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As business education around the world is becoming increasingly focused on integrating ethics, responsibility, and sustainability (ERS) into curricula, measuring and disclosing ERS inclusion in course content is becoming a pressing task. This article provides insights on how a 'broad, horizontal' approach to ERS curricular assessments can inform internal strategy development in higher education. The results of a case study at a Belgian university show that such an approach better captures the contributions of a business/economics faculty in integrating ERS themes in course content. The case highlights how such an approach yields insights useful for internal strategy development (i.e., by identifying programmes with high and low levels of integration, and by understanding how variables, such as instructor characteristics or specialised ERS programmes, affect levels of integration). As business/economics higher education comes under increasing pressure to conduct ERS curricular assessments (e.g., for accreditations, rankings, etc.) it is important to reflect on how and why such assessments are carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems thinking is one of the most difficult competencies for students to acquire. Nevertheless it is one of the key competencies of education for sustainable development. Although there is relatively little research available on the link between didactic approaches and sustainability competencies, it is clear that alternative ways of teaching, such as project based learning and multi-perspective and interdisciplinary thinking and working are more effective for acquiring this competency. In this paper we explore the power of art as a way to foster systems thinking and to distinguish between different ways of thinking about sustainability. We selected two paintings, Les Jours Gigantesques by René Magritte and Sky and Water II by Maurits Escher, to explain a top-down and bottom-up approach to sustainability. The paper discusses how business students respond to art in a course on corporate social responsibility and how it helps them to understand the meaning of systems thinking. The findings reveal that these paintings are relevant for improving the comprehension of concepts related to sustainability. Moreover, they add an extra dimension to the cognitive understanding of systems thinking, i.e. enriching the whole person, reinforcing critical and creative thinking skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, many higher education institutions have become involved in embedding sustainable development into their academic systems. The research for this paper was built upon discussions on declarations, charters, and other initiatives designed to commit their institutions to education for sustainable development. It analyses if such commitment leads to more sustainable development implementation within the academic institution. The research was performed using a survey, based upon a literature review of 60 peer-reviewed papers. The survey was divided into eight categories: background; institutional framework; campus operations; education; research; outreach and collaboration; on-campus experiences; and assessment and reporting. The survey was answered by 84 respondents from 70 institutions, worldwide. The responses were analysed via descriptive analysis, grounded theory, and inferential statistics. The results revealed that there were many examples of sustainable development implementation throughout the system; however, generally the efforts tended to be compartmentalised. The analyses also highlighted strong linkages between the institution's commitment to sustainability, implementation, and signing a declaration, charter, or initiative. The findings suggested that academic leadership's commitment was a leading cause for signing a declaration, charter, or initiative, and implementing sustainable development. The research team provided recommendations for higher educational leaders, including acknowledge that the higher education institution system is comprised of several inter-related elements; commit to sustainability by integrating it into policies and strategies; show the commitment by signing a declaration, charter, or initiative; establish short-, medium-, and long-term plans for its institutionalisation; and ensure that sustainable development is implemented throughout the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of universities worldwide have created new courses and degrees or modified existing ones, as a response to the increasing interest by companies to hire sustainability literate graduates. However, many of such courses have been developed with a focus on ‘hard’ technocentric or managerial issues. The examples that have been published in academic journal have tended to be descriptive, and in only a limited number of cases have they been based on theories of teaching and learning. This paper presents the process of designing and delivering a new course on organisational change management for sustainability for the BA Environment and Business degree at the University of Leeds. The course was developed based on holism and a constructivist position to help deal with the complexities of sustainability and organisational change management. The course objective was to educate students as sustainability change agents by dealing with the complexities of sustainability and ‘soft’ issues in organisational change management. The process had three key elements: (1) the learning outcomes; (2) the course delivery; and (3) the course assessment (including feedback). During the process a number of challenges had to be overcome. The paper provides a more complete, systematic, robust, and focused approach to education for sustainable development, specifically on course design and delivery, by using theories of teaching and learning and linking the course aims, delivery, and assessment. The paper integrates education for sustainability development and corporate sustainability into a relatively new discipline, organisational change management for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability Reporting has become a key element in different organisations. Although there have been a number of academic publications discussing the adoption of sustainability reports in the public sector, their numbers have been quite low when compared to those focussing on corporate reports. Additionally, there has been little research on the link between sustainability reporting in Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability (OCMS). This paper focuses on the contribution of sustainability reporting to OCMS. A survey was sent to all PSOs that have published at least one sustainability report based on the GRI guidelines. The study provides a critical analysis of the relation between sustainability reporting and OCMS in PSOs, including the drivers for reporting, the impacts on organisation change management, and the role of stakeholders in the process. Despite still lagging in sustainability reporting journey, PSOs are starting to use sustainability reporting as a communication tool, and this could drive organisational