Sustainability Education in Business Schools: An Exploratory Case-based Research

The acceleration of environmental, economic, and social issues across the global marketplace has stimulated a variety of responses from many entities, including global companies and business schools, as they race to adapt to increasingly significant economic, demographic, and technological changes. Following these dynamic trends, several business schools have come to recognize the importance of implementing sustainability in different areas of business education. Sustainability has been taught in university education programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics but the application to business schools is a recent expansion. Case study methodology investigates the significance of incorporating sustainability concepts into business education in terms of 1) meeting overall educational goals, and 2) illustrating how implementation could be an opportunity to reinforce adopted learning goals of business schools. Findings illuminate best practices and sustainable strategy initiatives in 20 business schools. We recommend a four-point strategy to integrate Education for Sustainable Development into business schools.