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1 – 10 of over 1000Alana Guadagnin, Jandir Pauli, Juliane Ruffatto and Leila Dal Moro
For sustainable strategies to be developed in business schools, it is essential to understand which sustainability drivers and barriers are identified by academic managers and…
Abstract
Purpose
For sustainable strategies to be developed in business schools, it is essential to understand which sustainability drivers and barriers are identified by academic managers and coordinators in the implementation of sustainable practices. In this scenario, the study aims to understand the barriers and possible drivers for the implementation of sustainability practices in Brazilian business schools. The subjects are managers and coordinators of business schools that are part of the Principles for Responsible Executive Education Network – Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Chapter Brazil/UN.
Design/methodology/approach
Descriptive research with a qualitative approach was conducted to achieve this objective. The study included academic managers, responsible for the general management of academic and administrative activities and coordinators, responsible for supervising and coordinating academic activities in a specific area, of schools that are part of PRME Chapter Brazil (interviews). For data analysis, the content analysis technique was used.
Findings
Taking into account the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) as categories of analysis, as well as management, curriculum and teaching as subcategories, the study identified 10 barriers and 12 drivers.
Originality/value
The results reveal that both the barriers and the drivers are supported by the social pillar, which focuses on the academic community and society as a whole. The “Management” subcategory was also the most mentioned, indicating guidelines for the strategic academic management of these organizations.
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This paper aims to theoretically answer the question: why might business schools in Egypt fail to develop responsible leaders?
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to theoretically answer the question: why might business schools in Egypt fail to develop responsible leaders?
Design/methodology/approach
The author starts by discussing modernization theory (Lipset, 1959) – which highlights the idea that the more educated people there are in a given society/nation, the more calls for democracy, social citizenship and social justice will be launched – to address the strong association between the quality of business learning and the development of responsible leadership norms. Moving forward by focusing on the theory of education (Dewey, 1916) and institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983), the author finds the main conditions needed to develop responsible leadership norms among business school students.
Findings
The author identified the following three necessary conditions: implementing responsible management education, sustaining management learning and ensuring that a purposive hidden curriculum is well-planned in business schools. The author sees these as the main priorities for developing responsible leadership skills among business school students in Egypt and similar post revolution countries.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by filling a gap in responsible leadership, public administration and higher education literature, in which conceptual studies on the role of business schools in post-revolution periods and conflict zones has been limited until now.
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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…
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.
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Claudia W. Tridapalli and Oliver Elliott
Sustainability has emerged as a key concept in 21st-century education. The purpose of this paper is to identify faculty’s behavior and barriers to incorporating sustainability in…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability has emerged as a key concept in 21st-century education. The purpose of this paper is to identify faculty’s behavior and barriers to incorporating sustainability in business school classrooms and suggest potential ways to tackle them.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses focus groups and interviews with faculty at a European business school using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore their beliefs and practices in incorporating sustainability in the classroom.
Findings
The results show that business school faculty have a strong awareness of sustainability and a desire to incorporate it into the classrooms. Recommendations for deans and curriculum creators are proposed to reduce obstacles to successful implementation.
Originality/value
The perceptions of faculty, a key agent of change in the incorporation of sustainability in the classroom, are analyzed, and practical steps to support them are suggested through the use of a TPB framework.
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Vasilis Gkogkidis and Nicholas Dacre
Research into responsible management education has largely focused on the merits, attributes, and transformation opportunities to enhance responsible business school education…
Abstract
Research into responsible management education has largely focused on the merits, attributes, and transformation opportunities to enhance responsible business school education aims. As such, a prominent part of the literature has occupied itself with examining if responsible management modules are inherently considered a non-crucial element of the curriculum and determining the extent to which business schools have introduced such learning content into their curriculum. However, there has been scant research into how to apply novel teaching approaches to engage students and promote responsible management education endeavours. As such, this paper seeks to address this gap through the development of a teaching framework to support educators in designing effective learning environments focused on responsible management education. We draw on constructivist learning theories and Lego Serious Play (LSP) as a learning enhancement approach to develop a pedagogical framework titled The Educator's LSP Journey. LSP is chosen due to its increasing application in learning environments to help promote critical discourse, and engage with highly complex problems, whether these are social, economic, environmental, or organisational. Therefore, this paper contributes to the responsible management education discourse by providing educators with a practical methodology to support student engagement and co-creation of knowledge by fostering exploratory learning environments and enriching the practices of active learning communities.
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Rasha Goumaa, Amanda Hay and Lamia El Ayouby
Reflecting emerging concerns about Principles of Responsible Management Education’s (PRME's) reach beyond the West, the authors provide an analysis of its contribution to…
Abstract
Purpose
Reflecting emerging concerns about Principles of Responsible Management Education’s (PRME's) reach beyond the West, the authors provide an analysis of its contribution to responsible management development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on 18 PRME MENA signatories' Sharing Information on Progress Reports, the authors examine levels of engagement with PRME, as well the practices used in the region to progress its six principles. The authors examine the depth of integration based on Rusinko's (2010) typology and its success in addressing local responsible management challenges.
