Advancing Transformative Learning in Sustainability Management Education: A Systematic Review and Integrative Model

ABSTRACT Reversing dominant unsustainable business practices requires a fundamental shift in how business practitioners perceive and enact sustainability. Management education is crucial for preparing prospective business professionals to lead this change, yet traditional curricula often perpetuate unsustainable paradigms. Transformative learning (TL) theory has emerged as a promising framework to shift business students' mindsets toward corporate sustainability (CS). Despite growing scholarly interest, research on how TL processes unfold and generate outcomes within sustainability management education is in its infancy and remains fragmented. This study fills this gap by conducting a systematic literature review and an inductive analysis to develop a comprehensive theoretical model of TL for CS. The model identifies and integrates key attributes of the TL process for CS and provides a fine‐grained list of potential TL outcomes, offering new insights for scholars and educators leveraging TL to foster sustainable business leadership and practice.

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Publication Details

Journal
Business Strategy and the Environment
Published
2026-04-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70841
Primary Topic
Sustainability in Higher Education
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Advancing Transformative Learning in Sustainability Management Education: A Systematic Review and Integrative Model

Raquel Antolín‐López, Justo Alberto Ramírez‐Franco, José Valverde‐Roda
Business Strategy and the Environment
Sustainability in Higher Education
article

Advancing Transformative Learning in Sustainability Management Education: A Systematic Review and Integrative Model

Raquel Antolín‐López, Justo Alberto Ramírez‐Franco, José Valverde‐Roda
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Reversing dominant unsustainable business practices requires a fundamental shift in how business practitioners perceive and enact sustainability. Management education is crucial for preparing prospective business professionals to lead this change, yet traditional curricula often perpetuate unsustainable paradigms. Transformative learning (TL) theory has emerged as a promising framework to shift business students' mindsets toward corporate sustainability (CS). Despite growing scholarly interest, research on how TL processes unfold and generate outcomes within sustainability management education is in its infancy and remains fragmented. This study fills this gap by conducting a systematic literature review and an inductive analysis to develop a comprehensive theoretical model of TL for CS. The model identifies and integrates key attributes of the TL process for CS and provides a fine‐grained list of potential TL outcomes, offering new insights for scholars and educators leveraging TL to foster sustainable business leadership and practice.

Business Strategy and the Environment
University of Almería (ES)
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
Sustainability in Higher Education
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