TY - JOUR
T1 - An analysis of sustainability integration in business school curricula
T2 - Evidence from korea
AU - Jun, Hannah
AU - Moon, Seoyoung
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - Given the growing importance of corporate sustainability in the academic literature and in practice, this study investigates to what extent business schools in South Korea have been reflecting sustainability‐linked themes in the curriculum. Based on a review of 20,507 course syllabi from ten sample universities between 2013 and 2019, our findings show an increase in the absolute number and proportion of sustainability‐linked courses in Korean business schools, increasing from 12.9% of total courses in 2013 to 14.7% in 2019. The most prominent sustainability keywords were “ethics” and “corporate social responsibility,” with most courses reflecting sustainability keywords by allocating a few weeks to sustainability issues (sustainability‐inclusive) rather than sustainability serving as the major theme of the course (sustainability‐focused). In terms of degree program, sus-tainability‐linked courses accounted for nearly 15% of total courses at the undergraduate and Master of Business Administration (MBA) levels, respectively, and just 7% of graduate (Master’s/Ph.D.) programs in Business Administration. While our findings suggest overall progress in incorporating sustainability themes in business schools, course offerings are fragmented and generally focus on a narrow concept of ethics rather than constituting a comprehensive curriculum that weaves sustain-ability throughout functional majors.
AB - Given the growing importance of corporate sustainability in the academic literature and in practice, this study investigates to what extent business schools in South Korea have been reflecting sustainability‐linked themes in the curriculum. Based on a review of 20,507 course syllabi from ten sample universities between 2013 and 2019, our findings show an increase in the absolute number and proportion of sustainability‐linked courses in Korean business schools, increasing from 12.9% of total courses in 2013 to 14.7% in 2019. The most prominent sustainability keywords were “ethics” and “corporate social responsibility,” with most courses reflecting sustainability keywords by allocating a few weeks to sustainability issues (sustainability‐inclusive) rather than sustainability serving as the major theme of the course (sustainability‐focused). In terms of degree program, sus-tainability‐linked courses accounted for nearly 15% of total courses at the undergraduate and Master of Business Administration (MBA) levels, respectively, and just 7% of graduate (Master’s/Ph.D.) programs in Business Administration. While our findings suggest overall progress in incorporating sustainability themes in business schools, course offerings are fragmented and generally focus on a narrow concept of ethics rather than constituting a comprehensive curriculum that weaves sustain-ability throughout functional majors.
KW - Business school curriculum
KW - Korea
KW - Sustainabil-ity integration
KW - Sustainability
KW - Sustainability education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102694201&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su13052779
DO - 10.3390/su13052779
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102694201
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)
JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)
SN - 2071-1050
IS - 5
M1 - 2779
ER -