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1 – 10 of over 75000Ercan Sirakaya Turk, Omid Oshriyeh, Ali Iskender, Haywantee Ramkissoon and Haylee Uecker Mercado
This paper reports the results of research that examines the interrelationships between efficacy of sustainability values (SV) and pro-sustainable behaviors of potential tourists…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports the results of research that examines the interrelationships between efficacy of sustainability values (SV) and pro-sustainable behaviors of potential tourists. A partially mediated model is postulated and tested to help explain additional error variance in predicting consumers’ destination choice decisions in tourism, hence voiding a critical research gap. Coined as the “environmentally intellectualist behavior,” a new mediator variable is tested to explain additional error variance in human-value models.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on data collected from two representative samples of potential tourists from the USA and Canada. Data analyses include exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses that were used to examine the underlying domain structures of SV, followed by a predictive model using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The study findings suggest that values are salient factors that underlie pro-sustainable tourism and travel behavior. Moreover, the results confirm the existence of a higher-order sustainability construct. The study contributes original insights to the field by demonstrating that there are direct and indirect positive relationships between SV, environmental behaviors and decisions of consumers who take a pro-sustainable stance when traveling.
Originality/value
By modeling values as antecedents to attitudes and testing interrelationships between SV and the mediator variables coined as the environmentally intellectual behavior, the authors developed and tested a predictive model to explain destination- and product choice decisions. The model tested herein advances the value theory in two fundamental ways: first, this study demonstrates that SV can be modeled as higher-order factors. Second, values are antecedents to attitude and other variables, therefore must be included in consumer behavior models. Finally, the culture or origin of tourists matters when examining the impact of values on tourists’ choice decisions. Political actions and environmental attitudes can be modeled as mediators to explain additional error variance.
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Jan Seidel, Anna Sundermann, Steven A. Brieger, Pepe Strathoff, Gabriel H. Jacob, Tony Antonio and Christina W. Utami
This paper aims to develop and empirically test a framework on how personal values and sustainability conceptions affect students’ sustainability management orientation (SMO). An…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop and empirically test a framework on how personal values and sustainability conceptions affect students’ sustainability management orientation (SMO). An understanding of this connection gives insight into the question whether students are likely to engage in sustainable business practices in their future work.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional and comparative research design is used, using survey data of business students from Germany, Indonesia and the USA (N = 475). The proposed mediation models are tested by bootstrap procedures using Hayes’s (2013) PROCESS macro for SPSS.
Findings
Self-transcendence values translate into more nuanced sustainability conceptions since individuals with self-transcendence values are more likely to conceptualize sustainability beyond their own (narrow) self-interests. In turn, the stronger individuals’ sustainability conceptions, the higher the likelihood that they prefer sustainable management practices in their future professional working field.
Research limitations/implications
Implications arise for researchers to investigate the engagement of future managers with different personal value types in sustainability practices and to gain insights into values and sustainability conceptions as a learning outcome. Limitations of this research – for instance, arising from potential common method bias – are discussed.
Practical implications
The findings point to the need to (re-)design appointment processes for management positions in a way that allows taking into account individuals’ personal values and sustainability conceptions. This research may also help firms and higher education institutions to empower their workforce/students to develop more integrated perspectives on sustainability challenges as well as teaching methods that address students’ effective learning outcomes, e.g. their values.
Originality/value
The paper offers a new framework and a cross-country perspective on psychological antecedents of individuals’ SMO as an important prerequisite for responsible behavior in the business context.
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Maria Miguel Ribeiro, Elona Hoover, Gemma Burford, Julia Buchebner and Thomas Lindenthal
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that values-focused assessment can provide a useful lens for integrating sustainability and institutional performance assessment in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that values-focused assessment can provide a useful lens for integrating sustainability and institutional performance assessment in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a values elicitation methodology for indicator development, through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and a stakeholder workshop, in a pilot project at BOKU University, Vienna.
Findings
This case highlights that many of the values held by university staff and students are pro-sustainability values. Starting from these values may be a useful way of engaging university stakeholders in sustainability dialogues. The paper illustrates how values-based indicators can be integrated into university performance assessments, providing a novel way of thinking about sustainability assessment in universities.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory pilot was carried out in a university with a focus on natural sciences. Further research could replicate and compare the results of this paper in other institutions.
Originality/value
Creating a shared understanding of pro-sustainability values can help individuals to reconceptualise sustainability in relation to their own work and motivations. In doing so, it can highlight the inherent synergies between sustainability assessment and institutional performance assessment in the higher education sector, which are usually seen as separate domains.
