Current Issue: Transformative Social Impact
A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research
doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025
eISSN: 3066-8239 (online)
Volume 2 Issue 1
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Building Bridges Between Business Schools and Communities: A Framework for Reciprocal Engagement by Jonathan H. Westover, Western Governors University
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High-Impact Practices as Organizational Change Strategy: A Framework for Institutional Transformation and Community Engagement by Jonathan H. Westover, Western Governors University
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Strategic Stakeholder Integration: Reimagining Business School-Community Partnerships Beyond the Consulting Model by Jonathan H. Westover, Western Governors University
Research Advances Section
Received October 10, 2025; Accepted for publication November 9, 2025; Published Early Access November 11, 2025
Title: Building Bridges Between Business Schools and Communities:
A Framework for Reciprocal Engagement
Authors: Jonathan H. Westover, Western Governors University
Abstract: Business schools increasingly recognize their responsibility to serve communities beyond producing graduates and research. This article examines emerging models of reciprocal community engagement in business education, where universities and community organizations collaborate as genuine partners rather than following traditional service-provider relationships. Drawing on service-learning scholarship and organizational partnership literature, the analysis explores the landscape of university-community collaboration, organizational and community impacts of engagement initiatives, and evidence-based approaches to building sustainable partnerships. The article synthesizes research on reciprocal engagement strategies including collaborative project design, capacity-building exchanges, and sustained relationship infrastructure. Forward-looking recommendations address institutional commitment frameworks, partnership governance models, and systems for continuous learning. The synthesis offers practical guidance for business school administrators, faculty, and community organizations seeking to develop mutually beneficial relationships that enhance educational outcomes while addressing authentic community needs.
Keywords: reciprocal engagement, community partnerships, service-learning, business education, university-community collaboration, mutual benefit, civic engagement, partnership governance
doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.2.1.1
Suggested Citation:
Westover, Jonathan H. (2026). Building Bridges Between Business Schools and Communities: A Framework for Reciprocal Engagement. Transformative Social Impact: A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research, 1(2). doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.2.1.1
Research Advances Section
Received October 20, 2025; Accepted for publication November 10, 2025; Published Early Access November 12, 2025
Title: High-Impact Practices as Organizational Change Strategy:
A Framework for Institutional Transformation and Community Engagement
Authors: Jonathan H. Westover, Western Governors University
Abstract: High-impact practices (HIPs)—structured educational experiences characterized by active learning, faculty mentorship, peer collaboration, and authentic application—have demonstrated effectiveness in improving student retention, learning outcomes, and degree completion. While early HIP scholarship focused primarily on individual student benefits, this conceptual framework positions HIPs as comprehensive organizational change strategies that reshape institutional cultures, resource allocations, faculty reward structures, and community partnerships. Drawing on foundational student development theory, meta-institutional empirical studies, and organizational change scholarship, this framework examines how systematic HIP implementation catalyzes transformation across multiple institutional dimensions simultaneously. The analysis synthesizes evidence on HIP design principles, organizational consequences, and implementation strategies, with particular attention to equity considerations often marginalized in educational innovation discourse. Rather than claiming comprehensive literature coverage, this framework offers a bounded synthesis connecting student success research, organizational theory, and civic engagement scholarship to illuminate HIPs' multidimensional transformative potential. The framework concludes that institutions treating HIPs as isolated pedagogical techniques miss their fuller capacity to advance educational quality, equity, and public purpose simultaneously—but that realizing this potential requires structural commitments extending far beyond curricular additions.
Keywords: high-impact practices, organizational change, student engagement, educational equity, community partnerships, undergraduate retention, institutional transformation, experiential learning
doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.2.1.2
Suggested Citation:
Westover, Jonathan H. (2026). High-Impact Practices as Organizational Change Strategy: A Framework for Institutional Transformation and Community Engagement. Transformative Social Impact: A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research, 2(1). doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.2.1.2
Research Advances Section
Received October 30, 2025; Accepted for publication November 15, 2025; Published Early Access November 17, 2025
Title: Strategic Stakeholder Integration:
Reimagining Business School-Community Partnerships Beyond the Consulting Model
Authors: Jonathan H. Westover, Western Governors University
Abstract: Business education confronts a pedagogical paradox: widespread endorsement of stakeholder capitalism rhetoric alongside curricula that rarely provide authentic stakeholder integration experience. This article examines how reciprocal university-community partnerships can serve as pedagogy for stakeholder management—teaching students to navigate complex stakeholder environments by operating within them rather than analyzing them abstractly. Drawing on stakeholder theory, organizational partnership scholarship, and social value creation frameworks, the analysis develops a business school-specific model distinguishing reciprocal engagement from the extractive consulting paradigm that shapes student expectations. The framework synthesizes evidence on partnership approaches across business disciplines (accounting, finance, marketing, operations, entrepreneurship), revealing how each creates distinctive value propositions for community organizations while developing domain-specific competencies. Organizational implementation strategies address tensions unique to business schools: managing corporate and community partnerships simultaneously, navigating capitalism critiques, leveraging alumni networks and executive education as partnership infrastructure, and measuring multidimensional value in analytically rigorous ways. The article positions business schools as civic economic development actors whose community partnerships can demonstrate stakeholder capitalism in practice while building regional prosperity, challenging the assumption that business education must choose between academic rigor and public purpose.
Keywords: stakeholder capitalism, community partnerships, business education, social value creation, reciprocal engagement, civic economic development, stakeholder integration, business pedagogy
doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.2.1.3
Suggested Citation:
Westover, Jonathan H. (2026). Strategic Stakeholder Integration: Reimagining Business School-Community Partnerships Beyond the Consulting Model. Transformative Social Impact: A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research, 2(1). doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.2.1.3
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