Conceptualising Change Processes; A Model of Institutionalising Responsible Management Education

As corporate social responsibility rises among business agendas across the globe in response to the increase in scandals and corporate crises, so too does the need for managers to have an increased ethically, sustainably and responsibly focused awareness. Responsible management education (RME) is regarded as a reaction to the partial blame on business schools for having ‘failed’ to educate managers in this regard. Business schools across the UK are raising their level of RME activities within teaching, research and enterprise. This paper aims to conceptualise from an institutional perspective how business schools are institutionalising RME and proposes a model of institutional change processes that they can engage with. The paper focuses on the UK higher education environment and examines additional contributing factors to the change process including internal and external stakeholders and theoretically the role of institutional entrepreneurs, which support the institutionalisation of RME.