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Pradeep Kautish, Arpita Khare and Rajesh Sharma
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between value orientation, i.e. terminal and instrumental values, consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between value orientation, i.e. terminal and instrumental values, consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral intentions toward environmental-friendly products and its influence on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) endorsement.
Design/methodology/approach
Structured questionnaires were administered on 410 respondents from northwestern India. The two-step approach proposed by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was employed to assess the measurement and structural models.
Findings
Terminal and instrumental values influenced consumer sustainability consciousness. Sustainability consciousness influenced behavioral intentions which endorsed consumers' SDG. Instrumental value had a greater impact on consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral intentions than terminal value. Consumer sustainability consciousness partially mediated the relationship between terminal/instrumental value and behavioral intentions for SDG endorsement.
Research limitations/implications
The findings will help marketers to endorse SDG promotion by linking them with values and develop an understanding of consumers' sustainability consciousness for SDG implementation.
Practical implications
Green marketers, policymakers and SDG promoters should develop messages to communicate and emphasize the importance of purchasing environmental-friendly products. From a functional perspective, it affects instrumentality orientation and societal responsibility toward the implementation of SDG.
Social implications
The current study proposed an action-oriented, integrated, aspirational and universally applicable SDG framework. The findings may pioneer the way forward for sustainability-oriented consumption.
Originality/value
This research is the first of its kind that examined the relationships between value orientations (Rokeach, 1973) and their effect on consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral intentions in SDG milieu.
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Francisco Rincon-Roldan and Alvaro Lopez-Cabrales
The aim of this study was to analyse the link between the values that govern the functioning of cooperatives and their sustainability. Furthermore, the authors propose that this…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to analyse the link between the values that govern the functioning of cooperatives and their sustainability. Furthermore, the authors propose that this relationship is mediated by AMO (ability, motivation and opportunity) practices, which generate different behaviours and attitudes in their employees, thus strengthening the message of sustainable management that the directors of this kind of companies aim to transmit.
Design/methodology/approach
This article presents a theoretical and empirical research model about the relationship between organisational values, AMO practices and sustainability in social economy firms. The proposed model was tested using the multivariate method of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with a sample of 124 cooperative companies. The information was gathered through a questionnaire with questions composed of measurement scales that had been previously validated by the reference literature.
Findings
This work empirically demonstrates that the perceived support, respect and responsibility values are strongly related to sustainability, and that ability and opportunity-enhancing practices mediate the association of perceived support and responsibility with the sustainability of cooperatives.
Originality/value
This work contributes to covering the lack of studies about which values support and impact the sustainability of organisations, and it provides information about the mediating role of certain AMO practices in the search for a more sustainable organisation, demonstrating that some practices are more relevant than others.
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Paul E. Murray and Sheran A. Murray
This paper aims to analyse an initiative to provide learners on “career‐based” programmes with opportunities to reflect upon their values within the context of sustainability.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse an initiative to provide learners on “career‐based” programmes with opportunities to reflect upon their values within the context of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
An international literature review relating values and behaviour to the sustainability agenda led to the development of “sustainability training” workshop activities for construction students at the University of Plymouth. The activities, drawing on good practice from a range of education for sustainability initiatives and the behavioral discipline Neuro Linguistic Programming, enable participants to elicit and reflect upon their core values and to relate these to key sustainability issues. Following multiple pilots the workshops were offered as voluntary field trials to students, their effectiveness being measured through structured feedback.
Findings
The feedback returns demonstrate the popularity of the enquiry‐based learning techniques utilized and the effectiveness of the individual activities in achieving their aims. Constructive criticism centred on the need to simplify some of the activity instructions.
Practical implications
This research shows that open‐ended enquiry‐based learning techniques are useful for promoting sustainability values within educational programmes. As the activities described here are not discipline‐specific, they have potential to be adapted for similar disciplines at other institutions and for use with other career‐based disciplines.
Originality/value
Much is written about the need to embed sustainability values in the curriculum. This paper describes a method of fulfilling this need and may be of significant value to those attempting to embed sustainability within educational programmes.
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Tracy H. Porter, Vickie Coleman Gallagher and Diane Lawong
Organizations have viewed sustainability as a societal problem and unrelated to business. To recognize sustainability as an organizational issue requires companies to deal with…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations have viewed sustainability as a societal problem and unrelated to business. To recognize sustainability as an organizational issue requires companies to deal with the challenge of transforming into environmentally sustainable enterprises. This requires institutions to align mission statements with values. The purpose of this paper is to replicate previous research in sustainability and the cultural facets which impact the process.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study method was used to analyze 25 organizations within the US Midwest with various contexts to determine how their respective cultures impacted their change initiatives. Specifically, the authors spoke to sustainability change agents with regard to their leadership and culture, and the factors that are conducive to (or barriers to) implementing sustainability initiatives.
