Designing and Teaching Business & Society Courses From a Threshold Concept Approach

Abstract

This article examines the redesign of an undergraduate course in Business & Society using a threshold concept approach. Business & Society courses may be troublesome for students because they depart from the premise that business is limited to creating value for shareholders. We argue that Business & Society courses contain a web of threshold concepts (i.e., ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability) that need to be understood in unison. The redesigned course should help students understand our threshold conception that business has social, environmental, and economic responsibilities that are interconnected and interdependent. This study shows that multiple, interconnected theoretical concepts can serve as threshold conceptions in certain disciplines. In addition, we also demonstrate that progressive assessments throughout the course as well as empirical methods can help instructors identify student evolution through the liminal space.

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