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Journal of Cleaner Production 62 (2014) 24e36

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/ jc lepro

Educating change agents for sustainability e learnings from the firstsustainability management master of business administration

Charlotte Hesselbarth*, Stefan SchalteggerCentre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, D-21335 Lüneburg, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 15 May 2012Received in revised form11 January 2013Accepted 20 March 2013Available online 9 April 2013

Keywords:Higher education for sustainabilitymanagementCompetence profile of “change agents forSustainability”MBA program in sustainability managementCurriculum developmentAlumni survey

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ49 4131 677 2181; fE-mail addresses: [email protected] (C

uni.leuphana.de (S. Schaltegger).

0959-6526/$ e see front matter � 2013 Elsevier Ltd.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.03.042

a b s t r a c t

In recent years knowledge and capabilities to manage corporate sustainability have become a significantcomponent of different career paths in companies, consultancies, and even in non-profit and publicinstitutions. As an answer to this worldwide trend of a new profession ever more universities andbusiness schools have taken the initiative to increase their teaching activities in corporate social re-sponsibility and sustainability management. As most courses do not have a long track record and as onlya limited number of management-oriented continuous education studies exists so far we still know littleabout how managers could be educated most effectively to become change agents for corporate sus-tainability. This paper examines a case study and provides insight into ten years of MBA education forsustainability management at the Centre for Sustainability Management, Leuphana University Lüneburg,Germany. Based on data from a recent alumni survey we analyze the corporate practice experiences ofthe first 85 successful MBA students and the medium term effects of the first master program in sus-tainability management. Based on the analysis we propose a competence matrix to structure basiccomponents of postgraduate education in sustainability management. The paper unveils that extantresearch is needed to consider the practical experiences MBA graduates make when applying acquiredknowledge and to link these insights to curriculum development.

� 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In recent years knowledge and capabilities to manage corporatesustainability has become an ever more significant component ofdifferent career paths: In addition to a growing demand fromcompanies which are considered to be sustainability pioneers weobserve an increasing interest in sustainability management ex-perts from consultancies, financial service providers, non-profit,public institutions and multinational companies, most of themnot having established a strong sustainability agenda so far(Deitche, 2010; Haanaes et al., 2012).

As an answer to this worldwide trend of a “flourishing profes-sion” (Visser and Crane, 2010, 4) ever more universities and busi-ness schools have taken the initiative to increase their research andteaching activities in CSR and sustainability management for thelast few years (Matten and Moon, 2004, 326; Wu et al., 2010). Asmost courses do not have a long track record and as only a limited

ax: þ49 4131 677 2186.. Hesselbarth), schaltegger@

All rights reserved.

number of management-oriented part-time studies exists so far westill know little about how managers could be educated mosteffectively to become change agents of corporate sustainability (fora discussion of the current knowledge see e.g. Grothe and Fröbel,2010; Willard et al., 2010; Johnston, 2013). This is why the firstMBA program which is completely focused on sustainability man-agement and the results from an alumni survey of the first suc-cessful students are examined as case in point with regard to thestudy program, teaching contents, pedagogic approach and jobprofiles. The analysis is conducted in the view of the vision ofeducating ‘change agents for sustainability’.

This paper provides insight into ten years of MBA education forsustainability management of the Centre for Sustainability Man-agement at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany. We analyzeempirically the medium term effects of the MBA program in sus-tainability management on the basis of the corporate practice ex-periences of the first 85 successful MBAs students: Have thestudents been enabled to copewith themulti-faceted sustainabilitychallenges in corporate practice? Did they receive the right kind ofknowledge, skills and motivationwhich practitioners need to makea difference in the world and move organizations and society to-wards more sustainability? Based on these experiences, which

C. Hesselbarth, S. Schaltegger / Journal of Cleaner Production 62 (2014) 24e36 25

conclusions can be drawn for a conceptual framework, curriculaand teaching methods to successfully educate future change agentsfor sustainability?

With this paper we aim at intensifying the exchange of expe-riences within the community of business schools which offersustainabilitymanagement education and provide some answers tokey issues in the context of higher education for sustainability(Starik et al., 2010, 381). Based on a discussion of the aims and theconceptual framework of the MBA Sustainability Management andits aim to qualify corporate change agents for sustainability wepresent empirical findings from a recent alumni survey. The surveycovered various topics including one special part to explore thethemes of this paper.

Requirements of a newoccupational field are analyzed as well asthe motivation and career paths of sustainability managers,learner-friendly conditions and appropriate teaching methods forprofessional students in a blended learning concept.

The paper contributes to research in twoways: First, we proposea competence profile of a change agent for corporate sustainability.Based on a literature review and empirical findings from analyzingalumni survey data of the MBA Sustainability Management wesuggest a competence matrix to structure basic components ofhigher education in sustainability management. Second, we discusswhat can be concluded from the competence profile of a sustain-ability manager and the practical experiences of MBA graduateswith respect to curriculum development, course content and thepedagogic approach.

2. Literature review

The need for including sustainability in professional practices(e.g. Boyle, 1999) and the central role of universities in educatingresponsible leaders (e.g. Osiemo, 2012; Raivio, 2011) and for thetransition to sustainable societies (e.g. Corcoran and Wals, 2004;Ferrer-Balas et al., 2010; Palma et al., 2011; UNESCO, 2009) havebeen emphasized in an extant body of literature (see also Lozano-Garcia et al., 2006). Furthermore, the influential role of com-panies in the economy and society as well as for sustainabledevelopment (e.g. Schaltegger and Burritt, 2005) raise the questionof how sustainability and CSR are considered in management ed-ucation, particularly in qualified practice-oriented higher man-agement education which addresses middle and top management.

Prior research has examined sustainability and CSR in existingcurricula and for curriculum development for undergraduate andbachelor (e.g. Jones et al., 2008; Lambrechts et al., 2012), graduate,master, and PhD-programs (e.g. Bergeå et al., 2006; for off-campusPhD programs Baas et al., 2000) as well as postgraduate and tertiaryeducation (e.g. Naeem and Peach, 2011; Thomas, 2004).

