Do neutral hearts make the world go around? A eudaemonic turn in business curricula

Abstract

What does it take for business schools to reconnect with new cohorts of students and their societal expectations? One of the myriad barriers that universities face when addressing such a conundrum is widely given by a hidden – in plain sight – part of the educational curriculum: the principle of secularism adopted decades ago as a precondition of Western modernisation. We do not argue in favour of the adoption of religious forms of education or the design of religious-oriented curricula. Our argument is that within religious philosophies lies a rich inventory of knowledge that connects with millions of religious and non-religious people who are members of a diverse range of societies, organisations and businesses. We propose that a better integrated approach to business students’ development could draw from more human-centred methods of pedagogical design to which the concept of eudaemonia – what motivates people’s hearts and minds – is closely connected. This is particularly salient if we consider the enormous influence that business programmes have globally. This article contributes to the extant literature on business education and management learning by establishing clearer links and theoretical reflections between myriad scholarships concerned with addressing business schools’ connections with new cohorts of students in increasingly diverse societies.

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