Transforming business schools through sustainability identity
Business schools promise to develop sustainability minded graduates, yet evidence that education creates enduring attitudes, identities, and workplace behaviours remains limited, inconsistent, and largely untested.
What did we research?
We examined whether business school sustainability education changes students’ attitudes and identities, and whether those transformations endure as graduates enter professional workplaces and roles. We focused on how courses, institutional environments, personal influences, and workplaces shape sustainability attitudes and identity formation.
What did we find?
We found no significant change in students’ sustainability attitudes after completing sustainability focused courses. Graduate interviews showed sustainability identity was shaped mainly by family, schooling, social norms, finances, and workplaces rather than the university experience. Business school exposure to sustainability was fragmented, while workplace roles, cultures, leadership, and visible initiatives strengthened identity and action.
What was the impact?
Business schools should move beyond isolated courses and embed sustainability across curricula, pedagogy, culture, operations, and student experiences. Creating consistent opportunities to practice, observe, and influence sustainability can strengthen students’ identities and agency while at university. University and workplace partnerships reinforce these identities, accelerating graduates’ capacity to lead meaningful, sustained organisational change.
Article
- Fu, L., Bhattacharya, A., Derham, G., Croy, G., Iftikhar, Q. (2026). The business school effect on students’ sustainability mindsets: An empirical exploration. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.