Whereas some authors have investigated sustainability specificcourses and programs (for a new business course e.g. Marshall andHarry, 2005; for eco-design in a doctoral program, see Bergeå et al.,2006) others dealt with the integration of sustainability intoexisting curricula (e.g. Bacon et al., 2011), regular courses (e.g. Boksand Diehl, 2006) and the curricula of a choice of universities (e.g.Savelyeva and McKenna, 2011). Lozano (2010) developed a tool tomeasure the integration and diffusion of sustainable developmentcontents in the course curricula of a university.

In depth studies dealing with the integration of sustainabilityinto curricula and the education of educators in cleaner productionhave been particularly conducted for engineering and broadinterdisciplinary environmental programs (e.g. Segalas et al.,2010). Stubbs and Schapper (2011) discuss two approaches tomanagement curriculum development and Rusinko (2010) pro-poses a matrix approach to integrating sustainability in businesseducation.

More specifically, environmental topics important for CSR andcorporate sustainability like cleaner production, energy efficiency,eco-design and design for the environment have been examinedwith regard to their integration into the curriculum. For example,Bergeå et al. (2006) investigate eco-design in PhD doctoral educa-tion, Vezzoli (2003) sustainable design in a polytechnic university,Fredriksson and Persson (2011) the integration of sustainabilityinto operations management courses, Eagan and Streckewald(1997) the development of a short business course on design forthe environment, and Desha and Hargroves (2010) the state ofhigher education in energy efficiency in Australian engineeringcurricula.

Further topics of sustainability oriented higher managementeducation and educating responsible leaders of organizationsinclude (e.g. Osiemo, 2012; Hazen et al., 2004; Shephard, 2008)topics of sustainable development, corporate sustainability, socialresponsibility, leadership, sustainable entrepreneurship, inter-twining of teaching and research (i.e. research not just as a libraryexperience) as well as soft-skill related approaches such as tar-geting affective learning outcomes, service learning, establishing amentorship program, teaching with a sustainability mission ofpersonal development and team building.

More specifically, the question what kind of competencies sus-tainability education should produce has become a core area of theeducation for sustainable development research (e.g. Barth et al.,2007; De Haan, 2006; Fadeeva and Mochizuki, 2010; Rieckmann,2012). We will deal with this topic in more detail in Section 3.

The question of what pedagogic methods are particularly apt forsustainability and sustainable business courses and programs hasbeen researched for a variety of approaches such as active learning(MacVaugh and Norton, 2012); action research as an approach tointegrating sustainability into an MBA program (Benn and Dunphy,2009), student praxis projects (e.g. Bacon et al., 2011; Rosenbloomand Cortes, 2008), collaborative concept maps to learn how theorycan become practice (Miranda Correia and Infante-Malachias,2010), affective learning (Shephard, 2008), transformativelearning experiences (e.g. Bergeå et al., 2006), the consideration ofboundary objects (Benn and Martin, 2010), real world learningexperiences (Brundiers et al., 2010; Steiner and Posch, 2006),transdisciplinarity in sustainability education (e.g. Brundiers et al.,2010; Clark and Button, 2011), courses in collaboration with com-panies (e.g. Eagan and Streckewald, 1997) and e-learning (Opreanet al., 2011).

To create a good general learning environment for the under-standing of sustainability problems and to enable students to betteraddress sustainability, a change of academic and professional cul-ture from educating highly specific and specialized knowledge andskills to re-educating students with regard to their existingknowledge has been proposed (e.g. Juárez-Nájera et al., 2006) and“new integrative, inter- and transdisciplinary epistemologicalapproach” has been called for to create a “holistic perspective into atraditional undergraduate curriculum, which aims at specializa-tion” (Miranda Correia and Infante-Malachias, 2010, 678).

The literature also discusses accompanying and supportingfactors of integrating sustainability into the educational agenda andcurriculum. These include developing and communicating a sus-tainability mission of the university (Djordjevic and Cotton, 2011;Osiemo, 2012), university declarations for sustainable development(Lozano et al., 2013), and a sustainable campus development (e.g.Kurland, 2011; Mitchell, 2011), including operational managementissues like transport, purchasing, energy and waste management asimportant aspects which provide room for sustainability relatedexperiences and credibility (e.g. Atherton and Giurco, 2011;Brinkhurst et al., 2011). Various authors analyzed institutional andsystemic barriers to the integration of sustainability in higher

C. Hesselbarth, S. Schaltegger / Journal of Cleaner Production 62 (2014) 24e3626

education and approaches how to overcome them (e.g. McNamara,2010; Nomura and Abe, 2010).

Another stream of research examines the role of academic staffdevelopment as a catalyst to curriculum development (Barth andRieckmann, 2012; Ferrer-Balas et al., 2010; Stubbs and Schapper,2011; Stir, 2006).

As part of the overall development of higher sustainability ed-ucation, it has been called for more integration of sustainability andCSR inmanagement and business education (e.g. Matten andMoon,2004; Sherman and Hansen, 2010). Particularly for managementprograms, research has examined case studies for bachelor pro-grams (e.g. Lambrechts et al., 2012) and pedagogic approaches tobridge the academia-practitioner gap such as active learning(MacVaugh and Norton, 2012).

Matten and Moon (2004) overview of corporate sustainabilityand CSR education at university business schools in Europe showsfor the MBA programs that 12% of the schools have dedicated CSRoffers and 32% have optional courses as part of the MBA program.The authors state, however, that CSR may be over-represented inthese figures as half of the respondents were taken from a CSRresearchers and teachers database (Matten and Moon, 2004, 328).More recently some conventional MBA programs have introducedan MBA Oath (e.g. Anderson and Escher, 2010; Boyle, 2011) whichaddresses social responsibility. Although an oath may raiseawareness for responsibility in general such a measure cannot beseriously seen as an integration of sustainability topics into thecurriculum. Reviewing the currently offered MBA programsfurthermore shows that many programs which consider them-selves dedicated to CSR offer specific compulsory sustainabilitymodules or are focused on ethics but do not necessarily integratesustainability throughout all MBA modules.

