A tale of two standards on responsible management education

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore what ISO 26000, the global guidance standard for organizations wanting to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR), has to offer to improve the principles for responsible management education (PRME) and its implementation by business schools.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an in‐depth analysis of ISO 26000 and beyond the general value of ISO 26000 in providing suggestions for CSR implementation, several insights for management education are derived. These insights are consequently applied to both the principles within the PRME framework and to results from research into the application of the PRME.

Findings

The article argues that ISO 26000 offers insights related to the revival of corporate morality, the importance of idiosyncratic CSR (particularly relating to internal organizational processes), the credibility enhancement of PRME‐based CSR commitments and the importance of engaging in community involvement by business schools. Next to these findings, the value of ISO 26000 may even extend to opening up new avenues for engaged and humanistic forms of scholarship and formulate more comprehensive strategies to secure and strengthen business schools societal license to operate.

Practical implications

The findings lead to conclude that ISO 26000 may complement the PRME in supporting business schools in integrating CSR in their programs and their organization and suggest several adjustments to the PRME framework.

Originality/value

As the first article on this intersection, it provides new insights in how the PRME can be improved and business schools can be supported by ISO 26000 in their endeavours of developing and delivering responsible management education.

Citation

Moratis, L. (2013), "A tale of two standards on responsible management education", Journal of Global Responsibility, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 138-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-05-2013-0008