Reskilling and Upskilling 4IR Leaders in Business Schools through an Innovative Executive Education Ecosystem: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Business schools' fundamental problem remains whether they can develop responsible leaders capable of navigating the increasingly complex economy and market society driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and post-Covid-19 work conditions. The purpose of this integrative literature review is to formulate suggestions for an innovative executive education ecosystem model that reskills and upskills 4IR leaders to manage the future changing workforce successfully. From a theoretical perspective, this integrative literature review was framed by Christensen et al.’s (2015) disruptive innovation theory, which defined disruptive innovation concepts are ‘new to the world products’ or ‘business model innovations,’ not just technical innovations. Content analysis was performed on the selected literature to obtain the most relevant knowledge of how an innovative business school ecosystem can be built to reskill and upskill 4IR leaders and a satisfactory degree of convergence on the key arguments extracted from the literature. This integrative literature review study is significant in advancing professional practice and promoting positive social change in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to support sustainable business and community prosperity across regions. This macro-level conceptualization is presented through the findings of this study to answer essential questions and offer recommendations for practice, policy, and future research of how business schools’ mission must become more aligned with global and labor economics. Business Schools need to be identified as important social actors in transforming executive education programs by strategically engaging others in innovative education ecosystems through experimentation, innovation, and industry partnerships.