Boldly Going Where No AACSB Standard Has Gone Before: How AACSB Business Colleges Are Complying with the New Standard 9
Keywords:
AACSB, accreditation, business schools, societal impact, SDGsAbstract
In July 2020, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) released its 2020 Guiding Principles and Standards for Business Accreditation, which consists of nine standards centered around the three pillars of engagement, innovation, and impact. To emphasize the importance of considering all business stakeholders, the updated standards included the new Standard 9: Engagement and Societal Impact, centered on business schools incorporating societal impact into their curriculum, scholarship, and activities. However, because many schools have not undertaken a Continuous Improvement Review (CIR) visit since this new adoption, many are struggling to meet Standard 9. This first-of-its-kind study reports the findings of a survey sent to AACSB-accredited business schools to investigate their United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) selection and measurement rubrics. The findings as to which SDGs were chosen, why they were chosen, and how they will be measured elicit valuable discussions regarding accreditation compliance in general and societal impact more specifically. The results also illuminate potential issues such as refusals to align societal impact with the suggested SDGs, schools selecting too many SDGs, and measurement rubrics that are too broad to evaluate success. The results of this survey will help AACSB business schools comply with this new standard and hopefully produce a lasting impact in the business community beyond just the bottom line.
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