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Thinking Globally, Teaching Sustainability: Embedding Sustainability in International Business Studies and Addressing Student Responses

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Incorporating Sustainability in Management Education

Abstract

Globalization has changed the world and greatly affected business and management education. However, within mainstream curricula globalization is often framed in a particularly narrow sense, which often reproduces business-as-usual. By implication, a sustainability perspective is hardly noticeable in most university-level subjects that draw from globalization. To explore ways of overcoming this shortcoming, I reflect on two aspects of my experience attempting to integrate sustainability into international business (IB) studies. First, I consider limitations related to course content, discussing ways to re-orientate IB towards meaningful inclusion of sustainability. Second, I identify four common student types—‘radicals,’ ‘deer in the headlights,’ ‘traditionalists,’ and ‘highbrows’—to highlight particular challenges that arise when students are confronted with a sustainability perspective. Using illustrative examples from my lectures, this chapter proposes certain strategies that others may utilize to effectively further the sustainability agenda within business and management studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    George Ferns

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  1. George Ferns
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Correspondence to George Ferns .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh, UK

    Kenneth Amaeshi

  2. Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, UK

    Judy N. Muthuri

  3. Lagos Business School, Lagos, Nigeria

    Chris Ogbechie

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Ferns, G. (2019). Thinking Globally, Teaching Sustainability: Embedding Sustainability in International Business Studies and Addressing Student Responses. In: Amaeshi, K., Muthuri, J., Ogbechie, C. (eds) Incorporating Sustainability in Management Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98125-3_5

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