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This study aims to better understand the communication of sustainability by Canadian universities, specifically the use of websites, interactive features and sustainability plans.

A total of 95 Canadian universities were included in this study. The mixed-methods approach sought to capture the communication of sustainability via websites, the interactive features used, as well as to evaluate the quality of sustainability plans.

The study revealed that 67% of universities address sustainability on their websites. On average, universities offer three to four interactive features on their sustainability-related Web pages, and the average score of the quality of campus sustainability plans was 29 (out of 41).

This study does not investigate the extent to which interactive features enhance the involvement and participation in sustainability efforts or the extent to which the sustainability plans were put into practice by universities.

The findings assist with understanding how higher education institutions (HEIs) can enhance their sustainability communication via their websites to encourage interaction and engagement in campus sustainability. The findings can also help universities to enhance the effectiveness of sustainability plans.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to assess sustainability content and the interactive features on sustainability-related pages of Canadian universities’ websites. The quality of sustainability plans is also evaluated. The study informs the present understanding of communicating sustainability by Canadian universities and provides a basis for future investigations in HEIs in Canada and beyond.

Some wine marketing studies make reference to the importance of Generation‐X as the next wave of wine drinkers, but draw attention to a glaring fact; this next generation is consuming less wine than national averages. Whilst considerable amounts of information about Generation‐X exist, few studies have addressed their underlying wine purchasing behaviours. A mock label for a red and white wine was developed and respondents were asked to indicate their probability of purchase and the price they would pay. A range of wine purchasing behaviour questions were included. A questionnaire was randomly presented in a mail survey to 1,144 New Zealand respondents drawn from a national wine mailing list (n=640) and an academic institution (n=504). No follow‐up was undertaken and a 28% response rate was achieved. Generation‐X wine consumers exhibited more differences than similarities to the older age cohort, with many differences being statistically significant. Whilst Generation‐X purchase wines in a similar fashion, they are mainly light purchasers of bottled wine. Generation‐X respondents showed a stronger likelihood of purchasing a never‐before‐seen wine and place a different emphasis on wine label information. More research on Generation‐X and their behaviours as wine consumers is required.

Some wine marketing studies make reference to the importance of wine labels and the information they contain. Others suggests that the information content of wine labels be grouped under seven information positioning statements: namely, parentage, nonpareil, manufacture, attributes, endorsements, end user and end use. Nested within some of these statements is other information commonly associated with wine lables. There is a dearth of research that examines the importance of these seven statements or their expanded state. A questionnaire, exploring the importance of an expanded list of information elements and the importance of front and back labels, was constructed. As these questions formed part of a larger research endeavour, eight versions and two wine types were presented in a mail survey to 1.144 participants. The survey sample was drawn from a national wine mailing list (n=640). plus staff (n=304) and students (n=200) of an academic institution. No follow‐up activity was undertaken and a 28% response rate was achieved. A range of behavioural and demographic information was collected. Using a 7‐point scale, respondents were asked to indicate how important 14 pieces of information were to them in deciding on which wine to buy. Varied and significant levels of importance exist for some elements of wine label information. For example, front labels were found to be more important than back labels, and this is supported by significant differences amongst some background information. The expansion of parentage into its component parts shows wine company and brand name to be more important than history of wine maker or history of wine region. The results of this research challenge a number of existing findings and beliefs on the importance of various elements of wine label information.