An Analysis of the Competence of Business School Teachers to Promote Sustainable Development in Finland

Liisa Rohweder and Anne Virtanen
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Liisa Rohweder: Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science
Anne Virtanen: Hamwk University of Applied Sciences

Chapter Chapter 20 in Professionals' Perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2009, pp 379-391 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract During the past few years, the role of business in the process of promoting sustainable development (SD) has been discussed considerably, because in order to create a sustainable world, the decisions made in corporations play an important role. Due to the evident signs of climate change during the past few years, the responsibility of businesses has risen to a totally new level. As corporations’ innovative, the tendency for them to search for responsible solutions which can have a huge direct positive effect in fighting climate change increases. Business schools are central players in this process as most business students eventually end up taking executive positions in the private sector once they have graduated. From this perspective, business school teachers certainly have a key role in the process of bringing about awareness of sustainable development issues by these future managers. It is extremely important for business school teachers to understand their students’ attitudes, knowledge and competence level in all sustainable development related issues. The aim of our study was to analyse business school teachers’ level of knowledge, attitudes and educational practices for issues relating to sustainable development. The target group of the study was business teachers at Finnish universities of applied sciences. The study notes that, Finnish business school teachers are knowledgeable about issues relating to sustainable development. However, these teachers stress that more competence is needed in order to connect the knowledge of sustainable development toward making a choice of pedagogical and didactical methods. According to the research findings, there is a great potential to enhance the promotion of sustainable development in business life through educating professionals who have the ability to raise awareness as well as to implement the principles of sustainable development in practice. Business school teachers’ level of knowledge is good and their attitude is positive for sustainable development, but they lack the pedagogical tools they require to make change happen.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainable Development; Business Education; Business Life; Business Field (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-02630-0_21

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-02630-0_21

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