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This paper explores how sustainability consciousness varies among undergraduate students at a higher education institution in the Republic of Korea. Based on the analyses of survey data, this paper aims to understand the present state and future prospect of education for sustainable development, specifically within higher education in the Republic of Korea.

This study involves analyzing 254 complete responses from undergraduate students at Seoul National University using confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequently, it explores how five variables (gender, grade year, type of college, prior exposure to sustainable development and prior exposure to education for sustainable development) influence the level of sustainability consciousness among these undergraduates.

The goodness-of-fit indices of the adapted sustainability consciousness questionnaire indicate a good fit. The analysis reveals a notable gender-based disparity in sustainability consciousness, with female students exhibiting higher levels than their male counterparts. Additionally, academic progression also affects sustainability consciousness; students in their first and second years show greater awareness compared to those in their third year. Furthermore, the academic discipline of respondents plays a role, as evidenced by students from the College of Education displaying higher sustainability consciousness than those from other colleges.

This research distinguishes itself from prior studies in two key dimensions. First, it offers an analysis of the sustainability consciousness among South Korean undergraduate students, with a particular focus on those who have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, this study endeavors to establish the validity of sustainability consciousness as a psychological construct, expanding the understanding of its implications and relevance in the context of higher education.

This paper aims to identify how the faculties of a Colombian University have understood the concept of sustainability and the way they have embedded it into their training.

Qualitative research was done using documentary and content analysis which allowed researchers to recognize features correlated to sustainability which are needed to promote and act for social equity, ecological care and economic development.

It was found that most faculties at the university do not conceptualize it; ergo, courses are designed neither for promoting sustainability nor sustainable education. Besides this, almost no level of integration was identified among faculties on this topic.

Many people agree education for sustainability is a key action to overcome the complex challenges the planet is facing; nevertheless, the prejudice that training to solve sustainability problems is an exclusive task of certain disciplines is common. This misunderstanding reduces the possibilities of pursuing a sustainable future, considering that these issues affect all humankind and that they can only be solved through interdisciplinary and collaborative work.

The paper also outlines some actions that Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) can take to consider sustainability issues, and they are as follows: identification of competencies to include in the curricula; recognition of the potential of integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curricula by strengthening the competencies and capacities; strengthening the competencies and capacities of the academic staff through ESD training processes; articulation of research with the curricula in such a way that the results of research processes permeate the curricula.

This study has some limitations. For instance, regarding the survey, the size of the sample may seem too small, a bigger sample will allow better information for the results. Regarding the case studies, a greater diversity of programs could have provided a wider range of results. Despite these limitations, for UPB, the study shows a snapshot of the literature review and the articulation of sustainable development and climate change education (CCE) in all programs the university has. The implications of this paper and research are the following. First, it reiterates the importance of having within the same institution a common language to talk about sustainability. Second, it recognizes the competencies and skills that should considered when implementing ESD and CCE in curricula.

This idea corresponds to a lack of debate about what the term signifies and means. It is believed that, as sustainability has been highly researched in the past two decades, it is a cross-cutting element in any faculty proposal; however, due to the complexity of the term, it is understood differently by each member of the same academic community, affecting their ability to design a systemic and systematic curriculum that enables to educate for sustainable goals.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) and examine the reflection of SRHRM on sustainable development (SD) in Egyptian companies.

The study data was collected using a quantitative method to examine and test the relationship between the two variables. An empirical study was conducted between 2022 and 2023 on 150 samples of male and female employees from 18 companies located in Egypt working in castings and car batteries.

The study found that, in general, SRHRM has a significant impact on organizational sustainability. This contribution is also beneficial for general HRM and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature as it stresses the importance of its relations to SD. By critically analyzing contemporary SRHRM literature, this study further demonstrates how studies with utilitarian approaches have dominated earlier research. By recognizing the necessity for process-oriented studies and the significance of critical scholarship within the field of SRHRM and its connections to the SD, the researcher thereby creates a research agenda for future studies.

The findings only apply to the sample that has participated in this study and to the Egyptian companies. A longitudinal quantitative evaluation of the SRHRM approaches and dimensions and their impact on the SD strategies of Egyptian companies would be recommended in terms of further research study, highlighting the role of SRHRM and its impact on achieving companies' CSR strategies.

The study's findings are helpful for firms looking to implement SR-HRM to enhance some employees' performance and promote organisational sustainability. In Egypt, there is a dire need for responsible leadership in the public and private sectors, which is crucial in the market and industry sectors. In addition to updating all policies, urge the younger generation to participate in them. For example, new hires to the company must demonstrate that they have engaged in volunteer work as part of their social obligation to the community, and this is required for recruitment.

