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

Author

Listed:
  • Rieneke Slager

    (University of Groningen)

  • Sareh Pouryousefi

    (Nottingham University Business School)

  • Jeremy Moon

    (Copenhagen Business School)

  • Ethan D. Schoolman

    (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Rieneke Slager & Sareh Pouryousefi & Jeremy Moon & Ethan D. Schoolman, 2020. "Sustainability Centres and Fit: How Centres Work to Integrate Sustainability Within Business Schools," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 375-391, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:161:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-018-3965-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-3965-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Raysa Rocha & Paulo Pinheiro, 2021. "Business Education: Filling the Gaps in the Leader’s Awareness Concerning Organizational Phronesis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.

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