Socially responsible business schools: Collective stakeholders voices demand urgent actions

During forty-nine years, urgent calls to action have been addressed to business schools for accomplishing a socially responsible management education. The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of these demands and what they recommend for business ethics and social responsibility education. Therefore, the following questions will be addressed: (1) Is the feedback from stakeholders, regarding education in business ethics and social responsibility, persuading deans to develop criteria for change? (2) Are the accreditation requirements of AACSB an adequate response to the current trends, challenges and vocalized need for improved business ethics and social responsibility education in business schools? Findings indicate that the great amount of declarations, demands, publications, and surveys, evidence that the majority of stakeholders are insisting on the integration of business ethics and social responsibility education in the curricula. Debate resides only on the form of implementation, but the amount of feedback that has been generated does undoubtedly enable Deans to decide positively on the changes that are necessary for the transformation of the curricula. The voices of faculty, their moral leadership and commitment are essential to transform curricula, include a course in conceptual foundations of business ethics, and embed business ethics and social responsibility in the curricula and research. Additional findings indicate that the AACSB¿s standards are not responding adequately to the current trends, challenges and demands of business ethics and social responsibility in business schools, and it is fundamental that their accreditation policies be modified because it is the most capable institution for influencing business schools. The implications of these findings are discussed.