An Exploratory Study of How Business Schools Approach AACSB's Societal Impact Standards

AACSB adopted new and revised standards in 2020 that require business schools to demonstrate positive societal impact through internal and external activities. While many schools are already engaged in such activities, there seems to be no agreed-upon conceptualization or measurement of societal impact. This paper aims to help business schools organize, measure, and demonstrate their efforts to create positive societal impact and thus meet the updated AACSB standards. By using data from semi-structured interviews, this paper identifies different dimensions of positive societal impact and offers enablers and barriers in business school efforts to create such societal impact.