| Sustainability is recognized as an important strategic challenge for businesses in the 21st century. Nevertheless, the academic literature has identified several critical deficiencies. For example, the actual meaning of sustainability and pathways for implementation appear to be in general not well understood. There appears to be evidence that firms do not understand well how to acquire the necessary know-how. Improving the knowledge base around sustainability will require various efforts, as it is not yet well integrated in business and related curricula at institution of higher learning. To further explore these deficiencies and to find ways to mitigate them, this study assesses both the knowledge base and expectations in curriculum content of undergraduate business students at a private US institution. The results allow for specification on how well the current generation of undergraduate students understands sustainability and where knowledge gaps exist. The results also provide insights into how important students think this topic is, as well as to what extent and in which courses they are looking to learn more about it. The latter insights provide guidance for curriculum improvement. |
Updated 03/19/2014