The Determinants of sustainability content integration in graduate business programs in Kenya

Date
2021
Authors
Waireri, Cecilia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Business schools have traditionally been seen to teach courses that are geared towards shareholder wealth or profit maximization at the expense of society or the environment. However, in recent times there has been a surge in business failures and corporate scandals and the reason for this has been identified as a loss of values. Due to this university business schools have been pressured to incorporate sustainability to focus the attitudes and perceptions of future business leaders to sustainable businesses that consider not only the shareholder wealth but also the society and environment. There is limited research carried out in African countries such as Kenya in examining the extent of sustainability integration. Given that economic sustainability is a given in business programs the study sought to examine the extent of integration of environmental, social and cross-cutting sustainability content in business graduate programs in Kenya. Previous research has highlighted that the determinant factors of size, status of the university, gender of the dean, accreditation status and mission/vision statement are the main determinants of sustainability integration in business programs. The study thus sought to determine whether these factors do have an impact on sustainability integration in Kenyan business graduate programs. A census was carried out on the graduate business programs. Descriptive research design was used. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, factor analysis and content analysis. For social sustainability, the findings indicate that the extent of integration had an aggregate mean of 2.1 and standard deviation of 1.0 implying that social sustainability aspects in the course programs had been integrated to a small extent. For environmental sustainability, the findings indicate that the extent of integration had an aggregate mean of 1.2 and standard deviation of 0.4 implying that environmental sustainability aspects had not been integrated in the course programs. For cross-cutting sustainability, the findings indicate that the extent of integration had an aggregate mean of 2.1 and standard deviation of 0.7 implying that cross-cutting sustainability aspects in the course programs had been integrated to a small extent. Non-parametric mean comparison statistics showed statistically significant differences in status of the university, size of the university and sustainability inclusive mission/ vision statement in relation to the integration of social, environmental and cross-cutting sustainability aspects in business graduate programs. Further logistic regression tests carried out showed that the factors of status and size of the university were only factors that showed significant results in analyzing the relationship between the explanatory factors and social sustainability. The model (explanatory factors) explains 48.2% of the variance in the dependent variable (social sustainability integration). The logistic regression showed that for size and status of the university there is a likelihood of higher integration of social sustainability in private universities and in small and medium sized universities. The determinant factors of size, status of the university, gender of the dean, accreditation status, and mission/vision statement did not have significant logistic results in influencing environmental and cross-cutting sustainability. The study recommended that business schools in Kenya should integrate relevant social, environmental and cross-cutting sustainability aspects in graduate business programs. The universities should also streamline their mission and vision statements to become sustainability inclusive.
Description
A dissertation submitted to Strathmore Business School in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science in Development Finance Degree of Strathmore University
Keywords
Sustainable Development, Curriculum, Content analysis, Graduate Business Programs--Kenya
Citation