Launched for MBA graduates at the Harvard Business School the voluntary oath began with the modest expectation of persuading around 100 of the 900 students from the class of 2009 to sign up.

But it has spread virally, with over half of the class taking the oath and hundreds of others from universities around the world also signing up online.

The oath calls on MBA’s to ‘create value responsibly and ethically’ and aims to create a new kind of morally-motivated business leader who will strive to combine creating profits with working ‘in the interests of the greater good’.

Its creators hope it will make a difference in the lives of the students who take the oath and challenge other classmates to work with a higher professional standard, whether they sign the oath or not.

“Our long-term goal is to transform the field of management into a true profession, one in which MBAs are respected for their integrity, professionalism, and leadership,” says the MBA oath website.

“We hope to see hundreds of thousands of MBAs take the MBA oath, or something like it, as a step towards realising this vision.”

Sam Bond

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe