Impact Case: "Treat Generative AI Like a Junior Colleague”

Management is at a crossroads. What do managers need? And how can we prepare business students for a world where business, sustainability, and technological disruption intersect? Since 2019, Dr. Stefanie Beninger, Associate Professor of Marketing at Nyenrode Business University, has been working with an international team of scholars to tackle this pressing question.

Beninger’s co-authored research began by integrating sustainability and (macro)marketing into the classroom and, three years ago, shifted to examining how to responsibly integrate Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into organizations and into business education. Through practical classroom interventions, theoretical contributions, and actionable managerial guidance, Beninger and her team’s research shows how education, including around GenAI literacy, can help shape a more future-ready business world.

We sat down with Beninger to talk about the common thread in her research, the lessons for educators and business leaders, and how GenAI is reshaping the role of business.

This line of research began with sustainability and macromarketing and later shifted toward GenAI. What do you see as the common thread that connects these themes in business education?

The common thread is really about preparing students to navigate complexity. Whether we are talking about sustainability issues or technological changes, we are challenged to think about how our business activities impact a variety of stakeholders and the wider society. This is exactly what macromarketing is focused on.

Macromarketing is the study of how marketing impacts society and how society impacts marketing, often taking a system perspective. Sustainability challenges, as well as distinct complexities regarding GenAI, have an enormous impact on marketing, which marketing, in turn, influences. At the same time, managers, employees, and other societal members are pushing us to consider the wider implications of our business activities.

The message to managers and business students is clear: business doesn’t exist in isolation, it’s embedded in the fabric of society.

You have shown that classroom interventions can genuinely change the way business students, who are either current or future managers, think about business and marketing. What concrete lessons can business educators draw from your approach? And what lessons can we take from this in the business world for managers?

For educators, the main lesson is that integrating sustainability topics and GenAI literacy into the classroom doesn’t necessarily require a complete curriculum overhaul. Our research shows that even small, well-designed interventions within a single classroom can have an impact.

For example, structuring a course so that students first learn traditional frameworks, and then critically question those frameworks in a follow-up session, helps them reflect on sustainability, technology, and socio-ethical implications while learning actionable tools to manage this complexity. In another example, we propose a model of GenAI literacy to help educators teach about the technology to business students and managers.

In the business world, the principle is the same. Companies that encourage employees to ask critical questions about the impact of their work, while providing strong training such as on GenAI literacy, are better prepared for the current realities of the world as well as for what the future brings. This approach not only supports more responsible business practices but also can foster innovation and resilience.

You have described GenAI as a 'synthetic teammate’. How do you see the balance between the opportunities and the ethical risks of AI for future marketers?

GenAI brings enormous opportunities. It can boost creativity, streamline processes, and open new avenues in a variety of areas, including marketing and new product development. But, GenAI also comes with real risks: overreliance, bias, and mistakes, as well as a number of other socio-ethical issues. Current and future managers need to learn to harness GenAI’s strengths while staying alert to the realities of its limitations.

That’s why my co-authors and I encourage managers to consider GenAI as a junior colleague, someone who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic, but also inexperienced and sometimes unreliable. It’s not about rejecting the technology or about wholesale adoption of it, but about guiding it carefully while humans remain in the lead. We offer concrete advice on how best to do this, as well as present a model of GenAI literacy to help guide managers and educators. If done carefully, managers increase the chance that GenAI will be a powerful partner in their organization.