IMPACT AND UNIVERSITY BUSINESS TRAINING COURSES DELIVERED TO THE MARGINALIZED: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and accreditors challenge business schools to extend their impact beyond academia and into the realworld. Many management academics have responded by becoming involved in business training programs that seek to improve the well-being of marginalized individuals. However, work that conceptualizes and measures the efficacy of these activities has not been systematically analyzed. In this article, we provide the first review. We find that the research is dominated by examinations of short-term, individual-level outcomes, such as securing employment. Yet little is written about the impact of business training programs (especially over time) at either a collective or system level. We use our review to argue for theoretically informed approaches to redress this gap, highlighting under emphasized directions for future research. We also provide recommendations to assist program design, noting that good practice involves hybrid models of education that build capacity within marginalized communities. Further, program designs ought to support broader social goals, such as helping these communities to thrive.