Surveys for the Financial Times top 50 business schools(Christensen et al., 2007), Canada (Beringer et al., 2008), the SouthPacific region (Corcoran and Koshy, 2010) and the Asia-Pacific re-gion (Ryan et al., 2010; Naeem and Neal, 2012) provide similar re-sults. An emphasis on ethics as part of the studies has beenidentified in the Asia-Pacific programs for which sustainability hasbeen mentioned as an integral part of one or more courses. Theoverall picture shows that business schools are not (yet) integratingsustainability on a large scale. “Only one of the business schools outof the whole 48 surveyed [in the Asia Pacific region] was offering afull degree program in a sustainability-related subject” (Naeem andNeal, 2012, 65). Although already in 2004, overall “healthy enrol-ments” (Matten andMoon, 2004, 328) were identified for executiveand MBA courses with CSR dedication, MBA programs which fullyintegrated corporate sustainability and sustainability managementare still an exception (for such an exception of an innovative MBAspecializing in sustainable development in Malaysia see e.g. Amranet al., 2010). “As a result many universities are still lagging behindcompanies in helping societies become more sustainable” (Lozanoet al., 2013).

Observing the development of these different streams of liter-ature raises the question howMBA students who have successfullyfinished their studies in corporate sustainability and CSR manage-ment assess the usefulness of the course contents, the pedagogicapproaches, the general learning environment the university andthe program provides, and the course intensities. Apart frominvestigating the experiences of environmental practitioners(Bootsma and Vermeulen, 2011), industry’s needs for environ-mental training (Venselaar, 1995) and a competency survey reportof sustainability professionals (Willard et al., 2010) little is knownhow practitioners who have been educated in a specific highersustainability management program assess the usefulness of theirsustainability studies. This investigation may be useful for practi-tioners and those charged with curriculum design.

3. Competencies of corporate change agents for sustainability

Companies have traditionally operated in an unsustainablemanner, using non-renewable resources, causing pollution, creatingdisposable products and waste, etc. The task of sustainability man-agement is thus to change strategy, operations, products, etc. tomore sustainable forms of economic value creation. This is why aprogramforhighermanagementeducation should enablemanagersto organize change processes, i.e. the education is challenged tosupport actors to become change agents for sustainability.

3.1. Defining a corporate change agent for sustainability

A possible ultimate educational objective of a program forhigher management qualification in sustainability managementcan be defined to qualify corporate change agents for sustainability.This objective is rooted in the multi-faceted general literature onthe role of individuals as change agents (e.g. Kanter, 2000; Tichy,1974). A change agent can be considered as an “internal andexternal individual (.) responsible for initiating, sponsoring,directing, managing or implementing a specific change initiative,project or complete change programme” (Caldwell, 2003, 139e140).

Change agents are opinion leaders and driving forces in changeprocesses. They convince superiors, form coalitions, allay fears aswell as motivate and inspire employees and teams to leave oldpaths and take responsibility for social and environmental issues(Buchanan and Boddy, 1992; Kanter, 2000; Rogers, 2003). Typically,change agents incorporate multiple roles of a manager, consultant,leader, expert, team player, catalyst, promoter and entrepreneur(Caldwell, 2003, 140 for a classification of change agency models).

In the specific context of sustainability management this generaldefinition can be adapted: A change agent for sustainability is anactor who deliberately tackles social and ecological problems withentrepreneurial means to put sustainability management intoorganizational practice and to contribute to a sustainable devel-opment of the economy and society. In particular these changeagents develop sustainability as a factor of success in their workingenvironment, integrate sustainability criteria into business pro-cesses and organizational structures, initiate sustainability-relatedprojects which enact substantial change in the organization andbeyond, and who transfer the vision of sustainable developmentthrough cooperation and public relations to a wider group of thesociety. As Visser and Crane (2010) point out, multiple roles such assustainability expert, facilitator, catalyst and activist are part ofbeing a change agent for sustainability. Change agents for sus-tainability are not necessarily senior managers but can be in-dividuals on all levels internal or external of an organization. Thedefinition of a change agent for sustainability thus also includesthose who successfully initiate and promote change toward sus-tainable development on a lower hierarchy level and without aspecific mandate.

3.2. Competencies of a change agent for sustainability

Competence-oriented educational concepts focus on the‘output’ of educational processes whereas the conventional peda-gogic paradigm emphases the ‘input’ (contents and subjects) whichstudents should learn (cf. EQF, 2012; Sterling, 2004, 58e59). Theoutput approach does not primarily ask what should be taught, butstarts with the question what should be learnt: What kind ofmanaging abilities, which analytical concepts and problem-solvingstrategies should students have acquired as a result of the learningprocess? By considering the learning process and the output alsothe question what should be taught is addressed. We refer to the

Table 1Key competencies in sustainability education.

