A generic decision support framework for identification of societal impact themes and its measurement in a B-school

Abstract

Business schools play an important role in making positive contributions to society. Thus, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has placed societal impact as an expectation of all accredited schools. This article proposes an integrated multisource and multimethod approach to measure the societal impact of a business school. Using data from various sources (primary data collection via faculty survey and secondary data via faculty annual review documents) we were able to identify societal impact themes that aligned with college activities in teaching, research, and community engagement. AACSB's outlook on societal impact and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs) provided the guiding framework. We performed content analyses using DICTION software on the data to algorithmically discover the themes characterizing societal impact. To further support our data collection efforts, faculty listening sessions and discussions with unit heads were also conducted. Decent Work and Economic Growth; and Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure emerged as the top two themes. Using word clouds, multiple subthemes emerged from these two overarching themes. To conclude, we discuss an approach to operationalizing these themes by quantifying societal impact in a business school.