Findings
The analysis revealed modest levels of engagement with PRME in MENA. Consistent with other regions, for those actively participating, the authors identified a wide variation in PRME responses. First, the authors found wide variation in the interpretation of the six principles. Second, the authors found a diversity of practices, especially the extent to which efforts were linked to progressing local management challenges. Third, the authors also found variability relating to the depth of PRME's integration into the curricular of MENA signatories with, most displaying Ruskino's (2010) narrower approaches.
Originality/value
The authors address calls to understand the contribution of PRME beyond Western contexts and offer suggestions for how PRME can be strengthened to facilitate responsible management development in MENA.
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This paper proposes the development of a student-led pedagogic tool in an undergraduate development economics module offered in a UK business school. It uses the developing…
Abstract
This paper proposes the development of a student-led pedagogic tool in an undergraduate development economics module offered in a UK business school. It uses the developing country informal sector as an illustrative example. The informal sector plays a huge role in contributing towards job creation, income generation, and poverty alleviation in developing countries. The overall goal of the tool is to propose recommendations of mechanisms that can be used to incentivise the informal sector to embed responsible management in their practice. The tool is to be jointly developed with students and other stakeholders in a developing country. Students are expected to acquire skills related to researching pertinent topics in the development economics field, critiquing policies and frameworks developed by global intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, and engaging with global stakeholders who are directly and indirectly impacted by these policies and frameworks. The paper highlights the connection between development economics, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). The development of the tool also provides an avenue for business school students to bridge current gaps in educational institutions in developing countries in engaging with the PRME. The activities discussed in the paper present opportunities for business schools to be innovative and flexible in how they deliver responsible management education. This can ultimately expand the diversity of stakeholder involvement in contributing towards the SDGs and responsible management.
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Noor Ul Hadi and Assim Ibrhaim Abdel-Razzaq
Several studies have attempted to explain the integration of sustainable development in business school curricula. However, little is known about who (male students vs female…
Abstract
Purpose
Several studies have attempted to explain the integration of sustainable development in business school curricula. However, little is known about who (male students vs female students), at which age (under 21, 21–25 and 26–30) and at which stage of their undergraduate education (freshman, junior or senior) can attain and retain an adequate understanding of sustainability in accounting education. For this reason, the present study aims to investigate the students' interest in sustainability in accounting with respect to their demographic factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a quantitative research design where data were collected at a single point in time. Further, an independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and factorial design were performed on 132 responses conveniently collected from accounting students in the College of Business Administration (COBA) at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (PMU) in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
Findings
The study found no differences between the attitudes of male and female students toward sustainability in accounting education. Similarly, no statistical differences were found in the three age categories identified in this study. However, significant results were found throughout the different academic classifications (seniority): freshman students, junior students and senior students. Further, differences in the mean scores for freshman and junior accounting students were different between the male and female students, indicating that both male and female senior students' attitudes toward sustainability in accounting education were higher than those of male and female freshman and junior accounting students. The study concluded that students achieve an adequate understanding of sustainability in accounting education related to the relativism category of the Perry model of intellectual development.
Originality/value
Literature on attitude of students toward sustainability in education, specifically accounting education, is questionable and needs further exploration. This is due to the fact that only a small number of accounting students have been exposed to sustainable accounting education. Similarly, a recent study found a significant deficiency in sustainable accounting education in four Saudi Arabian universities, with only 4.5% of respondents knowing the comprehensive definition of sustainable development and 88% respondents having very low to low familiarity with the term sustainability.
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Nisha Prakash and Aparna Hawaldar
In 1991, India embarked on market-based economic reforms initiatives pillared on liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). The reforms exposed the public sector…
Abstract
Purpose
In 1991, India embarked on market-based economic reforms initiatives pillared on liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). The reforms exposed the public sector enterprises to competitive market forces, raising the need to identify and develop the competencies necessary for survival. Executive training programs were initiated to prepare public enterprises for the market-based reforms. Three decades later, the reforms especially privatization is witnessing renewed interest under the current administration. In this context, the article takes a closer look at the structure of management education provided to public sector officers in India. The article also identifies barriers for implementing the learnings from the management courses in the workplaces and suggests approaches for closing the gap.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a thematic approach based on unstructured interviews of senior executives of Indian public sector enterprises covering oil and gas, aeronautical, power and transportation sectors. New public management (NPM) is used as a yardstick of “business-like” characteristics of public sector enterprises.
Findings
Despite heavy investment, trainings have had only partial success in implementing the core objective of NPM, i.e. to provide quality services in a professional manner to meet citizen requirements. The study found that though concepts of NPM are introduced at multiple management training programs, the public enterprises lag in the implementation of NPM. The ingrained hierarchical and procedural culture of the enterprises was often highlighted as the challenge to its implementation.
Practical implications
The study will be of significance to Indian policymakers in designing management education programs to public sector employees. It brings out – (1) various models of management education provided to public servants across industries, (2) provide evidence on the extent of NPM implementation, (3) identify barriers for transitioning the learnings from the management courses to workplace and (4) suggest changes for improving effectiveness.
Originality/value
The existing research on LPG in India covers the economic transformation post-implementation and the factors contributing to the success of its implementation. This study adds to the limited literature available on the management education of public servants in the country.
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