UNESCO(Delors, 1996)

4 pillars of education for the 21st century:� Learning to know� Learning to do� Learning to be� Learning to live together

OECD (2005) � Key competencies for the interactiveuse of tools, such as knowledge,media and resources

� Competencies for acting autonomously� Competencies for interacting within

socially heterogeneous groups.De Haan (2006);

see alsoRieckmann(2012)

Shaping competence comprising thefollowing key competencies:� Competency in anticipatory thinking� Competency in interdisciplinary work� Competency in cosmopolitan

perception and change of perspectives� Competency in handling incomplete

and complex information� Participatory competency� Competency in cooperation� Competency in dealing with individual

decision dilemmas� Competency in self-motivation and

motivating others� Competency in reflection on individual

and cultural models� Competency in ethical action� Capacity for empathy and solidarity

Sterling andThomas(2006)

Values, knowing, skills and understanding:� Competency to value diversity,

environment and justice� Knowledge of the principles of

sustainable development� Systemic thinking and analysis� Knowledge of sustainability issues

and problems� Competency to work across disciplines� Cooperative action and conflict

resolution� Competency to deal with uncertainty� Competency to take action to bring change

Roorda(2010)

� Responsibility� Emotional intelligence� System orientation� Future orientation� Personal involvement� Action skills

Wiek et al.(2011)

� Systems-thinking competence� Anticipatory competence� Normative competence� Strategic competence� Interpersonal competence


common elements typically mentioned in definitions of compe-tency (e.g. Baartman et al., 2007; Rychen and Salganik, 2003;Weinert, 2001). Apart from a broad foundation of disciplinary andinterdisciplinary knowledge also cognitive and practical skills aswell as attitudes and capabilities to successfully perform complextasks in real life work environments are emphasized together withthe ability to cooperate and motivate.

The question what kind of competencies sustainability educa-tion should foster has become a core topic in sustainability edu-cation research (e.g. Barth et al., 2007; De Haan, 2006; Rieckmann,2012; Wiek et al., 2011). Reviewing this literature reveals anincreasing convergence about the critical role of key competencies(Baartman et al., 2007; Sipos et al., 2008; Wiek et al., 2011 for anintegrative framework). For higher education for sustainabledevelopment the commonly mentioned competencies have beenspecified and broadened to include skills, motivations and affectivedispositions for the successful solving of real-world sustainabilityproblems and the identification and realization of opportunities.Key competencies are described as multifunctional and context-independent and important for all individuals and particularlyrelevant to achieve the objective of sustainable development(Rieckmann, 2012). Table 1 provides a selection of literaturemarking the debate to define (key) competencies in sustainabilityeducation.

In spite of the convergence no common agreement exists aboutthe “right” approach to select, define and rank key competenciesrequired for sustainable development (Fadeeva and Mochizuki,2010; Rieckmann, 2012). Each of the approaches aggregates andemphasizes different aspects of an overall educational objective e

to enable individuals to participate in socio-political processes andmove the society towards sustainable development (De Haan,2006; Hopkins and McKeown, 2002). Recent studies (Rieckmann,2012; Wiek et al., 2011) highlight that systemic, anticipatory, stra-tegic and critical thinking accompanied by normative and inter-personal competencies are most crucial for higher education forsustainable development.

The question of what competencies education for sustainabilitymanagement should consider has also been addressed recently(Lozano et al., 2013; Stubbs and Schapper, 2011; WEC and NetImpact, 2011) and agreement seems to exist that knowledge,skills and attitudes are three crucial components. With regard toknowledge various authors emphasize the importance of knowl-edge about ecological concepts, environmental management sys-tems and practices, specific approaches to nature and sustainability,and concepts of social global justice (e.g. Waddock, 2007). Severalscholars point out the need to include the development ofadvanced communication, negotiation, critical analysis and changemanagement skills into postgraduate studies (Hind et al., 2009).With respect to attitudes, as the third highlighted component inmanagement education for sustainability, research emphasizes theimportance to encourage students to question their view of theworld and to develop reflective thinking and their own under-standing of complex and challenging issues (Rands, 2009;Shephard, 2008).

Although the mandate of sustainability education to contributeto transforming unsustainable structures, processes and behavioralpatterns into sustainable ones is commonly mentioned, thecompetence profile of a change agent for sustainability is not in thecenter of the debate. The literature reveals that the outcome-oriented research on competencies of graduate sustainabilitymanagement studies and postgraduate MBA programs is still in anearly stage of development. The growing body of theoretical liter-ature onmanagement education for sustainability mainly discussesthe integration of sustainability into mainstream managementcurricula (Benn and Dunphy, 2009; Rusinko, 2010), selected

interdisciplinary competencies (e.g. Parker, 2010), ‘reflexive abili-ties’ (e.g. Hind et al., 2009; Mochizuki and Fadeeva, 2010) andenvironmental aspects (e.g. Bootsma and Vermeulen, 2011). Acomprehensive survey which provides an overview of compe-tencies of sustainability managers in corporate practice was con-ducted byWillard et al. (2010). Svanström et al. (2008) examine theactivities of the US initiative ACPA (American College PersonnelAssociation) which defines a set of 44 abilities and traits of changeagents who engage in creating a sustainable future. Whereas thestudy of Willard et al. (2010) deals with corporate practice but doesnot discuss curriculum consequences, the rather comprehensivecompilation of ACPA does neither refer to management and MBAeducation nor to the real-world requirements of sustainabilityprofessionals.

Reviewing the literature on sustainability competencies fororganizational and corporate change agents reveals a need tofurther explore both, the competencies required to be successful in


corporate practice, and the consequences which can be drawn forpostgraduate management education to help student develop theneeded competence profile of a change agent for sustainability.These competences include the key competencies consideredessential for sustainability education in general and the moredetailed set of subject-specific, methodological, social, and personalcompetencies (see Heyse and Erpenbeck, 1999 for this often usedclassification of competencies) of sustainability management.

Focusing on the specific competence profile of a change agent forsustainability raises the question of what set of knowledge, skillsand attitudes postgraduate students need to develop to master alltasks of a sustainability manager and to successfully contribute tosustainable development of corporations and society. To examinethe questions what competencies postgraduate students havegained through their MBA studies and what competencies andtopics have been considered to be particularly useful, less importantor missing in the practical work of the sustainability professionalswe analyzed the alumni survey results of CSM’s MBA program atLeuphana University which is shortly described in the following.

