business schools

Abstract This study examines whether and how RME can be performed as an epistemic object to broaden business schools’ education on climate change. The research builds on a qualitative case study involving 10 Finnish business schools. The analysis reveals that RME is performed as both an epistemic object and a boundary object, with different implications for its embeddedness within institutions. Our findings show how accreditations have introduced RME as a boundary object enforcing performativity around sustainability themes yet enabling disciplines to maintain their distinct or limited roles. At the same time, RME is met with both resistance and compliance, depending on how well the object fits with disciplinary boundaries and career trajectories. Lastly, as an epistemic object, RME encourages co‐reflexivity, which is essential for climate‐proofing business schools. We discuss the possibilities of a hybrid orientation of RME as both a boundary object and an epistemic object for enforcing climate‐orientation in management education.

Purpose: This study examines the role of individual management educators in implementing Responsible Management Education (RME). It addresses a critical gap in the literature, which has disproportionately focused on institutional adoption and programme-level commitments rather than the agency, practices, and development of academics who translate these principles into reality. Methodology: Following PRISMA guidelines, this systematic literature review identified 42 peer-reviewed articles from Google Scholar (2000–2025). The data were analyzed using the inductive Gioia methodology to capture educators' actions and mapped against the UN’s seven Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). Findings: The review synthesizes individual academic action into four interconnected, mutually reinforcing themes: curriculum revisions, enhanced external engagement, embodiment of pedagogical changes, and academic development in teaching, learning, and researching (TLR). Crucially, academic development serves as the foundational connective thread, empowering educators with the research capability, credibility, and peer support required to drive the other three dimensions. Implications: For academics, the study demonstrates that RME is enacted through everyday choices in classroom pedagogy and collaborative research. For business school leadership, it highlights that institutional change requires actively supporting educators through protected time, mentoring, and revised workload and promotion incentives that reward responsible scholarship. Originality: By shifting the unit of analysis from the institution to the individual academic, this paper addresses why top-level PRME commitments often decouple into symbolic rhetoric. It contributes to a dynamic conceptual framework that models the individual educator as the central change agent orchestrating curriculum revision, pedagogical innovation, external collaboration, and scholarship. Limitations and directions for future research: This review primarily draws literature from Google Scholar and provides an interpretive thematic synthesis. Future research should empirically validate the framework through surveys and interviews across diverse geographic and developing-economy contexts, while further exploring the under-researched PRME Practice principle. Keywords: Responsible Management Education; PRME; Business Academics; Business Schools; Higher Education

Industry-led mentoring is a strategic tool that can bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical expertise, providing mentees with skills development opportunities that stretch beyond what can be learned via classroom-based educational approaches alone. Mentoring is now commonplace within organisational life, but is less common within UK university business schools. This suggests a knowledge gap in terms of understanding how mentoring can be embedded as a complementary tool to improve student skills development within business schools. The aim of this study was to explore the perceived value of industry mentorship from the perspective of the mentees, to develop a greater understanding of the potential benefits mentoring relationships at a university level can provide. Following the journey of mentees on a Women in Business mentoring programme, this study specifically explored the context of female university students. Mentees on the programme were female undergraduate and postgraduate students studying on courses within Sheffield Business School. Using a longitudinal study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted at three stages of a yearlong mentoring programme: 1. pre-mentoring, 2. during mentoring, and 3. post-mentoring. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework. The findings show the value of mentoring from a mentee perspective, most notably the notion of having someone in their corner, an ability to gain personalised guidance, and the opportunity to develop a professional network. The challenges of being mentored at this level were also expressed, drawing attention to the need for pre-mentoring education to support meaningful engagement with the process, and a requirement for a clear scheme structure to guide mentees. Guided by these findings, we offer key practical recommendations to programme designers so they can successfully utilise mentoring as part of their offer to students, thus supporting university business schools to further enhance their career and skills development offerings.

منتورینگ با هدایت صنعت، ابزاری راهبردی است که می‌تواند فاصله میان دانش دانشگاهی و تخصص عملی را پر کند و فرصت‌هایی برای توسعه مهارت‌ها در اختیار منتورگیرندگان قرار دهد که فراتر از آن چیزی است که صرفاً از طریق رویکردهای آموزشی مبتنی بر کلاس درس قابل یادگیری است. منتورینگ اکنون در زندگی سازمانی رایج است، اما در دانشکده‌های مدیریت بازرگانی دانشگاه‌های بریتانیا کمتر متداول است. این امر نشان‌دهنده شکاف دانشی در زمینه درک چگونگی ادغام منتورینگ به عنوان ابزاری مکمل برای بهبود توسعه مهارت‌های دانشجویان در دانشکده‌های مدیریت بازرگانی است. هدف این مطالعه، بررسی ارزش ادراک‌شده منتورینگ صنعتی از دیدگاه منتورگیرندگان به منظور درک بهتر مزایای بالقوه روابط منتورینگ در سطح دانشگاهی بود. این پژوهش با دنبال کردن مسیر منتورگیرندگان در یک برنامه منتورینگ زنان در کسب‌وکار، به طور خاص به زمینه دانشجویان زن دانشگاهی پرداخت. منتورگیرندگان این برنامه، دانشجویان زن مقطع کارشناسی و کارشناسی ارشد بودند که در دوره‌های مختلف دانشکده مدیریت بازرگانی Sheffield تحصیل می‌کردند. با استفاده از طرح مطالعه طولی، مصاحبه‌های نیمه‌ساختاریافته در سه مرحله از یک برنامه منتورینگ یک‌ساله انجام شد: ۱. پیش از منتورینگ، ۲. در حین منتورینگ، و ۳. پس از منتورینگ. رونوشت‌های مصاحبه‌ها با استفاده از چارچوب شش‌مرحله‌ای Braun و Clarke به صورت تماتیک تحلیل شدند. یافته‌ها ارزش منتورینگ را از دیدگاه منتورگیرندگان نشان می‌دهد، به ویژه مفهوم داشتن فردی حامی، امکان دریافت راهنمایی شخصی‌سازی‌شده و فرصت توسعه شبکه حرفه‌ای. همچنین چالش‌های منتورینگ در این سطح بیان شد که بر نیاز به آموزش پیش از منتورینگ برای حمایت از مشارکت معنادار در این فرایند و لزوم وجود ساختار شفاف برنامه برای راهنمایی منتورگیرندگان تأکید دارد. بر اساس این یافته‌ها، توصیه‌های عملی کلیدی به طراحان برنامه ارائه می‌شود تا بتوانند منتورینگ را به طور موفقیت‌آمیز به عنوان بخشی از پیشنهاد خود به دانشجویان به کار گیرند و بدین ترتیب دانشکده‌های مدیریت بازرگانی دانشگاهی را در ارتقای بیشتر فرصت‌های توسعه شغلی و مهارتی دانشجویان حمایت کنند.