The Role of Entrepreneurship and Spirituality in the Provision of Elective Social Enterprise Courses in Business Schools

The final chapter in this section, chapter ten, Cherry Cheung, Sujun Fieldhouse and
Caleb Kwong examine the extent to which the spirituality of a university may impact its decision to offer social enterprise courses as part of their business curriculum. Universities face increasing pressures from stakeholders to produce moral, civically aware and socially responsible citizens who will create positive change in their societies. Because of their concern and focus on social, economic, environmental and now spiritual ‘bottom-lines’, social enterprises courses are seen as one way of engaging in the conversations to examine transformational shifts in society. Using data from 494 business schools accredited by AACSB in the US, Cheung, Fieldhouse and Kwong found that, alongside structural differences, universities with higher entrepreneurship orientation, as well as the presence of spirituality markers, such as sustainability, diversity and religious orientations, are more likely to be offering social enterprise courses for business students, after controlling for other factors. This is an important finding, confirming that spirituality has a role to play in supporting a broader education experience that has the potential to develop socially responsible citizens who have the awareness to create transformational social changes. Thus, the study alerts the wider academic community of the contributions that social enterprise courses can make in creating social change, particularly for those without a strong emphasis of spirituality that may struggle to see the need to offer such courses.