Furthermore, refreshing all the policy encourage the young generation working or before working to take part in these policy, such as newcomers to the companies have to show that they have conducted some social responsibility towards their community as voluntary work. A study conducted by Cristina del-Castillo et al. (2022) confirmed that regarding the performance of different factors, the results show that the organizations under study are investing too much effort in improving CSR factors that are less relevant to achieving positive legitimacy assessments. On the one hand, resources destined to improve policies related to health, security and social benefits and those regarding the improvement of the relationship paths between managers and employees are excessive considering the relevance that they represent compared to the rest of the CSR policies. According to Hazzi and Maldaon (2023), stakeholders (including the general public and policymakers) might make an informed choice about how much organizations with CSR could safeguard their well-being if they had access to transparent CSR information. Talking about the sustainability behaviour of SRHRM as crucial for embedding sustainability in the business, a study by Abutaleb et al. (2021) evidence that subjective norms and attitudes, followed by perceived behavioural control and personal norms had the greatest influence on intentions towards behavioural HR. Attitudes towards sustainability practices were significantly influenced by economic advantages and sustainability. A good model fit was demonstrated by measurement and structural models (Abutaleb et al., 2021).

This paper is unique in that it participates in presenting the concept of the social responsibility of HRM as an intervention and approach for SD. It also participates in presenting unique findings related to Egyptian companies. There is a scarcity of literature related to research and studies on SRHRM in Egypt.

Studies showed that stakeholders want the construction sector’s organisations to be more accountable and transparent regarding social and environmental issues through corporate social responsibility (CSR). There is a paucity of literature regarding CSR implementation in the construction sector, especially in developing countries like South Africa. Hence, the study evaluated CSR’s merits and hindrances and suggested solutions to enhance its implementation in the South African construction sector of Mpumalanga Province.

The researchers employed a questionnaire survey method to collect data from 68 useable respondents in the South African construction sector of Mpumalanga Province. The main section of the questionnaire was divided into three parts, each addressing an objective mean item score ranking technique.

Findings show management lacks willingness, absence of recognition for implementing CSR at tender adjudication, professionals regard CSR as a “soft issue,” inadequate ability to carry out CSR initiatives and lax CSR knowledge emerged as the key issues hindering construction stakeholders, especially construction companies, from participating in CSR in South Africa. The research suggests initiatives to enhance CSR in the construction industry.

The study shows that the findings can be used to improve the implementation of CSR engagement and possibly enhance a policy to stimulate friendly CSR in the South African construction sector.

In light of climate change, the design and construction of buildings needs to shift from conventional to lower-carbon practices to maximise carbon reduction. Over the past few years, the zero carbon buildings (ZCBs) approach has been promoted worldwide as an effective way to reduce environmental impacts and mitigate climate change. Although zero-carbon policies, technologies, processes and products are widely available in the construction market, construction stakeholders play an important part in adopting relevant strategies to implement ZCBs successfully. This study investigates the knowledge of construction stakeholders involved in the design and construction of buildings regarding zero carbon initiatives in New Zealand.

The research was conducted using a literature review and an online questionnaire survey with various New Zealand's construction stakeholders.

The findings indicate a low level of knowledge regarding the design and construction of ZCBs. To successfully deliver ZCBs, the study suggests that construction stakeholders must have their self-awareness increased, especially in improving knowledge of whole-of-life embodied carbon reduction. The governments and construction sectors should devote more effort to establishing training programmes and knowledge-sharing platforms to improve stakeholder knowledge in carbon literacy, building assessment methods, energy modelling and life cycle assessment.

The research implications may assist the real-world uptake of the ZCBs approach by offering academics and practitioners an insight into the ZCBs knowledge gaps.

The intensity of carbon emissions has led to the serious problem of global warming, and the consequences in terms of climatic disasters are gaining increasing attention worldwide. As the energy sector is responsible for most global emissions, developing clean energy is crucial to combat climate change. This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and renewable energy (RE) consumption and explore the interaction between RE production and RE use.

The study adopts an econometric framework of a panel model, followed by the robustness check using alternative methods, including logit regressions. The bivariate probit model is used to analyze the interaction between the decision to use and the decision to produce RE. The analysis is based on a sample of 3,896 firms covering 45 countries worldwide.

The results reveal that appropriate governance mechanisms positively impact RE consumption. These include the existence of a sustainability committee; environmental, social and governance-based compensation policy; financial performance-based compensation; sustainability external audit; transparency; board gender diversity; and board independence. Firms with appropriate governance mechanisms are more likely to produce and use RE than others. Finally, while RE use positively impacts firm value and environmental performance, the authors find no significant effect on current profitability.

This study goes beyond previous research by exploring the impact of multiple governance mechanisms. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is also the first study examining the relationship between RE use and firm value. Overall, the findings suggest that RE transition requires, first of all, establishing appropriate governance mechanisms within companies.

