Digital storytelling and sustainable development goals: Motivating business students to engage with SDGs

Purpose Motivating business students to engage in wider social issues is often difficult, especially when the issues are not aligned with some aspect of business education, or the academic progress of the student. This paper addresses one method of encouraging students to learn about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without compromising the traditional business curriculum. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops and evaluates the application of a pedagogical strategy, digital storytelling, to motivate business students to become engaged in issues surrounding SDGs. Findings By describing a successful pedagogical strategy implemented to engage Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in SDGs, it is expected that when these students take up future leadership roles in important sectors of the economy, they will act purposefully to assist in enhancing human welfare. Limitations The model is fully developed, but applied only to a single group of post-graduate business students. Additional field work with different cohorts of student will enhance knowledge about the best method of implementation. Implications This paper demonstrates that it is not necessary to develop dedicated subjects in an already crowded business curriculum in order to advance both knowledge and motivation of social issues amongst students. Contribution Motivating individuals in the business community to engage in social issues is one of the greatest obstacles to enhancing human welfare. This paper introduces one innovation in teaching and learning that assists in ameliorating the problem. Hopefully it will encourage other similar work in the future.