Responsible management education: Retrospective insights and reflective takeaways

The limited integration of sustainability principles into business education has hindered the capacity of business schools to fully realize their role in promoting societal impact. Existing reviews, while providing valuable insights, often focus broadly on concepts like social responsibility or narrowly on frameworks like the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME), leaving gaps in understanding the role of responsible management education (RME). This systematic literature review (SLR) addresses these gaps by examining the diverse approaches within RME to provide a holistic understanding of how RME can better equip future business leaders to address sustainability challenges. Utilizing the PRISMA protocol, 138 articles were retrieved and reviewed. Findings revealed that RME implementation in the classroom is centered around curriculum integration , case studies , experiential learning , guest speakers , and research projects . RME's contribution to addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is observed through curriculum alignment , strategic partnerships , research and innovation , and student engagement . Future directions for RME include enhancing continuous learning and adaptation , fostering ethical leadership , expanding experiential learning , promoting global collaboration and perspectives , increasing the emphasis on sustainability , adopting interdisciplinary approaches , integrating technology , and measuring impact . The implications of these findings for the future of RME are discussed, providing a roadmap for advancing RME in business schools and management education globally. • Retrospective insights into responsible management education (RME) provide reflective takeaways. • RME plays a key role in achieving the SDGs and nurturing the next generation of business leaders. • RME progress is promising but implementation and performance vary across institutions and regions. • RME promotes continuous learning and adaptation, ethical leadership, experiential learning, global collaboration and perspectives, sustainability emphasis, interdisciplinarity, technological integration, and impact measurement.