Introduction.
Our study is situated in the context of teaching sustainability to mature business students (MBA Students typically with 10+ years of managerial experience), with the aim of disrupting habitual management thinking. We build on precedents where ethical and socio-ecological approaches empower students to question assumptions and imagine alternative realities (Colombo et al., 2024; Berti, Jarvis, Nikolova & Pitsis, 2021).
Purpose and focus of study.
The purpose of our study is to examine whether Seligman's (2018) notion of the "hope circuit" and the related concept of "learned hopefulness" can inform new approaches to sustainability teaching in business schools. Drawing on psychology, we utilize research that revises earlier findings on learned helplessness (Seligman & Maier, 1967). More recent work (Maier & Seligman, 2016; Baratta, Seligman & Maier, 2023) argues that helplessness is the unlearned default, while the experience of control must be actively acquired. Informed by these insights, our study asks whether sustainability teaching can provide students with meaningful experiences of agency. By combining ecologically grounded, systems-based thinking with psychological insights, we explore whether engaging with sustainability challenges, both in and beyond the classroom, can generate moments of perceived control, a defining feature of "learned hopefulness."
Method and outlook.
Our methodological approach is developed against the backdrop of a global polycrisis, where sustainability and other grand challenges are tightly interconnected yet often perceived as uncontrollable. We propose designing opportunities for students to experience small, tangible moments of control in relation to complex sustainability issues. Even when global challenges appear overwhelming, these localized experiences may cultivate hope, initiative, and a sense of agency. Ultimately, we aim to investigate whether such an approach can deepen student engagement with sustainability and nurture a commitment to purposeful, long-term action.