3.3. CSM’s MBA approach in sustainability management

The MBA Sustainability Management of the Centre for Sustain-ability Management (CSM) at Leuphana University in Lüneburgenrolled the first students in 2003 in response to an increasinglyperceived lack of systematically qualified sustainability manage-ment experts. As the worldwide first MBA in this area the programdeals with a broad set of sustainability topics from a managementperspective and aspires to support sustainable development

Fig. 1. Curriculum of the MBA S

through educating change agents in business and society. The ul-timate educational goal of a change agent for sustainability refers toindividual, organizational and societal objectives. On the individuallevel the study program aims at the personal development and theenhancement of future-oriented knowledge and learning compe-tencies of students to qualify them for management positions. Onthe organizational level improved management competency shalllead to increasing competitiveness of more sustainable companiesand their capacity to contribute to societal objectives of asustainable development through higher corporate sustainabilityperformance.

The two-year continuous education program is designed with amodern blended learning approach, combining e-learning withcompany-internal workshops and on-campus seminars, where stu-dents experience a ‘sustainable university’ in Lüneburg (for a discus-sion of what a sustainable university could be and why Lüneburg hasbeen labeled as such, see e.g. Adomssent et al., 2007; Behringer, 2007).

In addition to compulsory modules elective modules offer theopportunity to specialize according to occupational requirementsand individual preferences. Particular priority is given to thedevelopment of methodological, social and personal competencies(generic competencies) e soft skills courses sum up to one third ofthe content. Fig. 1 provides an overview of theMBA curriculum (seealso www.sustainament.de).

The curriculum is organized in six core modules, three soft skillmodules and a master thesis dealing with a sustainability man-agement problem of practical interest. Each accomplished moduleearns five credit points and the thesis 15 of 60 credit points in totalfor the whole program.

ustainability Management.

Table 2Acquisition of subject-specific competencies in ‘sustainability management’ (n ¼ 67,deviations indicated).

Element of subject-specificcompetencies

Extent of perceived competencyacquisition (1 e very comprehensive,6 e not at all), average

Fundamentals of sustainabilitymanagement

1.56

Strategic sustainabilitymanagement

1.79

CSR 2.26Sustainability marketing 2.07Instruments of sustainability

management2.43

Sustainability communicationand reporting

2.54

Measurement & assessmentof sustainability performance

2.70 (all, n ¼ 67)2.28 (participants of electivemodule, n ¼ 32)

Technology and innovationmanagement

3.47 (all, n ¼ 67)3.16 (participants of electivemodule, n ¼ 42)

Sustainable entrepreneurship 3.47 (all, n ¼ 67)2.64 (participants of electivemodule, n ¼ 31)


The core modules systematically discuss strategic management,methods and tools of sustainability management in combinationwith a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovationmanagement. The curriculum addresses the following occupationalrequirements of sustainability management:

￭ Measuring and assessing ecological and social aspects ofcorporate performance and their impact on corporate success

￭ Identifying market opportunities for sustainable productsand services

￭ Coordinating intra- and inter-organizational projects, mate-rial flows and supply chain cooperation

￭ Organizing stakeholder-dialogues and projects to assessecological and social problems and develop and implementsolutions

￭ Enhancing credibility and corporate reputationwith regard totruly improved sustainability performance

The MBA Sustainability Management has attracted people withdiverse educational and occupational background who predomi-nantly deal with sustainability in their daily work. The part timestudents can directly apply new skills to their job and transferdeveloped competencies into their professional working environ-ment. The possibility for immediate and continuous application andtrial of new knowledge attempts to increase both the motivation ofthe students and their realworld impact during their studies. Almostall industry sectors are represented (slightly higher proportions inrecent years: consulting, financial services and energy/renewableenergy), in addition to MBA students working for NGOs, develop-ment aid organizations and public institutions or as self-employedpersons. About 17% of the students are engineers and a consider-able share of almost 35% has successfully completed studies in eco-nomics or business administration before entering the program.Studentswithout afirstmanagement degree or a qualified long-termexperience in a superior management position have to complete apreparatory course on fundamentals of business management. TheMBA program in sustainability management requires at least twoyears of professional experience. 35.3% of the students possess lessthan 4 years of work experiencewhen entering the program, but theMBA program also attracts students with amuch longer working life(30% have working experiences of more than 11 years).

In the following we analyze the competencies acquired and thepraxis experiences of the first MBA students who successfullyfinished their studies.

4. Research question and approach

This paper investigates in the following what competencies thegraduated students of the MBA Sustainability Management havegained from their ex post perspective having already completed theprogram, what competencies they consider to be particularly use-ful, or less useful, for their job and what the MBA practitionersmissed in their higher education program.

A survey of all students who successfully completed the MBAprogram was conducted in autumn 2011. The research was con-ducted in line with the recommendations of the German ResearchCouncil (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft DFG) and the ethicalresearch guidelines of Leuphana University Lüneburg were obeyedto receive ethical clearance. The survey covers five cohorts of theGerman MBA Sustainability Management with 85 students ofwhich a total of 68 alumni responded. The high response rate of 80%can be considered an indication for a strong commitment to thestudy program and the Centre of Sustainability Management.Despite the high response rate a positive selection of respondingparticipants in the study cannot be excluded.

The main objectives of the alumni survey were to gain infor-mation about the perceived quality of the study program, theeducational output with a special focus on acquired competenciesof a change agent for sustainability, and the outcome, i.e. the ach-ieved professional success.

The alumni were invited to fill out an online questionnaire witha total of 68 questions and half an hour response time in average.We used predominantly closed questions based on a six point Likertscale to inquire the assessment of the participants with ‘1’ indi-cating a comprehensive acquisition of competencies (or thestrongest degree of agreement with a particular statement) and ‘6’indicating no perceived acquisition of competencies (or the stron-gest degree of disagreement).

5. Results of the alumni survey and discussion

In the following we first present and then analyze the results ofthe alumni survey with regard to the acquisition of subject specificcompetencies, soft skill competencies and personal development,the career paths and the requirements of the new occupationalfield of sustainability management.

