IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i12p6519-d570786.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing the Positive Impact Rating: A New Business School Rating in Support of a Sustainable Future

Author

Listed:
  • Kathleen Rodenburg

    (Gordon S. Lang Business School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada)

  • Taimoor Rizwan

    (Gordon S. Lang Business School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada)

  • Ruifeng Liu

    (Gordon S. Lang Business School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada)

  • Julia Christensen Hughes

    (Gordon S. Lang Business School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada)

Abstract

Business school rankings are “big business”, influencing donors and potential students alike, holding much sway over decanal and faculty priorities, particularly with respect to the curriculum as well as the focus and destination of research publications (i.e., in so-called “top” journals). Over the past several years, the perverse effects of these priorities have begun to be acknowledged, and new ratings and ranking systems have emerged. One promising newcomer is the Positive Impact Rating (PIR), which uniquely and exclusively focuses on student perceptions of their business school’s priorities and the learning experience. In addition, it organizes schools by tier, in an effort to foster collaboration and continuous improvement, as opposed to ranked competition. If this new approach is to achieve its stated objective and help shift the focus of business schools to developing future business leaders and research output in alignment with a more sustainable world (and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), it is essential that the metrics used be and be perceived as both valid and reliable. The current research aims to make a contribution in this regard, analyzing the results at one business school in detail and making recommendations for strengthening these aims. Results show that the parametric properties of the survey are highly interrelated, suggesting that the predictive utility of the separate elements within the scale could be improved. Additionally, biases in scores may exist depending on where the responses are collected and who solicited them, as well as the students’ perception of their overall academic experience and on socio-cultural factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathleen Rodenburg & Taimoor Rizwan & Ruifeng Liu & Julia Christensen Hughes, 2021. "Enhancing the Positive Impact Rating: A New Business School Rating in Support of a Sustainable Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6519-:d:570786
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6519/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6519/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seth Gershenson & Stephen B. Holt & Nicholas Papageorge, 2015. "Who Believes in Me? The Effect of Student-Teacher Demographic Match on Teacher Expectations," Upjohn Working Papers 15-231, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Linda Wedlin, 2006. "Ranking Business Schools," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3941.
    3. Melissa Edwards & Paul Brown & Suzanne Benn & Christopher Bajada & Robert Perry & Deborah Cotton & Walter Jarvis & Gordon Menzies & Ian McGregor & Katrina Waite, 2020. "Developing sustainability learning in business school curricula – productive boundary objects and participatory processes," Published Paper Series 2020-1, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    4. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    5. Holt, Stephen B. & Papageorge, Nicholas W., 2016. "Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectationsAuthor-Name: Gershenson, Seth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 209-224.
    6. Petros Tomaras & John Tsalikis, 2017. "Priming Effects on Cross-Cultural Business Ethical Perceptions," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Androniki Kavoura & Damianos P. Sakas & Petros Tomaras (ed.), Strategic Innovative Marketing, pages 211-216, Springer.
    7. Thomas Dyllick & Katrin Muff, 2020. "A Positive Impact Rating for Business Schools: Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-14, November.
    8. Boring, Anne, 2017. "Gender biases in student evaluations of teaching," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 27-41.
    9. Chiara Mio & Silvia Panfilo & Benedetta Blundo, 2020. "Sustainable development goals and the strategic role of business: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3220-3245, December.
    10. Gregory Howard & Brian E. Roe & Erik C. Nisbet & Jay F. Martin, 2017. "Hypothetical Bias Mitigation Techniques in Choice Experiments: Do Cheap Talk and Honesty Priming Effects Fade with Repeated Choices?," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 543-573.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Steingard & Kathleen Rodenburg, 2023. "Societal Impacts of Higher Education Research: From ‘Publish or Perish’ to ‘Publish and Prosper’ in Business School Scholarship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Kathleen Rodenburg & Michael Rowan & Andrew Nixon & Julia Christensen Hughes, 2022. "The Misalignment of the FT50 with the Achievement of the UN’s SDGs: A Call for Responsible Research Assessment by Business Schools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-33, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas S. Dee & Emily K. Penner, 2021. "My Brother's Keeper? The Impact of Targeted Educational Supports," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1171-1196, September.
    2. Chonika Coleman-King & Valerie Adams-Bass & Keisha Bentley-Edwards & Duane Thomas & Celine Thompson & Ali Michael & Gwendolyn Miller & Bianka Charity-Parker & Howard Stevenson, 2021. "Got Skillz? Recasting and Negotiating Racial Tension in Teacher–Student Relationships Amidst Shifting Demographics," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Lekfuangfu, Warn N. & Odermatt, Reto, 2022. "All I have to do is dream? The role of aspirations in intergenerational mobility and well-being," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Kato, Takao & Song, Yang, 2018. "An Advisor like Me: Does Gender Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 11575, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Charles H. Lea & Henry Joel Crumé & Demond Hill, 2020. "“Traditions Are Not for Me”: Curriculum, Alternative Schools, and Formerly Incarcerated Young Black Men’s Academic Success," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-27, December.
    6. Erin Dillon & Steven Malick, "undated". "Teacher Turnover and Access to Effective Teachers in the School District of Philadelphia," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 700eafe8d79f4e6da94c86be5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    7. Höckel, Lisa, 2019. "Speaking the same language - The effect of foreign origin teachers on students’ language skills," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203638, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Gershenson, Seth, 2021. "Identifying and Producing Effective Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 14096, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Boyd-Swan, Casey & Herbst, Chris M., 2017. "Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in the Labor Market for Child Care Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 11140, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Diyi Li & Cory Koedel, 2016. "Representation and Salary Gaps by Race/Ethnicity and Gender at Selective Public Universities," Working Papers 1613, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised Apr 2017.
    11. Adriana Lleras-Muney & Matthew Miller & Shuyang Sheng & Veronica T. Sovero, 2020. "Party On: The Labor Market Returns to Social Networks in Adolescence," NBER Working Papers 27337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Nicole Black & Sonja C. de New, 2020. "Short, Heavy and Underrated? Teacher Assessment Biases by Children's Body Size," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 961-987, October.
    13. Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas & Nidhi Singh & Zoran Kalinic & Elena Carvajal-Trujillo, 2021. "Examining the determinants of continuance intention to use and the moderating effect of the gender and age of users of NFC mobile payments: a multi-analytical approach," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 133-161, June.
    14. Yoon, Junghyun & Lee, Hee Yong & Dinwoodie, John, 2015. "Competitiveness of container terminal operating companies in South Korea and the industry–university–government network," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-14.
    15. Md. Mominur Rahman & Bilkis Akhter, 2021. "The impact of investment in human capital on bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Usunier, Jean-Claude, 1998. "Oral pleasure and expatriate satisfaction: an empirical approach," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 89-110, February.
    17. Abdul Kadar Muhammad Masum & Md Abul Kalam Azad & Loo-See Beh, 2015. "Determinants of Academics' Job Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Private Universities in Bangladesh," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    18. Sharma, Vivek & Bhat, Dada Ab Rouf, 2020. "An empirical study exploring the relationship among human capital innovation, service innovation, competitive advantage and employee productivity in hospitality services," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 1-14..
    19. Deepak, 2016. "Antecedent Value of Professional Commitment and Job Involvement in Determining Job Satisfaction," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 41(2), pages 154-164, May.
    20. Abernethy, Margaret A. & Vagnoni, Emidia, 2004. "Power, organization design and managerial behaviour," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(3-4), pages 207-225.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6519-:d:570786. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.