If business schools want socially responsible graduates, they must teach empathy differently

The challenge

Despite a growing focus on responsible management education in business schools, many educators still rely on approaches to teaching and learning that prioritise cognitive understanding of social problems over emotional engagement. Students typically learn about social problems through cases, lectures and simulations that keep real-life human experience at a distance. The result is that while graduates often can analyse social issues effectively and develop their critical thinking skills, a lack of affective empathy in teaching and learning means students struggle to deeply connect to social problems and therefore to act on them.

The approach

Researchers examined how empathy can be deliberately cultivated through pedagogical design by embedding lived experience of social disadvantage into a social impact hackathon. Business students collaborated to develop business ideas for marginalised communities, alongside workshops and mentoring. A facilitated panel which included people with lived experience of homelessness sharing their stories was ethically designed through partnership with a social enterprise, with careful preparation, support and structured reflection to ensure respectful and meaningful engagement. The study found that students' engagement with the lived experience panel formed a pivotal learning moment.

Outcome and impact

Engagement with lived experience prompted a profound shift in students' understanding of social responsibility, moving beyond cognitive empathy to affective connection. The researchers termed this novel pedagogical approach "Lived Experience Values-Based Experiential Learning (LEVEL)". The study showed that when students are confronted with the human consequences of social disadvantage through lived experience, something shifts both cognitively and emotionally. Social problems became immediate and real, challenging assumptions and reshaping how students approached solution design. Rather than producing narrow entrepreneurial outcomes, the experience strengthened students' sense of agency and increased their confidence and ability to act. Responsibility becomes personal. Learning becomes relational. Problems are understood from a human-centred lens. Action becomes possible.