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How do large well-established firms renew themselves in an increasing turbulent environment? Is there a generic pattern of change or is each change journey rather idiosyncratic? We posed five questions about the nature of renewal patterns. First, how do firms combine external versus internal initiatives in a trajectory of strategic renewal? Second, how does the balance of competence building and competence leveraging evolve in a trajectory of strategic renewal? Third, what are the sequences of action in a strategic renewal process? Fourth, do firms differ regarding speed of their renewal processes? Finally, do different strategic renewal trajectories give rise to different or similar outcomes? Using a simple framework and new metrics we described and analyzed the strategic renewal journeys of the five largest financial service firms in the Netherlands during the period 1990–1997. We found equifinality in viable trajectories of strategic renewal. In four out of five firms, they result in similar outcomes due to mimetic behavior. Nonetheless, one firm showed deviant strategic behavior.

This paper aims to explore the potential of implementing an action competence teaching model as a framework for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) in higher education. The paper seeks to draw insights from the students on the potential of this teaching model.

The study adopted a quantitative research design in exploring the potential of an action competence teaching model. This study used self-report measures to obtain insights into the objective of the study.

The action competence teaching model was seen as useful in equipping students with knowledge about a problem, confidence and willingness to act. However, some issues like the design of the projects, teamwork and instructional practices were identified and discussed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to implement an action competence teaching model to help draw insights from students on its potential. This paper documents certain aspects of action competence that require attention before being implemented in higher education. This information so far lacking in scientific literature contributes to ongoing discussions on SDGs while unveiling strengths and weaknesses to be considered.

The purpose of this paper is to operationalize theories of social learning and collective action for campus sustainability practitioners at higher education instititions (IHEs) to enhance their work, and to introduce the concept of collective action competence as a practical tool.

This paper presents a theoretical argument based on the concepts of learning and collective action for stronger consideration of social learning, action competence and voluntary collective action in campus sustainability initiatives.

Many important sustainability outcomes depend heavily on voluntary behaviors by groups of campus stakeholders, making voluntary collective action an important, although underused, tool for campus sustainability practitioners. The term “collective action competence” is introduced and defined as the capability of a group of people to direct their behavior toward a common goal based on a collective literacy, a collective competence, and a collective need or goal.

The term “collective action competence” is introduced as a novel unifying concept that articulates a critical capability needed for collective behavior change in social settings such as HEIs. Collective action competence is based on the theories of collective action and of social and free-choice learning and on the concepts of action competence and strategic competence.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of recent examples of action competence among young people engaged in democratic participatory action in sustainability programs in Australia. It explores examples of priorities identified for citizen action, the forms this action takes and the ways that democratic participation can achieve positive outcomes for future sustainability. It suggests multiple ways for developing action competence that provides further opportunities for authentic and engaging citizen action for youth connected to school- and community-based learning, in new and powerful ways.

This conceptual paper examines international literature on the theory of “action competence,” its significance for education for sustainability (EfS) and the ways it can inform education for young people’s democratic participatory citizenship and civic engagement. It analyses examples of the development of action competency among young people in Australia, including the problems and priorities identified for citizen action, the forms this action takes and how it can achieve positive outcomes for sustainability. Following this analysis, the paper suggests multiple ways for developing action competence in EfS in schools and communities in new and powerful ways.

Developing EfS to increase democratic and participatory action among young citizens is now widely regarded as an urgent education priority. There are growing exemplars of school and community organizations’ involvement in developing EfS learning and teaching to increase participatory citizenship. Young people are being empowered to develop a greater sense of agency through involvement in programs that develop action competence with a focus on sustainability in and out of school. New forms of participation include student action teams and peer collaboration among youth who are marshaling social media and direction action to achieve change.

It contributes to the literature on multiple ways for developing action competence in EfS.

This paper suggests that there are two different paradigms within health education and the health‐promoting school, the traditional/moralistic paradigm and the democratic paradigm. The Danish network of Health Promoting Schools favours the democratic paradigm, within which the overall aim is to develop students’ abilities to influence their own life and the society – their so‐called “action competence”. The nature of an “action” is defined here as being “purposefully directed at solving a problem or facilitating change and consciously decided upon by those carrying out the action”. The key factors which influence action are discussed: they are insight and knowledge; vision; commitment; experience; and social skills. The paper then looks more deeply at insight and knowledge, suggesting that it has four different dimensions: knowledge of effects; causes; the processes of change; and vision of future possibilities. It suggests that teachers themselves need both the educational competence to facilitate the education of others, and high levels of action‐oriented knowledge and insight.

This study aims to examine whether the development of students’ sustainability competences is dependent on how courses are delivered at higher education institutions (HEIs). It further investigates to what extent such competences can affect students’ belief in the new environmental paradigm (NEP) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs).

The data was collected through an online survey conducted in 2021 among the students of an international research university based in The Netherlands. The final sample (N = 262) consisted of all the students who completed the survey and claimed that they had taken at least one course that addressed sustainability. Linear regression models were used to examine the relationship of sustainability education and students’ competences, as well as their pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors.

The findings reveal that the strength of universal, broadly applicable pedagogies is positively related to the development of students’ sustainability mindset/framework as well as their sustainability action/communication. The results also reveal that developing students’ competences on sustainability mindset/framework is directly related to their belief in the NEP and PEBs.

To develop an integrative pedagogical approach requires understanding how a HEI’s engagement in sustainability can impact students’ attitudes and behaviors, but little research has actually measured the development of students’ competences. This study fills this gap through empirically testing how different pedagogical approaches can affect students’ sustainability competences differently. This has important implications for systematically linking pedagogical approaches to teaching practices or concrete learning objectives.