5.1. Acquisition of subject-specific competencies

First, the alumni were asked how they perceive the level ofsubject-specific competencies acquired through the MBA program.The questions related to general management and businessadministration, fundamentals of sustainable development, andsustainability management.

For general management the responses indicate that only amedium level of new competencies was acquired. The perceivedextent of acquired general management competencies ranges inaverage from 2.82 of 6 for strategic management and marketing to4.15 for finance, whereas 1 would be a very large acquisition ofcomprehensive general management competencies.

This result is not surprising as about one third of the studentshas graduated in economics or business administration prior to theMBA and intended to learn specific knowledge in sustainabilitymanagement and only update their conventional managementknowledge. The results show that especially alumni without abackground in management or economics acquire general man-agement know-how. Although the alumni perceived the

Table 3Extent of perceived generic competency acquisition (n ¼ 68).

Generic competencies Extent of perceived competencyacquisition (1 e very comprehensive,6 e not at all), average

Methodological competencies 2.72Social competencies 2.57Personal competencies 2.39


curriculum as well-balanced, a wider choice of elective modules insustainable finance, logistics and sales is desired to deepen thegeneral management knowledge.

For the subject-specific competencies in ‘fundamentals of sustain-able development’ most of the respondents feel familiar with prin-ciples and fundamental concepts of sustainable development withan average assessment of 2.12 (assessment 1: 20%, 2: 55.5%, 3: 21.5%).

More specifically, to increase their subject-specific competenciesin ‘sustainability management’were central to the students for theirdecision to enroll in this MBA program. The survey results indicatethat the alumni have acquired comprehensive subject-specificcompetencies in most areas of sustainability management. Assome competencies are more deeply addressed in elective modulesthe results are differentiated for participants of the respectiveelective module and all other students (Table 2). The studentschoosing the elective perceive a higher gain of competency (0.52points in average) than the other students, which reflects theadditional time and effort spent for the elective module.

Despite this positive assessment the program directors feel aneed to strengthen the students’ competencies in ‘fundamentals ofsustainable development’ and their understanding of the politicaland economic framework for sustainability management withexpanded courses in sustainability governance. They furthermoreintend to restructure the elective modules targeting subject-specific competencies in ‘sustainability management’ by inte-grating aspects of sustainability performance measurement andcommunication in an overarching information management mod-ule and therefore improve the competency acquisition throughmore lateral interdisciplinary thinking in these management areas.

5.2. Acquisition of soft skill competencies and personaldevelopment

The MBA Sustainability Management program places a lot ofemphasis on the development of soft skills as these competenciesare considered highly relevant for change agents for sustainability(Hind et al., 2009; Svanström et al., 2008). With average results ofthe aggregated data of 2.39e2.72 on the 6 point Likert scale and asmall statistical spread the competence development goals can beseen as largely achieved (Table 3, for detailed list of the compe-tencies see Table 5).

In thefield of personal competencies remarkablehigh increasewasreported with respect to self-management (average 2.2, n ¼ 67) and

Fig. 2. Sustainability management in the c

self-learning skills (2.15, n¼ 64). It can be concluded that the blendedlearning concept with various challenges for work-life-balance, a lowlevel of external control, clear orientation on results and a high degreeof freedom particularly promote these competencies. Respondentssimultaneously regard self-management and self-learning skills ashighly relevant for professional life (average 1.9 on a 6 point scalewith‘1’ indicating highest relevance).

In addition, it is especially noteworthy that the alumni reportedsubstantial gains in motivation to implement sustainable devel-opment (average 2.08, n¼ 63). On the question for the contributionof the MBA to personal development an average assessment of 2.48and agreement by 82% of the respondents indicate that the pro-gram substantially contributes to the personal development of theindividuals. It is interesting to note that the assessment of contri-butions to personal development does not correlate with the re-spondent’s age and length of working life.

The results of the survey confirm that the vast majority of thestudents perceive that the ultimate goal of the MBA program, toeducate change agents for sustainability, has been achieved well.92.2% of respondents agree that they feel enabled to act as a changeagent for sustainability (average: 2.28 on a 6 point Likert scale). Theresponses reflect the students’ perceptions that especially entre-preneurial thinking (average 2.48), the ability to convince otherswith attractive and plausible concepts (average 2.07) and themotivation to implement sustainability (2.07) have increasedsignificantly in their view.

5.3. Career paths

The vast majority of alumni currently work in the field of sus-tainability management; for more than 56% of the respondentssustainability management is the main focus of their occupationalactivity (Fig. 2). With the exception of 3.1% (i.e. mostly because ofparental leave) all MBA alumni are employed.

urrent occupational activity (n ¼ 68).

Table 4Salary development after MBA graduation (n ¼ 58).

Proportion ofrespondents (in percent)

No change 44.8%Salary increase < 10% 24.4%Salary increase 10e30% 17.4%Salary increase > 30% 13.4%

100%

Table 6Top 15 competencies as perceived by sustainability practitioners with successfulcompletion of their studies MBA Sustainability Management.

Sub-competency Relevance forsustainabilitymanagers

Type of sub-competency

1 Fundamentals of sustainabilitymanagement

1.68 Subject-specific

2 Self-initiative 1.68 Personal3 Motivational capabilites 1.70 Personal4 Analytical skills 1.72 Methodological5 Ability to cooperate 1.73 Social6 Communication skills 1.79 Social7 Self-management 1.79 Personal8 Decision-making skills 1.83 Personal9 Self-confidence 1.85 Personal10 Presentation techniques 1.88 Methodological11 Strategic sustainability

management1.91 Subject-specific

12 (Self-)learning abilities 1.97 Personal13 Ability to handle conflict

and criticism2.00 Social

14 Project management 2.09 Methodological15 Entrepreneurial thinking 2.20 Personal


A large group of students changed the job after or whilestudying the MBA. In the relatively short time period since MBAgraduation (1e5 years, average: 2.8 years) 47% of the MBA studentswho successfully finished their studies have changed the employer,12% have started their own business and an additional 14% startedto work in a new field of activity in their ‘old’ company. 75% of allrespondents mentioned that sustainability management hasgained importance for their job. It thus seems reasonable toconclude that the sustainability orientation is a decisive aspect ofthe career plans and paths of the alumni.