changes for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of companies have, during the last two decades, engaged in reporting their sustainability efforts. Although Sustainability Reporting is considered to be a key driver for organisational change in companies; research into the link between these two processes has been limited. This paper is aimed at elucidating the interrelations between these processes. A survey was applied to 91 companies from the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Disclosure Database that published sustainability reports in 2013. The data from the survey were analysed using a combination of descriptive, Grounded Theory, and inferential analyses. The results showed that the decision to publish the first sustainability report has been primarily driven by company internal motivations, whilst for subsequent reports it has been due to a combination of internal motivations and external stimuli. The development and publication of a sustainability report drives sustainability changes in the company, leading to a transition period during the development of the next report. This leads to changes in data and indicators, strategy, organisational change, reputation and validation, stakeholders, and the report itself. The changes become part of the organisation until the start of the following report. The research shows that Sustainability Reporting and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability have reciprocal reinforcing relationships, where Sustainability Reporting provides a starting point for planning organisational change for sustainability and organisational change for sustainability improves the reporting process. The paper reinforces that planning organisational changes can help companies better and more holistically integrate their efforts for sustainability into their systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Over the past years, many universities have integrated sustainability into their education, research, outreach, and operations. Within education, competences regarding sustainable development (SD) have been defined, courses on sustainability have been developed, and manuals and methods for teaching SD have been developed and integrated in curricula. The integration of competences for SD in higher education programs can be seen as an important step in achieving sustainability in higher education. Although these competences are defined and described in different models and settings, little information is available on the actual status of the integration of competences for SD in different study programs. In order to find out how and to what extent these competences are already present, the existing competence schemes of study programs within two Belgian universities were analyzed in the fields of business management, office management, and applied information technology. Results of the analysis show that competences for SD related to responsibility and emotional intelligence are widely integrated, while competences for SD dealing with system orientation, future orientation, personal commitment, and action taking are virtually absent. The analysis also shows that many competences for SD could be discovered within the selected study programs, though in an implicit and fragmented way, thus not covering all necessary fields of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. This calls for an adjustment of the study programs to clearly and explicitly integrate competences for SD, especially those related to system orientation, future orientation, personal involvement, and action taking. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

During the last decades several international initiatives have emphasised that education is an imperative for societies to become more sustainable. This special volume stream is comprised of 33 papers that illustrate some of the efforts being taken by higher education institutions to contribute to sustainability. The majority of the papers were presented at the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production – Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities conference in Istanbul, Turkey in 2013. The papers address topics such as implementation of sustainable development, stakeholder engagement and participation, campus operations, sustainability reporting and assessment, organisational change management, and curriculum development. the papers in this special volume stream provide significant steps for the higher education for sustainable development discipline by exploring new and rethink theories, approaches, concepts, methods, and frameworks, as well as providing case studies and guidelines for practitioners. As the collection of papers shows, there have been many efforts in the implementation of sustainable development in higher education institutions; however, there are still many challenges to integrate sustainable development into their systems, and many opportunities for research in the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an institutional approach to legitimacy theory, this paper aims to study the individual and cumulative influence of three international sustainability initiatives on the decision to disclose information on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and on the quantity of information disclosed. A total sample of 433 firm-year observations was collected from the content analysis of registration documents and sustainability standalone reports published by 36 companies listed on the French CAC40 index over a longitudinal period of 13 years. Results show that the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability guidelines, of the United Nations Global Compact (GC) principles, and of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are positively and significantly associated with the tendency of CAC40 companies to disclose LCA information. In addition, the GRI is the only initiative significantly associated with the quantity of LCA information disclosed. Moreover, the results reveal a positive and significant relationship between the cumulative number of initiatives adopted and both the decision to disclose and the quantity of LCA information disclosed. Finally, in comparison to the GRI, the GC and the CDP do not encourage companies to disclose much information on LCA. The contributions of this study are manifold. It provides evidence that voluntary environmental frameworks can excert different normative pressures towards environmental reporting and suggests that companies decide to disclose LCA information to emphasize their superior environmental performance and to manage their legitimacy. It contributes to a more nuanced understanding of environmental disclosure by making a distinction between the decision to disclose and the quantity of information disclosed. From a managerial perspective, this paper demonstrates the usefulness of having multiple initiatives promoting sustainability, since their combined use leads to an increase in disclosure. Moreover, the results are likely to encourage international initiatives, particularly the GRI, to pay greater attention to LCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]