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1 – 10 of over 9000Ameeta Jain and Muhammad Azizul Islam
This chapter explores the impact of UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Rio + 20 in improving Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. While MDGs and Rio + 20 have…
Abstract
This chapter explores the impact of UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Rio + 20 in improving Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. While MDGs and Rio + 20 have suggested additive guidelines for improving CSR practices, they do not provide a strong legislative mandate. We find both MDGs and Rio + 20 have had limited cumulative effect on CSR practices and discourses within the corporate reports. UN bodies should bring a new policy and regulatory framework that addresses limitations in the principles espoused in the MDGs and Rio + 20. An independent monitoring system (a social compliance audit mechanism) can be mandated in an attempt to make incremental substantive change.
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This chapter explains how the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an important achievement of the Rio Earth Summit held in 1992, instigated interest…
Abstract
This chapter explains how the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an important achievement of the Rio Earth Summit held in 1992, instigated interest in, and enthusiasm for, the fight against climate change in the international arena, promoting national actions, creating common frameworks and motivating corporations to take action against climate change. The Convention recognised climate change as a problem in 1994 when the UNFCCC took effect, which was remarkable considering that there was much less scientific evidence available at that time. Through extensive literature review, this chapter presents the origin and content of the Convention and explains how it creates new international instruments for mitigating climate change, its impact on corporate climate change-related accountability practices and where it stands now after 20 years in operation. The researcher argues that there is a need for strong cooperation among national and international actors such as governments, companies, national and international non-governmental organisations and international governmental organisations in order to create climate change-related accountability.
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Emma Elizabeth Covernton, Amy Moores and Joseph Aaron Lowenstein
The assessment and management of risk towards others is an integral part of clinical practice, particularly in forensic and other psychiatric settings. Version 3 of the HCR-20 is…
Abstract
Purpose
The assessment and management of risk towards others is an integral part of clinical practice, particularly in forensic and other psychiatric settings. Version 3 of the HCR-20 is the latest version of a comprehensive set of professional guidelines based on the Structured Professional Judgement model. It is the most widely used and best validated tool available to assess risk of violence; however, clinicians perceive it as an additional task with limited clinical usefulness, which requires undergoing expensive training and takes considerable time to implement. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Training was delivered to 148 clinicians to improve perceptions with regard to risk formulation and the HCR-20v3 as an effective and clinically useful tool in generating individual and robust care plans to minimise risk of violence.
Findings
Results indicated significant score increase post-training, indicating higher regard for the HCR-20 in terms of its usefulness, anticipated impact upon working, anticipated impact upon managing risk, ease of completion and perceived relevance to clinical practice. This was also consistent with qualitative feedback indicating improved risk management and care planning with reference to how learning would support respective roles. Feedback also highlighted the added value of certain aspects of the training provided, which may be useful to consider when designing HCR-20 training packages.
Research limitations/implications
This study demonstrates the importance of engaging clinicians in bespoke training on the practicalities of HCR-20 completion and the fundamentals of risk formulation.
Practical implications
This study highlights the importance of incorporating a training package for staff of all disciplines in changing perceptions of risk management tools and thus their use in the practical management of violence. The useful aspects of training may assist changing perceptions of the role that risk formulation and the HCR-20v3 play in the assessment and management of violence.
Originality/value
This research suggests that if this can be done successfully, it may lead to a change in the perception of the role that the HCR-20v3 can play in assessing risk of violence and generating meaningful management plans to reduce the future likelihood of violence.
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Walter Leal Filho, Evangelos Manolas and Paul Pace
This paper aims to provide a description of the achievements of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) with a focus on higher…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a description of the achievements of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) with a focus on higher education, and it describes some of the key issues which will guide sustainable development in the coming years.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper initially presents an analysis of past developments, complemented by an assessment of the emphasis on sustainable development by the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. In particular, it makes cross-references to the deliberations held at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, with a special emphasis to the document “The Future we Want”. It concludes by listing a set of suggestions and measures that both industrialised and developing countries may consider to translate the principles of sustainable development into reality.
Findings
Sustainable development is and will continue to be a matter of substantial international interest and concern. The developments achieved over the past 20 years have been substantial, but there are still many gaps and need which need to be met, so as to improve its prospects in the next two decades.
Originality/value
The paper provides useful insights which allow a better understanding of the role of universities in fostering sustainable development, and some of the key issues need to be considered, so as to allow things to move in the right direction.
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This chapter will examine the interplay among actors who took part in the process of consensus building towards a post-2015 education agenda via different channels of global…
Abstract
This chapter will examine the interplay among actors who took part in the process of consensus building towards a post-2015 education agenda via different channels of global governance, including both formal and informal channels.
Most of the forums and entities established as part of the global governance structure are composed of representatives from UN or UNESCO member states, civil society organizations (CSOs) and UN agencies. However, each of these categories has diverse constituent groups; representing these groups is not as straightforward a task as the governance structure seems to assume. Therefore, based on interviews and qualitative text analysis, this chapter will introduce major groups of actors and their major issues of concern, decision-making structure, mode of communication and relationship with other actors. Then, based on an understanding of the characteristics of the various channels and actors, it will present the structural issues that arose during the analysis of post-2015 discourse and the educational issues that emerged as the shared concerns of the ‘education community’. While most of the analysis to untangle the nature of discourse relies on qualitative analysis of texts and interviews, the end of this chapter will also demonstrate the trends of discourse in quantitative terms.
What was the post-2015 discourse for the so-called education community, which in itself has an ambiguous and virtual existence? The keywords post-2015 and post-EFA provide us with an opportunity to untangle how shared norms and codes of conduct were shaped at the global scale.