The present research investigates the effects of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices on customer behavioural intentions (e.g. word of mouth [WOM], willingness to pay [WTP] and revisit intention [RI]) and the mediating role of customer satisfaction (CS) in the hospitality industry in Bangladesh.

The authors applied a convenience sampling approach to distribute questionnaires and collect opinions from 404 customers who stayed in Bangladesh's five- and four-star hotels. SmartPLS was applied to examine the proposed hypothesised model.

GSCM practices have positive and significant impacts on CS and behavioural intentions of customers' WOM, WTP and RI. Additionally, CS mediates the association between GSCM practices and three behavioural intentions.

To boost their hotel's financial performance, hoteliers should allocate more resources to improving environmental sustainability practices in supply chain management.

This study's novel contribution to the literature rests in the findings regarding the mediating effect of CS. This adds value to the theory of planned behaviour. Another unique contribution of this study is that it combines three behavioural intentions (willingness to pay, RI and WOM).

Sustainable construction practices are strongly correlated with a profitable and competitive construction industry, improved client satisfaction and efficient use of resources. However, due consideration is not being given to sustainable construction practices in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to identify the unsustainable construction practices on construction sites, the barriers to sustainable construction and possible strategies to improve sustainable construction in Nigeria.

A questionnaire survey of 50 construction sites was conducted with construction professionals on the sites as the specific target, out of which only 43 construction sites have at least a construction professional present at the site. Forty-three filled questionnaires from the respondents were used for descriptive (mean score, standard deviation and charts) and inferential analysis (t-test and Kruskal–Wallis) in this study.

The study shows that a large percentage (75%) of construction professionals in Nigeria are aware of sustainable construction. The descriptive and inferential analysis showed a disparity in the ranking of the 12 unsustainable practices, 14 barriers and 11 strategies among the respondents. Five unsustainable practices (“negative externalities”, “excess energy”, “unsustainable technologies”, “non-management of health and safety of workers” and “material waste”), six barriers to sustainable construction (“absence of historical data and exemplary projects on which construction professionals can build and learn from”, “lack of professional to handle the task”, “poverty and low urban investment”, “lack of urban and construction policy”, “lack of awareness” and “lack of technical know-how”) and three strategies to improve sustainable construction practices in Nigeria (“cooperation, partnership and participation”, “protection of biodiversity and conservation of natural resources” and “sustainability assessment system”) were found to be significant.

The study offers significant insights into the construction industry unsustainable practices, barriers to sustainable construction, as well as strategies for improving sustainable construction practices. These insights can be applied to other developing countries with an emphasis on geographical differences.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the recent studies in Nigeria that explored the context of sustainable construction in the construction industry by providing insights into the unsustainable construction practices, barriers and strategies to improve sustainable construction in Nigeria.

This study aims to explore the latent potential of alternative-responsible tourism and ecotourism leadership in sustainable tourism and the sustenance of rural communities in Musina Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It also sought to compare this potential with other African pastoral areas and to integrate it with various rural sites elsewhere abroad.

Narrative literature, document reviews, interviews and focus group discussions were used to garner relevant data and were analyzed through cross-tabulation analysis and manually. On this account, probable climate change-bound environmental consequences, rural, tourism, farming and ecological administration issues came to the forefront.

The examination correlates the potential position of proper ecotourism exercises and responsible tourism as an agreeable path to promote sustainability in rural localities. Subsequently, upon apparent countryside products, ecotourism and farming exercises glimpsed in the study area, environmental degradation poses a conceivable hazard to natural resource governance. Hereafter, it aggravates the possibilities for climate change effects and poor subsistence.

The rich biodiversity in the study area provides platforms for sustainable rural tourism enterprises and addresses any pertinent concerns. Thus, the study has manifested a demand for a creative tourism approach and innovations against environmental change outcomes and to capacitate Musina Municipality residents and probably others elsewhere on the continent to engage in ethical tourism initiatives and sustainable livelihoods.

This study aims to identify sustainability indicators in the energy sector through a literature review and validate them from the perspective and context of professionals working in the sector in an emerging economy country, Brazil, considering the relationship of these indicators with the achievement of the targets set by the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs).

To accomplish this, a literature review on sustainability indicators specific to the energy sector was conducted. Subsequently, a research instrument (questionnaire) based on the identified indicators was developed and a survey was administered to professionals in the field. The collected data were analyzed using the Lawshe method.

The results revealed 20 indicators, distributed across environmental, economic and social dimensions. Among these, nine indicators were validated, including global impacts, local impacts, renewable energy production as a percentage of total production, greenhouse gas emissions, access to electricity, investment in the energy sector, installed capacity in the electricity sector, energy prices in the end-use sector and energy distribution and conversion efficiency.

Consequently, it was possible to determine which SDGs are directly impacted and provide a foundation for future actions that can contribute to the sustainable advancement of the energy sector in emerging countries.