Revista de Negócios e Gestão Hoteleira

Relevance of Business Sustainability Education for Hospitality Management

Zabihollah Rezaee

Business sustainability in all dimensions of economic, governance, social, ethical, and environmental (EGSEE) performance is gaining acceptance worldwide as many global stock exchanges and regulators either encourage or require their listed companies to issue sustainability reports. More than 8, 000 public companies worldwide are disclosing some of the five EGSEE dimensions of sustainability performance and more companies are following the suite. Despite the ever-increasing importance of business sustainability practice and research, there is limited research on the status of business sustainability education (BSE). This study attempts to fill the gap in literature by examining the coverage of BSE in the Hospitality Management curriculum and presents pedagogical suggestions for the curriculum design and teaching of BSE. This paper examines the importance, relevance, benefits and delivery of BSE in Hospitality Management Schools. Hospitality Management Schools play an important and everlasting role in preparing the next generation of hotel leaders and managers who must understand the importance of business sustainability in our society, new accountability,integrated sustainability reporting and assurance.