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Despite widespread acknowledgement of the importance of leadership education, undergraduate leadership degree programs in Canada are limited and, in some cases, struggling for survival. This case study examines the ways in which competing discourses of careerism, postsecondary corporatization, liberal arts education, and business education impact an undergraduate leadership program’s sustainability.

The paper aims to investigate the importance of leadership – distributed leadership (DL) – for the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and business sustainability (BS).

Extensive literature research was carried out to investigate the relationship among leadership, OL and BS. Two theoretical frameworks of the relationship among DL, OL and BS were formulated and tested on the basis of the empirical studies conducted in 694 Polish and Danish companies. The moderated multiple regression and mediation analysis were used.

In-depth, critical literature analysis has shown that the theoretical foundation of the relationship between leadership and BS is limited and not empirically verified. However, the empirical study has revealed a positive, statistically significant effect of DL on both OL and BS and the mediating role of OL on the relationship between DL and BS (a partial and complimentary mediation).

It would be valuable to simultaneously consider other leadership types (beyond DL) in terms of their impact on OL and BS. Additionally, due to the nature of BS challenges and the specificity of DL, other factors influencing BS should be included for a more profound understanding of the relationships under investigation. Finally, additional contextual factors need to be taken into account.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is one of the first studies that present the relationship between OL and BS with reference to factors influencing BS, i.e. leadership. The value of the paper is the development of two alternative models of the relationship among DL, OL and BS and their verification through large-scale empirical cross-country research. Furthermore, the results obtained in the course of the research open up new research directions with respect to the development of the concept of sustainable leadership and deepen the knowledge of the relationship between leadership types and OL.

This paper aims to study the development of the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter Sustainability Network (KQSN). It outlines the sectors included in the collaborative knowledge-sharing, the nature of the work it facilitates, and considers how the network can transform its existing objectives around the shared vision of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The KQSN operates in a collaborative cross-sectoral forum to support, facilitate or coordinate projects around sustainability, with core leads sitting in higher education and health care.

The KQSN supports projects through collaborative activity and enables members to access specialist advice available through the network. Through its membership, the KQSN is primed to develop metrics for demonstrating Knowledge Quarter SDG-aligned activity. The KQSN has scope to increase its level of implementation arising from its shared values, with a renewed focus around the SDGs.

This paper contributes to the 2018 EAUC Annual Conference theme of “Collaborations for Change” and the need for transformative partnerships that are prepared to align their mission to the SDGs.

Unlike discipline- or sector-specific networks, the KQSN has an inclusive membership, making it an original multi-disciplinary sustainability platform for neighbouring organisations in and around Liverpool's Knowledge Quarter. This case study can support other knowledge cluster communities to replicate its model. This case study also presents a diverse range of small projects, which are easily replicable and hopefully will inspire others to do something similar.

Accreditation is a growing phenomenon and has begun to permeate scientific studies, most of which are quantitative, since they focus on the process of accreditation and its positive or negative effects. Only a few studies have analyzed this phenomenon from the perspective of institutional theory. As there is no consensus regarding the performance of accreditation agencies, the purpose of this paper is to identify their institutional role in the global orientation of the organizational practices, values and decisions of business schools (BS).

A systematic literature review enabled us to identify scientific publications since 2002 that have used institutional theory when discussing BS accreditation agencies. An in-depth reading of these articles led us to identify the most frequent, similar and contrasting perspectives. Seven aspects were analyzed in each article: theme, research assumption, theoretical basis, method, research context, result and suggestions for future studies.

The findings suggest a certain duality in the role of these agencies. If, on the one hand, they are responsible for providing a quality seal, on the other hand, they promote legitimacy in the field by institutionalizing international rules.

By investigating the performance of these agencies as global institutional bodies, the authors extrapolated the traditional discussion on the dynamic of interaction between local actors who both influence the field and are influenced by it, a recurring theme in institutional theory.