The Need for Deeper Roots: Making a Mission-Driven Case for Poverty-related Issues in Business Education

We begin with the argument that if universities are to form and educate future business leaders with a disciplined sensitivity to those who suffer from both material and spiritual poverty, they will be most successful when they draw upon a mission that has a deeper root system than generic values or instrumental rationality. Recognizing that mission-driven perspectives need to be particular to the university, we provide a rationale of how Catholic universities, of which there are approximately 1,800 worldwide, can organically connect business- and poverty-related issues with their deepest convictions. When rooted in the specifi c wisdom of their tradition, Catholic universities are able to provide a multidimensional notion of the good that business does (good goods, good work, and good wealth) revealing the breadth of business’s contribution through a multilayered understanding of prosperity and poverty (material/moral/spiritual). Drawing upon these insights, we connect with actual business courses in the fi elds of marketing (good goods), management/organizational behavior (good work), and finance/accounting (good wealth)