Critical Approaches to Sustainability in the Business Communication Classroom: A Developmental Perspective

Business communication faculty who invite students to critically engage with issues of sustainability must consider students’ developmental readiness to do so, as these invitations can often seem uninvited. To promote students’ readiness for critical inquiry, faculty should adopt a developmental approach that attends to both cognitive and emotional aspects of learning. This article outlines three ways to frame critical discussions of sustainability: as a new conception of wealth, as a cultural way of knowing, and as an intergenerational social contract. To help faculty develop students’ capacity to engage critically, this article includes guided questions to support critical inquiry and a supplemental reading list.