There is a growing call for novel approaches in education with respect to sustainable development. Transformative learning lacks empirical research. This paper responds to that gap and aims at analysing how transformative learning nurtures ecological thinking.

The Students Swap Stuff sustainability project is the result of a transformative and action-oriented learning process within the course Corporate Social Responsibility of the Master Environmental, Health and Safety Management, Faculty of Economics and Business at KU Leuven, Brussels, Belgium. Framed by the appreciative inquiry method, students set up a swapping system to limit overconsumption, waste and spillage caused by students’ stay in Brussels for a semester or longer. The paper is focusing on participatory action research, using semi-structured interviews with twenty-two participating students exploring whether their assumptions regarding the dominant paradigms in management have been transformed. Forty-nine participants in the closet swap completed a questionnaire related to their motivations.

The project was helpful in rethinking the traditional economic system and in decentering the economic element allowing for a different way of thinking, integrating trust and restoring the value of just giving. Four insights from the Students Swap Stuff project are relevant for other action-oriented learning approaches: start from a specific framework to guide the action; give enough time to dream what might be, but always link it to delivering what will be; insert sufficient moments of reflection; and give the students ample opportunities to express their feelings during the project.

First, the research focused on one case, the Students Swap Stuff, with a limited number of students participating in the project. The aim of action-oriented learning, however, was not mere action, but the action had to lead to insights that are helpful for other cases and situations. Second, the interviews were set up between peers. Information about their background, such as families, preferred activities during leisure time, attitudes in favor of the environment, were not directly integrated in the semi-structured questions. This could be part of follow-up research emphasizing aspects of environmental psychology.

This study reveals that transformative and action-oriented learning demand a lot from students and lecturers. To avoid confusion on the concept “action,” praxis could be used to emphasize that thinking and doing exist simultaneously. Students learn in a natural way, but do not always see the effects immediately. Lecturers have to respond to this in a constructive way and have to include reflection moments on a regular basis.

Apart from the dominant research on students as objects, there is little research with students. This paper goes further by combining two stances: students as co-creators of knowledge; and students as participants in action research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how students’ participation in an integrated school food program was related to the development of components of food and health-related action competence (F & HRAC). These components were understood to be the knowledge, insight, motivation, ownership and social skills that made students able to take action regarding food and health in everyday life.

Research was undertaken as a single case study of the development of an integrated education and health program called LOMA-Local Food (LOMA) in a secondary school in Denmark. Qualitative methods were applied, including an action research component, where researcher and teachers examined how students developed action competence. The program was based on a whole school approach with the aim of improving F & HRAC. As a way to obtain this, students participated in planning, preparing, cooking and serving their own school food as integrated in curriculum. The study applied the Health Promoting Schools’ (HPS) conceptual framework and the

nvestigation,

ision,

ction and

hange (IVACE) approach.

Students who participated in LOMA educational activities became motivated for developing a food F & HRAC, which included components such as knowledge, insight, motivation, ownership, action experience, commitment, cooperation and critical thinking. Students developed practical skills related to food and health, when they were cooking healthy school food together with professionals and peers. The study also points to the importance of capacity building among teachers. The IVACE matrix is suggested as a relevant tool for monitoring forms of participation that contributes to students’ development of F & HRAC.

There were indications of how participation in LOMA contributed to students’ development of F & HRAC. The practical implication of this is that “setting” is very important for the success of food and health education initiatives. In this integrated approach the production kitchen and the dining hall are indispensable. Also the new organization of the school day and the introduction of a shared daily meal are important practical components for the improvement of the learning environment. The possibility of combining theory and practice seem conducive for students’ achievement of action competence.

The current study is an example of how the IVACE matrix can be applied in order to plan, conduct and evaluate LOMA educational activities, which could be considered as a contribution to the HPS scientific community. It would be useful for other schools that intend to apply the LOMA approach. However, more research is needed, where teachers, students, staff and other stakeholders collaborate in an action research process. This could promote students’ health and support other initiatives regarding public health, sustainable development and democracy.

This research may have implications for the way that school food programs are developed and implemented if they are to make a contribution to students’ development of F & HRAC. Taking the political interest for research-based interventions into account, it is important that future strategies include teachers’ capacity building. Research is also needed regarding further development and test of the IVACE matrix as a method in participatory, health education approaches. This should be seen in combination with a renewed focus on integrated curricula models related to the on-going discussion on redesign of western school curricula.

Seeks to develop a model of different, contradictory, and even paradoxical, trends and approaches to management development (MD). Reviews current generic approaches to MD and offers a framework for the analysis of these approaches, based on Kolb’s work on experiential learning. Develops a four‐old analytical model which embraces both the practice and theory of MD in the UK and elsewhere. Makes brief mention of attempts to develop programmes for strategic managers, as opposed to more generic, usually operational manager‐oriented, programmes. Examines the relative paucity of advice on the development of strategic managers and whether there are qualitative differences between developing strategic and other managers.

Explores difficulties involved in business integration by providing data from an in‐depth scholarly consulting project. Focuses on the barriers that exist and emerge in the form of defensive actions and routines that tend to undermine existing core competencies as well as the formation of new core competencies. These individual and organizational barriers tend to inhibit the very kind of organizational learning critical for sustainable competitive advantage, i.e. the ability of an organization to double‐loop learn, and to reframe and reshape its competence in an evolving business environment. Argues that a kind of management development in action is required to help managers address the defensive routines in the organization or articulate and disseminate workable solutions they find in the midst of practice. This kind of management development helps practitioners to interpenetrate each others’ theories of practice and goes beyond the traditional stance of many organization and management developers to focus on “process”. Management development in action requires an integration of “process” and “content” and reframes the debate between these two positions by proposing an inquiring and designing stance towards causal reasoning in action.