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Importance-performance Analysis to © 2018 MDI
SAGE Publications
Identify Effective Learning Approaches sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0972262918785963
School
Neeraj Singhal1
Himani Gupta2
Garima Mittal3
Abstract
Sustainability and sustainable development have become a crucial keyword in today’s environment. It is now being felt that incorporation
of sustainable practices should not be followed only by different sectors (public or private) but these concepts should also be taught
at business schools to embed the concepts of sustainable practices right from the very beginning. There are 37 learning approaches
identified on the basis of Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), which forms the core of the work presented in
this study. To implement the proposed analysis, responses were collected from the students of a top public management institute of
India on the basis of importance and performance parameters of the learning approaches for sustainability. The responses were than
analysed through importance-performance analysis (IPA). It was observed that most effective learning approaches for learning the
concepts of sustainability issues include case studies, lectures by experts, internships on sustainability etc. Students also perceived the
significance of sustainability in business management and also showed preference to work with those companies, which actually holds
sustainability as a core value.
Key Words
PRME, Perceptions, Performance, Importance, Management Education, Sustainability
Corresponding author:
Neeraj Singhal, Associate Professor, Apeejay School of Management, Sector 8, Institutional Area, Dwarka, New Delhi 110077, India.
E-mail: neeraj_mbd@yahoo.com
Singhal et al. 277
or services. This tool has been used in sectors such as Sustainability in Management
automotive, food, housing, tourism, education, health, hos- Education
pitality and so on (Alexitch, Kobussen, & Stookey, 2004;
Cunningham & Gaeth, 1989; Dolinsky, 1991; Go & Zhang, Management education needs to address the societal and
2008; Hawes & Rao, 1985; Kitcharoen, 2004; Martilla & environmental issues and challenges and have to prepare
James, 1977; Sethna, 1982; Silva & Fernandes, 2010). the responsible management education system, which will
This study investigates the importance and performance prepare their students equally responsible to involve in
of sustainability practices in a top management public insti- sustainable business. Many management institutions have
tute located in National Capital Region (NCR) in India. therefore become involved in embedding sustainable
This is the only institute that offers a full time sustainable development as part of responsible management education
into their academic systems. This was also due to use of
development postgraduate management programme among
‘responsible management’ as one of the important criteria
top public management institute in the country.
in the international accreditation process and thus leading
to greater acceptability among its target audience. The UN-
Principles for Responsible supported PRME initiative is an important catalyst for the
Management Education (PRME) transformation of management education in this direction
(Singhal, Suryawanshi, & Mittal, 2017).
The PRME were first published in 2007 at the UN Global Business school graduates are regularly characterized as
Compact Leaders’ Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. This cold-blooded technocrats lacking interpersonal skills, inter-
summit was attended by more than 1,000 delegates includ- cultural abilities, emotional and ecological intelligence,
ing representatives from commercial, civil and government trust worthiness or social responsibility (Mintzberg, 2004).
sectors. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon emphasized Many business schools have taken this criticism as an oppor-
the potential benefits of the PRME in his closing remarks tunity to undertake a critical review and self-examination of
as follows: ‘The Principles for Responsible Management their educational practices. Business schools have started
Education have the capacity to take the case for universal transforming themselves from being career training centre
values and business into classrooms on every continent’. to the enablers of corporate responsibility. This required
The first of the six principles is ‘we will develop the them to relook at the holistic management education so as to
capabilities of students to be future generators of sustain- provide responsible education to students that will lead to a
able value for business and society at large and to work for responsible society.
an inclusive and sustainable global economy’. The five other Lozano et al. (2015) reviewed more than 60 papers
principles include global social responsibility, responsible from sustainability adaptation perspective and concluded
leadership, research in sustainable social–environmental– that maximum studies focused on education including
economic value, interaction with managers to share experi- curriculum, pedagogy, competence and educating the
ences and to support dialogues related to global social educator; second, important aspect was campus operations,
responsibility (Erskine & Johnson, 2012; PRME, 2013). institutional framework, outreach, assessment and report-
This study explores the role and position of Indian ing. Third, area was research and fourth one was campus
business schools, who are aligning their strategies with experience.
