Structural drivers and barriers to the strategic integration of sustainability in US B-schools
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 21 November 2022
Issue publication date: 18 May 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore structural drivers and barriers that distinguish US business school Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) signatories from nonsignatory peer institutions, and identify structural drivers of PRME institution strategic integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their ongoing responsible management education reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a case–control method to compare the US PRME signatory sample to a size-matched random sample of US business management programs/schools. This study uses conditional inference tree and correlation analyses to highlight distinctive structural characteristics associated with US PRME signatories and with their strategies to highlight sustainability through the SDGs.
Findings
There are significant and practically meaningful structural differences between US-based PRME signatories and US programs/schools that have not adopted the PRME principles. Further, PRME schools differentially integrate SDGs in their information sharing based on structural characteristics.
Practical implications
Understanding school/program characteristics that align with PRME and different sustainability strategies affords a better comprehension of where targeted resources might be most effective in broadening the appeal and adoption of PRME and subsequent sustainability strategy integration.
Originality/value
While previous work on PRME signatories has depended heavily on case studies of successful implementation and has examined the content of PRME activity by school, the present work compares the population of actual US signatories with a random sample of nonsignatories to determine leverage points for enacting broader PRME adoption. The study also examines the strategies that PRME schools use to integrate the UN SDGs and the structures that support such.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and editor for their constructive comments and feedback. The author received no outside financial support for this study.
Citation
Abzug, R. (2023), "Structural drivers and barriers to the strategic integration of sustainability in US B-schools", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 986-1001. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2021-0433
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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