Educating the future - Responsibly: A qualitative study about sustainability perceptions in education within Stockholm School of Economics

Abstract: Given the sustainability challenges that the world faces today, understanding and having insight into the nuances of sustainability and sustainability implementation is more important than ever. Business schools, as an incubator for future leaders, have an important role in fostering sustainable leadership. This study focuses on analyzing and understanding how students and faculty perceive the sustainability implementation in the curricula at one prestigious Swedish business school, the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), by utilizing neo-institutionalism and legitimacy theory. We have conducted 16 semi-structured interviews, equally divided among faculty and students, at SSE. Our findings indicate that students and faculty largely share the view that business schools should focus on sustainability, but that there is a contrast in perception between students and faculty in how well the school lives up to espoused sustainability values. Furthermore, this discrepancy seems to be a consequence of the differing view between students and faculty on why the inclusion of sustainability in the curriculum is legitimate.