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Clemens Mader, Geoffrey Scott and Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Numerous policy announcements and articles have been produced over the past 20 years calling for higher education institutions to give greater focus to social, cultural, economic…
Abstract
Purpose
Numerous policy announcements and articles have been produced over the past 20 years calling for higher education institutions to give greater focus to social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability in their curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations. However, there has been much less attention given to establishing how to ensure these desired developments are successfully initiated, implemented and sustained. It is to these key areas of effective change management, leadership, support and governance for embedding sustainability into the core activities of higher education institutions through transformation that this special issue of Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (SAMPJ) gives focus. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper brings together a consolidated analysis of the existing empirical literature on effective change management and leadership in higher education transformation with particular focus on the results of a recent international empirical study of 188 experienced leaders of sustainability in universities in Australia, the UK, the European Mainland, North America and South Africa.
Findings
The paper brings together the case for action in the sector, identifies an integrating framework for addressing sustainable development in the university curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations consistently, comprehensively through a whole institutional approach and identifies the key challenges and lessons on effective change management and leadership for sustainability transformation initiatives in universities and colleges.
Originality/value
Higher education institutions often give more attention to discussing what should change in their provision than to ensuring that desired transformations are actually put into practice effectively, sustainably and with positive impact. This paper and the articles which follow seek to address this gap.
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Sergio Sparviero and Massimo Ragnedda
The purpose of this paper is to suggest that, to build a digital sustainable society, core terminal and instrumental values of sustainability and sustainable development should be…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to suggest that, to build a digital sustainable society, core terminal and instrumental values of sustainability and sustainable development should be followed across different worldviews, and in the formulation of policies or other initiatives form private and public stakeholders. These values are normative, they support the coordination of efforts of different stakeholders and can serve as guidelines for driving the development trajectory of technologies contributing to a sustainable society.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper defines digital sustainability from the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development. From the Rio Process (1992), through the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), this paper analyzes and theoretically discusses the intersection between digital aspects of human life and wider sustainability concerns for humanity and the planet. Technologies and digital processes are functional catalysts to the achievement of the UN 2030 SDGs and crucial for individuals’ everyday life, but their adoptions is also conditional to a variety of conflicting worldviews.
Findings
This paper focused on the role of digital technologies in innovation and transformation and their impact on the environment, individuals, society and economy, from a theoretical point of view. Digital technologies have changed the way in which people communicate, study, work, interact and even look for friends, relationships and love. It is, therefore, important to reflect upon the impact that this revolution would have on the individuals and on the wider socio-economic, political and environment context. In this vein, this paper attempted to reflect on the sustainability of this revolution, by sketching the concept of digital sustainability drawing upon the concept of sustainability.
Originality/value
Digital sustainability – like sustainability – relies on three universal values: equality, harmony, self-determination. In fact, to be sustainable, the use of digital technologies should be led by the equality value, namely, the need to not compromise the future generations, both in terms of exploitation of natural resources to produce them and in terms of to create and nor reduce job opportunities for future generations. Second, digital technologies might help tackling both the ecological and social crises through a universal collaboration according to the harmony’s value. Finally, the third value for digital sustainability is self-determination. It applies to individuals and social formations and it refers to the capability of being in control of your destiny.
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Ritika Mahajan and Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it discusses the role of entrepreneurship, in general, and women entrepreneurship, in particular, in advancing the cause of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it discusses the role of entrepreneurship, in general, and women entrepreneurship, in particular, in advancing the cause of sustainable development. Future research directions that emerge from the body of knowledge that the paper relied upon have been identified. Second, it presents unique cases of eight women-led enterprises in energy sector spread across three continents, namely, Asia, Africa and the USA; identifies the constraints and opportunities, analyses the business models and their impact on the quality of life pointers to demonstrate the role of women-led enterprises in sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper combines a schematic review of literature at the interface of entrepreneurship and sustainable development coupled with select relevant case studies addressing the interface. The real-life case studies, which are consciously chosen and compiled from secondary data sources, complement and testify the insights drawn from the schematic literature review. The framework for analyzing the case studies is designed around multidimensional drivers and factors that steer the women-led enterprises.
Findings
The paper identified the need to look at entrepreneurship through the gendered lens not only for studying entrepreneurship as a discipline, in general, but also to gauge whether the inclusion of women as entrepreneurs is actually advancing the cause of sustainable development. Besides analyzing real-life case studies of accomplished women entrepreneurs to gauge their motivations and mindsets, the process of identification of pain points, identifying differentiating and innovative features, or studying the impact on society, economy and environment, the paper eventually created a schematic framework of key enablers, constraints and strategic response of women entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
Given the dearth of adequate theoretical and empirical contributions on the study of effectuation, mindsets and drivers of how women entrepreneurship steers the process of sustainable development, the paper is an endeavour in that direction.
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The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers to including sustainability in management education institutions (MEIs) in India, and subsequently, to analyze the structure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers to including sustainability in management education institutions (MEIs) in India, and subsequently, to analyze the structure of the causal relationships among the barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory methodology are applied to analyze the structure of the causal relationships among the identified sustainability barriers.
Findings
Through an extensive literature review and expert interviews, this paper identified 4 primary barriers and 46 sub-barriers. Encompassing sustainability in Indian MEIs results in changes in behavior involving increased respect for the environment, hence, leading to improved sustainable efficiency.
Research limitations/implications
The present study is limited to MEIs in India.
Practical implications
The inclusion of sustainability in MEIs equips future managers with the economic, ecological and technical knowledge required to demonstrate sustainable behavior in the workplace. It assists also equips managers with the ability to affect social change at an organizational level. MEIs has been acknowledged as playing a crucial role in societal transformations, including the need for transformation toward sustainability.
Originality/value
The present study adds to the current knowledge base regarding the structure of the causal relationships among the identified sustainability barriers. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to identify such barriers to including sustainability in an Indian MEI context.
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