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Understanding Sustainability as a Cyclical Process: Insights from Social Innovation and the Adaptive Cycle
- Source :
-
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education . 2023 24(6):1290-1307. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Purpose: This paper aims to understand why higher education institutions (HEIs) struggle to become sustainable institutions themselves despite providing relevant teaching and research on sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: Using 17 open-ended, semistructured interviews to determine common themes (codes) regarding sustainability, the authors mapped those codes to the adaptive cycle from social innovation theory. Findings: Using the adaptive cycle offered a framework for understanding sustainability at HEIs as a cyclical process where innovation occurs in ebbs and flows. Differing perceptions of power by students and faculty slow down the process, and cross-collaboration is the key to further sustainability. Practical implications: Insights from the adaptive cycle can contribute to HEI assessment of its sustainability initiatives by identifying the stage of the adaptive cycle relevant to the institution's present sustainability work. Originality/value: Applying the adaptive cycle is an original way of understanding the process of anchoring sustainability at HEIs providing concrete insights into advancing this process.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1467-6370 and 1758-6739
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ1382941
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-11-2021-0492