PRME. An Indian leading public institution considered for
data collection, who is in the final stage of AACSB accred- Student Preferences
itation. This study is conducted through students as respond-
ent who are the brand ambassadors of the business school/ The UN-backed PRME has emerged as a learning plat-
form for business schools to encourage co-operation at
institution and budding corporate managers.
teaching, research and institutional level with other
business schools across the world to deal with global
What is Sustainability? responsibility issues at economic, social and environmen-
tal level (Sobczak & Mukhi, 2016). The 35 learning
Sustainability means showing equal concern for human approaches identified (Erskine & Johnson, 2012), in which
and economic development (Brundtland Commission, 1987). some learning approaches are considered to be signifi-
Over a period of time, sustainable development has gained cantly more or less effective at the undergraduate level, and
momentum as the international declarations are trying to further classified into the five different groups which
bind the globe through single cord while showing concern helped them to understand the most effective to least
for environment. Stockholm Conference in 1972 (UNEP, effective learning approaches.
1972) recognized the role of education for environmental It is noticed that if businesses are embracing a triple
protection and conservation. Since then, many higher bottom line, then Indian business schools need to prepare
education institutions have been engaged in embedding students for triple bottom-line thinking, and it will play an
sustainability throughout the academic cycle. important role in sustainability education by creating the
278 Vision 22(3)
Figure 2. Distribution of the Age and Work Experience in Years in Their Respective Industry
Source: Authors’ own.
3 = undecided, 4 = somewhat agree, 5 = strongly agree) for 10 (guest speakers in classes to discuss sustainability),
importance and performance, respectively. The business 11 (invited lectures by experts in sustainability), 12 (enhanced
school is offering different programmes to graduate environmentally friendly (green) initiatives on campus),
students and executives following a standard pedagogy for 15 (promoting student team projects related to sustain-
the major courses offered. The objective of this study to ability), 16 (floating elective course in sustainability for
access the importance of learning approaches and its gap/ students) and 19 (mentoring programme to help students
differentiation with the implementation or performance on learn about sustainability).
such important learning approaches. The IPA is performed Concentrate here (2, 7, 20, 26, 27, 37): 2 (sustainability
through SPSS, and the quadrants are formed on the basis of integrated into various classes), 7 (a field trip away from
its median. campus to learn about sustainability), 20 (a career fair about
The IPA is performed median-wise as shown in sustainability jobs), 26 (certification for students involved
Figure 3, and it is seen that following the good ones on which in innovative sustainability activities), 27 (sustainability
importance and performance both are good (3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, incorporated into the mission of the college) and 37
11, 12, 15, 16, 19), where 3 (promoting internships related (participation in sustainability rankings/ratings such as
to sustainable business practices), 4 (use of sustainability- Princeton rankings). After analysing these observed
related business simulations in class), 5 (implementation of sustainability learning approaches fall into quadrant II,
sustainability practices at the institute level), 6 (interna- student needs recognition for such activity through a certi-
tional opportunities to learn about sustainability), 9 (con- fication, who are involved in innovative sustainability. It
ducting case studies in classes based on sustainability), will help them to connect and provide a platform of such
certified jobs in respective areas, as they have understood
its importance in business (refer to Table 1). No. 2 (sustain-
ability integrated into various classes) is already taken care
by exposed sustainability-related business simulations,
conducting case studies in classes based on sustainability
and guest speakers in classes to discuss sustainability or
invited lectures by experts in sustainability.
Possible overkill (13, 17, 18**, 22**, 23, 29, 31**): 13
(establishing a sustainable business centre in the institute),
17 (starting a new degree programme in sustainability
within the institute), 18 (promoting research-level studies
about sustainability among students)**, 22 (conducting
workshops with faculty–business people to discuss
sustainability issues)**, 23 (independent study projects
offered in sustainability), 29 (organizing a conference
focused on sustainability), 31 (student panel discussion
pertaining to sustainability) **, here asterisk marked on
Figure 3. Median-based Importance and Performance some learning approaches are on the border line of that
Source: Authors’ own. quadrant and not necessary be the same performer always.
Table 1. Analytical Data on Perceived Importance and Performance about Sustainability
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Declaration of Conflicting Interests Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance-performance
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