Understanding How Stand-Alone Sustainability Courses Are Taught in Marketing: A Global Baseline Analysis

Abstract

The growing societal and environmental challenges of the 21st century are ubiquitous. Thus, marketing educators are tasked with incorporating a sustainability approach into their curriculum, educating students on the synchronous pursuit of economic, environmental, and social goals. Drawing on a systematic analysis of sustainability marketing–related syllabi, the purpose of this article is to provide a baseline analysis of the content covered and the resources used in stand-alone sustainability marketing courses taught at business schools worldwide. Specifically, we analyze general course information, course titles and sustainability terms utilized, current course objectives and how sustainability marketing–related learning objectives have evolved over time, course topics, how knowledge is conveyed, and how learning is assessed. This investigation also provides a list of resources used in current marketing sustainability courses to serve as a reference for curriculum development and refinement. By discussing past and current trends in sustainability education, our analysis serves as state-of-the-art insight that helps marketing educators and administrators to form or improve their own curricula to align with the pedagogical trends among their contemporaries and ultimately become more capable teachers of sustainability topics.