Social implications

Higher education should encourage socially and environmentally responsible management in programme and curriculum design with a reflective approach.

Originality/value

This study presents a conceptual framework and analysis approaches that can serve as some bases for the development of a more robust analysis in responsible management education.

Keywords

Citation

Lee, K.-H. and Hales, R. (2022), "Reflections and reflective practice to advance responsible management education for sustainability: the case of an Australian MBA programme", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 1158-1172. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2021-0135

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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