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Article Information:
Title:
Teaching sustainability to business students: shifting mindsets
Author(s):
Wendy Stubbs, Chris Cocklin
Journal:
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
Year:
2008
Volume:
Issue:
Page:
206 - 221
ISSN:
1467-6370
DOI:
10.1108/14676370810885844
Publisher:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Acknowledgements:
The authors thank Monash University for financially supporting this research, and gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Ed Lockhart to the design and teaching of the MBA subject referred to in this paper.
Document Access:
Abstract:
Purpose – This paper seeks to describe a framework used to help MBA students understand and reconcile the different sustainability perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach – A review of the corporate sustainability literature is undertaken to develop the sustainability framework.
Findings – The sustainability framework relates basic concepts and assumptions within the ecocentric, ecological modernization and neoclassical paradigms to organizational practice and behavior. For the most part, the MBA students have only been exposed to neoclassical economic thinking within the other MBA subjects. The aim of the sustainability framework is to shift the students' thinking by engaging with sustainability from different perspectives, rather than presenting one version of sustainability to them. The framework has proven to be useful in developing critical and reflective thinking and discussion.
Originality/value – The paper provides a summary of sustainability concepts as applied to business practices and describes how this is used in teaching sustainability to business students.
Keywords:
Ecology, Economics, Education, Teaching
Article Type:
Case study