Sustainability Centres and Fit: How Centres Work to Integrate Sustainability Within Business Schools

Rieneke Slager,Sareh Pouryousefi,Ethan D. Schoolman,Jeremy Moon

doi:10.1007/s10551-018-3965-4

Abstract

For nearly as long as the topic of sustainable business has been taught and researched in business schools, proponents have warned about barriers to genuine integration in business school practices. This article examines how academic sustainability centres try to overcome barriers to integration by achieving technical, cultural and political fit with their environment (Ansari et al. in Acad Manag Rev 35(1):67–92; Ansari et al., Academy of Management Review 35(1):67–92, 2010). Based on survey and interview data, we theorise that technical, cultural and political fit are intricately related, and that these interrelations involve legitimacy, resources and collaboration effects. Our findings about sustainability centres offer novel insights on integrating sustainable business education given the interrelated nature of different types of fit and misfit. We further contribute to the literature on fit by highlighting that incompatibility between strategies to achieve different types of fit may act as a source of dynamism.

Highlights

In a world gripped by environmental problems, financial crises and corporate scandals, modern organisations routinely encounter sustainability issues in day-to-day business activities
Our research question is how do sustainability centres achieve technical, cultural and political fit between sustainable business education practices and their internal environment? We focus on academic sustainability centres as key focal points for the promotion of sustainable business education
Based on survey and interview data, we find that centres based in business schools that are prominent in the field of sustainability have deployed a wide range of strategies to achieve technical, cultural or political fit

Summary

Introduction

In a world gripped by environmental problems, financial crises and corporate scandals, modern organisations routinely encounter sustainability issues in day-to-day business activities. Business schools have come under scrutiny for their failure to instil a sufficiently deep sense of responsibility and to prepare graduates for the sustainability challenges of the modern business environment. We use the term sustainable business education as a broad categorisation for efforts to embed ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability in business school education (Godemann et al 2014; PRME 2015). The design of sustainable business education varies considerably across business schools (Christensen et al 2007; Moon and Orlitzky 2011; Matten and Moon 2004). Sustainability topics have been addressed through individual stand-alone courses, degree specialisations and

Methods

Results

Conclusion