With respect to changes in the hierarchical position (oper-ationalized by the extent of management responsibility) and salarywe observe minor effects. This may partially be related to therelatively short time period between MBA graduation and thesurvey. A full quarter of the alumni climbed into a higher hierar-chical position, in most cases (64.7%) related to sustainabilitymanagement. Interestingly enough 12.9% hold a lower hierarchicalposition compared to when commencing the MBA, which in eachcase was accompanied by a change of the employer and for themajority linked to a change into a sustainability-oriented field ofactivity.

Table 5Relevance of competencies for daily work (* indicating where the mean of group 1 is sta

Subject-specific competencies General managementStrategic managementMarketingFundamentals of sustainability managementStrategic sustainability managementCSRSustainability marketingInstruments of sustainability managementSustainability communication & reportingMeasurement & assessment of sustainabilityperformanceTechnology and innovation management

Methodological competencies Analytical skillsCreativity techniquesProblem-solving abilitiesDecision-making abilitiesLearning & working techniquesPresentation techniquesNegotiation methodsProject managementInformation & media literacy

Social competencies Communication skillsAbility to cooperateAbility to handle conflict and criticism

Personal competencies Motivational capabilitesSelf-confidenceSelf-management(Self-)Learning abilitiesSelf-initiativeDecision-making skillsCommitment to principles and valuesAbility to reflect ethical questionsEntrepreneurial thinking

A slight majority of the respondents registered a salary increaseafter the MBA graduation (Table 4). The effect of the MBA title insustainability management, however, cannot be separated from thegeneral salary development of highly skilled professionals.

Personal career development after MBA graduation is assessedvery heterogeneously. Most respondents (58.3%) mentioned anunconventional understanding of ‘career’, going along withincreased fulfillment, self-determined and chosen work content,learning opportunities and meaningfulness. About half of the

tistically significant lower than group 2 with p < 0.05).

Group 1: full-time sustainability manager Group 2: other occupational focus

Relevance for daily work (1 e very important, 6 e not important), average

2.37 2.622.56* 3.402.85* 3.761.68* 3.611.91* 3.962.26* 4.112.79* 4.533.08* 5.152.44* 4.192.38* 4.92

3.52* 4.461.72 2.162.56* 3.252.41 2.622.41 2.423.35 2.871.88 2.372.29 2.602.09 2.602.47* 3.371.79 2.01.73* 2.292.00 2.291.70 2.211.85 1.881.79 2.001.97 2.171.68* 2.281.83 2.042.26* 3.522.57* 3.652.20 2.54


respondents (53%) perceive a conventionally positive careerdevelopment as a result of the MBA in sustainability managementwhereas others stated that the study has been beneficial for per-sonal development but not directly linked to their career path.Nevertheless, 60% see good opportunities for future careerdevelopment.

The results show that the MBA in sustainability managementsubstantially increased motivation of the students to start an ownbusiness. 27.3% of the respondents are motivated to set up a com-pany, more than half of them already founded a new businessduring or after their MBA studies and another 4.5% are currently ina start-up phase.

In summary, when searching for a job or position where theycould apply sustainability management many graduated MBAstudents changed their job (at the same employer or to a newemployer), further developed their current job to include sustain-ability management (i.e. enlargement of job description) or createdtheir own new job (i.e. by founding a company) with the effect thatthey put themselves in a position which requires new compe-tencies. The career development can thus be described as dynamicand unconventional, requiring new competencies compared to theformer job.

5.4. Requirements of a new occupational field

A crucial question for curriculum development in sustainabilitymanagement is whether significant differences exist between thecompetencies required for sustainability managers and for ‘con-ventional’ managers and if such differences exist, which compe-tencies prove to be the most important ones for sustainabilitymanagers to be successful in corporate practice.

To investigate in detail which competencies sustainability pro-fessionals perceive as highly relevant for their job we analyzed thesurvey results for the sustainability management professionals incomparison with those with predominantly conventional jobs.Table 5 compares the answers of respondents who deal with sus-tainability matters every day (group 1: full-time sustainabilityprofessionals, n ¼ 35) with those MBA graduates who at themoment only occasionally or hardly ever deal with sustainabilitymanagement (group 2: other occupational focus, n ¼ 25; see alsoFig. 2). Although all respondents have similar intentions tocontribute to sustainable development and work in comparablehierarchical management positions we can observe some statisti-cally significant differences in the field of subject-specific compe-tencies as well as with regard to methodological, social andpersonal competencies (Table 5).

When comparing the two columns in Table 4, we can concludethat the relevance of generic competencies for their job seem to begiven higher importance by sustainability professionals than formanagers working in other occupational fields. Although the dif-ference is not statistically significant for all competency elementsthere is a clear tendency. Possible factors in explaining these resultsmay be: not yet fully established sustainability management posi-tions, cross-departmental function, inter- and transdisciplinarytasks, and requirements of both a general management and asustainability expert position.

As the survey did not explicitly investigate the reasons for thisdifference, the higher rating of all competencies by sustainabilityprofessionals appears to be an interesting topic for future research.

Examining the top 15 competencies considered most relevantby sustainability professionals (Table 6) shows that profoundknowledge in sustainability management tops the list. This in-dicates that this subject-specific competency is not only largelyacquired through the MBA program but also highly important forthe practical work of sustainability managers.

The vast majority of the following positions in Table 6 refer tomethodological, social and personal competencies. This result un-derpins the approach to incorporate intensive soft skill training intothe curriculum of a higher degree program in sustainabilitymanagement.

