From theory to practice: enhancing responsible business management through service learning

Abstract

Sustainability education is central to cultivating ethical leadership and responsible management. Despite global frameworks such as the PRME and the SDGs, many higher education institutions struggle to meaningfully embed sustainability within curricula. This study introduces a novel, constructively aligned service-learning (SL) framework—grounded in Biggs’ theory—as a specific pedagogical innovation for responsible management education. Adopting a robust, multi-method approach—including bibliometric analysis, integrative literature review, focus groups, and a nationwide survey—this research ensures methodological rigor and triangulation. The framework promotes the development of critical thinking, ethical decision-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration skills through experiential SL projects, directly aligning with the demands of sustainability-driven management education. Findings reveal key barriers—such as faculty engagement gaps, limited benchmarking, and insufficient cross-sector collaboration—hindering the scalability of SL in business education. Focus group discussions and survey validation demonstrate that structured SL initiatives enhance SDG-driven problem-solving. By aligning learning outcomes, instructional strategies, and assessment methods with PRME and SDGs, this framework advances responsible management and sustainability in higher education, offering actionable guidelines for curriculum design and policymaking. By offering a robust model for PRME signatories and other institutions, this framework shows that embedding sustainability in business education is both practical and essential for advancing responsible management.