EICAA at the Responsible Management Education Research Conference [25.10.23]
The 10th RMER Conference was hosted by ISCTE Business School in Lisbon, Portugal, from September 26th to 28th. This year’s conference was held under the motto of “Sustainable and Responsible Management: A Decade of Integrating Knowledge and Creating Societal Impact through Innovation and Entrepreneurship.”
Over the course of ten years, RMER Conferences have delved into the intricacies and global issues associated with shifting towards more sustainable methods of production and consumption. Various stakeholders, including businesses, non-profits, governmental entities, institutions, individuals, and society, must collaborate harmoniously to effectively advance the 2030 Agenda and beyond. Through diverse and interdisciplinary discussions and the exchange of knowledge involving management educators and various other stakeholders, progress has been made in promoting responsible management education and learning. While the challenge persists, further conversations are necessary to address how economic restructuring and social transformation are essential on the path to a more sustainable world.
Louisa Mach from the University of Hohenheim presented her research on competence-based learning as part of the EICAA consortium. Building on the competence-mapping approach, her research delves into sustainability-related competences in innovation management for further education as part of the European lifelong learning initiative. Despite extensive research in primary and secondary education, adult education often remains overlooked. Competence-based learning serves as a favored approach to integrating knowledge, skills, and attitudes across various domains. Through thematic analysis and deductive coding, the study examines 72 innovation management-related further education programs conducted in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, between June and December 2022. The findings unequivocally demonstrate the inclusion of sustainability competences in innovation-related further education. Notably, Strategic Competence emerges as the most prevalent, while Normative Competence appears least frequently. This research significantly advances the convergence of further education in innovation management, responsible management education, and competence-based learning, emphasizing the importance of sustainability competences in adult learning contexts. By shedding light on this underexplored domain, the study prompts further exploration and development of sustainable educational practices for lifelong learning.
Other contributions from the conference also focus on competence-based teaching and learning to foster transversal skills necessary for achieving the targets of the 2030 Agenda. Moreover, the conference served as a small EICAA reunion with colleagues from MCI, which is always a pleasure.
