Compliance and Complicity: An Accreditation Fig Leaf for ‘ERS’ Decoupling at Nordic Business Schools

Mathias Falkenstein, Annie Snelson-Powell

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

This empirical study explores the influence of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability (ERS) criteria, introduced by EQUIS accreditation in 2013, on business schools' practices. We construct case studies of four business schools in Nordic countries implementing the ERS criteria. Through qualitative analysis of 96 interviews and 194 documents, across six years (2016-2021), we establish different approaches of business schools, involving symbolic more than substantive change, finding three dominant tactics of decoupling: (a) strategic manipulation or ‘faking it’, (b) partial implementation and (c) narrow interpretation. We make a theoretical contribution, where decoupling in itself is the a taken-for-granted institutionalised behaviour.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAcademy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings
Volume2024
Issue number1
Early online date9 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2024
Event84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2024 - Chicago, USA United States
Duration: 9 Aug 202413 Aug 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Management Information Systems
  • Management of Technology and Innovation
  • Industrial relations

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