Sustainability in the Business Marketing curriculum: an exploratory study

Sustainability (development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) is a matter of substantial and growing international political importance, reflected in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Environmental issues and sustainability feature prominently in the requirements of accrediting bodies in business and management, such as AACSB, AMBA and EFMD. Recent literature suggests that sustainability is being incorporated widely into the business school curriculum generally, and the marketing curriculum specifically. Nevertheless, prior research has suggested that adding sustainability into the curriculum is no guarantee that students will change their attitudes or behaviour. The empirical phase of this project was a benchmark study conducted at a UK business school among 153 students (50.3% 1st year 49.7% 3rd year; 48.4% marketing 51.6% non-marketing). The study explored students? selfreported knowledge, attitudes and behaviours relating to sustainability. Very few significant differences were found between first and final year students, suggesting that efforts to embed sustainability in the curriulum have been relatively ineff ective. The marketing students were found to have unreliable knowledge of sustainability issues, to claim to be concerned about sustainability issues, but to be unwilling to alter their behaviour accordingly.