6. Conclusions

Although an increasing number of programs in sustainabilitymanagement have emerged for the last couple of years, empiricalfindings about the requirements of the profession and effectivemethods to educate change agents for sustainability are stilllimited. This paper shows that research needs to be expanded withregard to the practical experiences graduated MBA students makewhen applying the knowledge acquired in their studies and incomparing the curriculumwith the gaps they identify for additionaland changed course contents and the pedagogic approach. Illus-trated with the case of the MBA Sustainability Management atLeuphana University in Lüneburg and the responses of the alumnisurvey acquired and needed competencies are discussed.

The general trend mentioned in literature that sustainabilitymanagement is a “flourishing profession” (Visser and Crane, 2010)can be confirmed by the alumni survey results of the first MBAprogram in sustainability management. A rising number of appli-cations from traditional business sectors, a growing share of em-ployers who pay part or all of the enrollment fees (rising from 5.2%in 2005 to 15.6% in 2012) and the recent inclusion of the CSM’s MBASustainability Management in the corporate academic program of aleading German car manufacturer provide evidence for thisobservation. The largest increase in interest stems from consul-tancies, financial service providers, NGOs, public institutions andmultinational companies, many of them not having established astrong sustainability agenda in the past. This may be seen as anindicator that sustainability management has entered mainstreambusinesses. A ‘mainstreaming’ shift from sustainability manage-ment in leading, particularly sustainability oriented companies tosustainability management in more conventional companiestransforming their processes, products and strategies can be ex-pected to require new and other competencies of sustainabilitymanagers.

The literature review and the results of the alumni survey sug-gest that acting successfully as a change agent for sustainabilityrequires flexibility tomaybe change or create jobs, and a large set ofdifferent competencies, including general management andsubject-specific competencies in sustainability management,methodological, social, and personal competencies.

Taking together the literature review and the empirical findingsof the alumni survey we suggest a functional approach (Cheethamand Chivers, 1996; Weinert, 2001) to develop competence profilesfor change agents for sustainability. Table 7 shows a competencymatrix which attempts to integrate a classification of competenciesoften mentioned in literature (columns in Table 7 with subject-specific, methodological, social and personal competencies) withthe responses of the sustainability management professionals whatcompetencies they require to successfully master their practicalwork (rows in Table 7 from identify and develop business cases forsustainability to communicating sustainability performance). Thefoundation of this competency matrix includes key competenciesdiscussed in higher education for sustainability (see Table 1 andWiek et al., 2011). Whereas sustainability professionals value gen-eral strategic andmarketingmanagement competencies evenmorethan other professionals who have completed the MBA in sus-tainability management (Table 5), subject specific, methodological,social and personal competencies are among the top competenciesas perceived by sustainability practitioners who successfully

Table 7Competency matrix for change agents for sustainability.


completed of their MBA studies sustainability management(Table 6). This result highlights the importance to incorporateintensive soft skill training into the curriculum of a higher degreeprogram in sustainability management and to design the wholelearning environment according to the principles of blendedlearning, self-directed and collaborative learning, inter- and

transdisciplinarity, and networks for life-long learning with spacefor informal learning (e.g. Jamieson, 2009).

This competencymatrix does not include all ‘conventional’ basiccompetencies of academic education (such as critical thinking andbasic communication skills) which of course remain important. Itemphasizes those competencies which have been perceived by the


graduated working MBAs to be of particular importance for theiroccupational field.

The combination of job requirements as perceived by the alumniand the competencies as defined in literature allows to discusssystematically how a conceptually developed higher educationalprogram for sustainability management contributes and may haveto be further developed tomeet the practical needs of sustainabilityprofessionals.

The results of the alumni survey and their discussion in the lightof the competence matrix provide an interesting insight into theeffectiveness of sustainability management education with thecases study of CSM’s MBA Sustainability Management at LeuphanaUniversity Lüneburg.

In spite of the general confirmation of the pedagogic concept ofCSM’s MBA Sustainability Management program we have identi-fied several starting points for further improvement. The biggestpotential lies in the integration of soft skills and general man-agement know-how into all MBA modules without increasing theworkload or losing specific sustainability management content. Inorder to achieve this objective, we introduced new examinationmethods combining expert knowledge and soft skills (e.g. peerelements, video records, reflective tasks, webinars with pre-sentations), designed new project modules and intensified theinterlinkage of case studies with theoretical concepts. The resultsof the alumni survey indicate the practical relevance of sustain-ability marketing, entrepreneurship and sustainability informationmanagement (including measurement and communication is-sues). These contents have been further expanded withcomplex modules which support interdisciplinary, cross-boundarythinking.

Our research furthermore suggests that the competence profileof a change agent for sustainability is not only more complex butpossibly also more demanding in almost all competency fields thanthose of conventional managers. This raises the question what isthe right balance between teaching general management andsubject-specific management know-how and the training of thesoft skills within the limited time of a continuous part-time MBAprogram. The responses from the alumni survey suggest that spe-cific sustainability management knowledge and soft skills are vitalfor sustainability practitioners and that social and personal com-petencies should therefore be given sufficient space in the educa-tion. A blended learning and learner-centered concept with highflexibility, group work, intensive tutorial guidance, a close link oftheory and practice as well as several co-curricular options andopportunities for informal learning seem to be essential for theeducation of organizational and corporate change agents for sus-tainability, particularly in a part-time program. Intensivenetworking and an active alumni association support changeagents for sustainability to create and maintain motivation,improve career opportunities and provide a platform for contin-uous formal and informal learning.

Taking this line of thinking up, this paper aims at intensifyingthe exchange of experiences within the community of higher ed-ucation for sustainability management to support the joint furtherdevelopment of the profession in theory and practice.

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Journal of Cleaner Production - Mountain Top …app.mtu.edu.ng/chms/Business Administration/Educating...corporate sustainability like cleaner production, energy efﬁciency, eco-design