Corporate citizenship in South African business education

R Hamann,C Appels,E Akor,L Van Duin,E Taylor

doi:10.4102/sajbm.v37i2.601

R Hamann, C Appels + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v37i2.601

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Abstract

This paper seeks to enhance our understanding of the extent and manner in which corporate citizenship and related topics are taught to business students in South Africa. It argues that there are increasingly prominent drivers for integrating these topics in business education, but we know little about how South African business schools are responding. The methodology relies on a survey of business schools’ websites, as well as two survey questionnaires, one of which was aimed at MBA coordinators, while the other targeted a range of “MBA stakeholders” consisting of recent MBA graduates and representatives from business, government, and civil society. The findings suggest that, though there are some proactive business schools, South African MBA programmes are generally still dominated by conventional notions of business success. Furthermore, there are important contradictions between the perceptions of MBA coordinators, on the one hand, and those of the MBA stakeholders, with the latter generally demanding more rigorous treatment of corporate citizenship issues. The overarching conclusion is that a more committed engagement of and by South African business schools is required on the need for integrating corporate citizenship in business education.

Highlights

There is an increasing emphasis on the need for greater exposure to corporate citizenship or related concepts, such as business ethics or corporate social responsibility (CSR), in business education
Whereas there is an ongoing debate about the definition and usefulness of the term (e.g., Matten & Crane, 2005), corporate citizenship is used here as an umbrella term broadly referring to the hope that business is willing and able to contribute to sustainable development
This research aims to enhance our understanding of the extent and manner in which corporate citizenship and related topics are taught to business students in South Africa

Summary

Introduction

There is an increasing emphasis on the need for greater exposure to corporate citizenship or related concepts, such as business ethics or corporate social responsibility (CSR), in business education. The growing emphasis on the need for corporate citizenship in business education relates to the recent spate of corporate governance scandals epitomised by cases such as Enron. These prompted Swanson and Frederick (2003) to ask, ‘Are business schools silent partners in corporate crime?’ They argue, ‘The executive managers of the scandal-ridden firms and their partners in crime, some holding MBA degrees, may reflect an approach to business education that elevates narrow self-interest above broader values of community and corporate citizenship’ (op cit.: 2425; see Ghoshal, 2005). Following a concerted campaign to introduce corporate citizenship as an obligatory theme in business education, the USA-based MBA accreditation body, the Association to Advance Collegiate

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