Abstract
Over the past decade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a mandatory topic for business schools and higher education institutions specializing in management. There is evidence that without fully integrating CSR into their own strategy and organizational context, business schools risk creating decoupling effects that negatively impact CSR education. Little is known, however, about how best to implement CSR in terms of purpose and practice in order to avoid institutional decoupling. The analysis of a mandatory CSR course for Master's students in a French business school over a period of six years allows us to better understand the origins and consequences of such decoupling effects. Based on this analysis, as well as drawing on and extending previous empirical and conceptual research, we develop a dynamic model for effective CSR implementation and also present advantages, disadvantages, possible decoupling effects and recommendations for each step of an implementation process. Our analysis shows that successful CSR education is not just achieved through curricular modifications but depends on institutional strategy. Thus, we present a six-stage model that combines the operational and strategic dimensions of CSR education. This six-stage model helps to analyze past successes, overcome failures, and increase the effectiveness of future efforts to implement CSR.