Findings
The original study demonstrated the presence of seven contextual conditions which are important in the process of imbedding sustainability within the institution. This research found the same dimensions to be present; however, they manifested differently 15 years later.
Practical implications
The original research offered a somewhat dark picture of the sustainability change initiatives within organizations. The current study however; offers a much more positive perspective which demonstrates organizations appear to have progressed with regard to sustainability.
Originality/value
This is a replication study whereby we discovered similar themes as to the nature of contextual factors that can hinder or advance sustainability initiatives; however, the findings 15 years later show a marked difference in the current state of affairs and the ability to implement sustainability initiatives.
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Elena Cavagnaro and Simona Staffieri
If the only viable future for tourism is sustainable tourism then ways should be sought to increase the demand for sustainable offers. The purpose of this paper is to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
If the only viable future for tourism is sustainable tourism then ways should be sought to increase the demand for sustainable offers. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether sustainability values influence the travel needs of students. The aim is to discover cues in the present behaviour of young tourists that can enhance sustainable travel choices and therefore secure the future of the tourism industry. Moreover, the study provides a solid basis for predicting the future travel behaviour of young tourists.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in The Netherlands in 2013 through a survey. A non‐probabilistic sample of 365 students (a sub‐group of young tourists) was reached. Multivariate analyses were used to test whether position in the social structure and value orientation influence the travel need. The logistic models allowed youth tourism behaviour to be predicted.
Findings
Respondents with a biospheric value orientation associate travel with being in contact with nature and chose rest as a motivation. This is highly interesting from a future perspective because biospheric values are considered the most stable antecedent of sustainable behaviour. Findings also highlight women's role as the sustainable tourists of the future: women harbour strong sustainability values and see travel as a growth opportunity.
Research limitations/implications
This research focuses on travel needs because this is the most future‐oriented phase of the tourism experience, and on students because they tend to travel independently. Future research might include travel consumption and evaluation as well as non‐students in the sample to give a more balanced view on young tourists. Future research might also include values not related to sustainability to assess their relative strengths in influencing youth tourism.
Practical implications
Both policy makers and industry could capitalise on the sustainability values already present in young people's need for travel to nudge this group – who represents tourism's future – towards a sustainable tourism choice. For example, strengthening sustainability values through marketing and education will increase demand for a sustainable offer.
Originality/value
Values related to sustainability influence general tourism choices by young travellers, and not only choices related to a sustainability offer. This finding suggests a path to address the classic dilemma between individualism and sustainability and assure tourism's future by showing young travellers that they already harbour sustainability values.
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Jasmine Tata and Sameer Prasad
Organizations are implementing sustainability initiatives in different countries with varied socio-cultural systems. The literature on sustainability, however, does not present a…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations are implementing sustainability initiatives in different countries with varied socio-cultural systems. The literature on sustainability, however, does not present a clear picture of how national culture can influence interpretations of the meaning of sustainability and how these differences in interpretation can result in different sustainability practices. The purpose of this paper is to build upon the current literature by identifying mechanisms (i.e. sustainability beliefs and perceptions) that mediate the relationship between national cultural values and organizational sustainability initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the literature on culture and sustainability practices, and develop a conceptual model that identifies how cultural values influence the sustainability initiatives of organizations. Several propositions are identified that specify relationships among the constructs, and guidelines are provided for testing the model in future research.
Findings
The model posits that national culture influences sustainability beliefs and perceptions, which in turn influence the quantity and scope of sustainability initiatives. The relationship between sustainability beliefs and organizational sustainability initiatives is moderated by sustainability orientation and organizational capacity.
Originality/value
The model can help researchers and practitioners better understand the meaning of sustainability in the context of international business by identifying the mechanisms that explain the link between culture and sustainability. It can also help researchers generate hypotheses for future research. Finally, the model can guide multinational corporations attempting to drive sustainability programs through their subsidiaries as well as international developmental agencies trying to develop programs in partnership with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
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Kimberly K Merriman, Sagnika Sen, Andrew J Felo and Barrie E Litzky
Organizational sustainability has become a priority on many corporate agendas. How to integrate sustainability efforts throughout the organization, however, remains a challenge…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational sustainability has become a priority on many corporate agendas. How to integrate sustainability efforts throughout the organization, however, remains a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to examine two factors that potentially enhance incentive effects on employee engagement in environmental objectives: explicit organizational values for sustainability and the performance objective’s complementarity with incented financial objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed a quasi-experimental design in which participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, including a status quo condition against which the treatments were contrasted. Participants (n=400) were comprised of a cross-section of US employees from a wide range of occupations and industries. A post hoc qualitative analysis provided additional insights.
Findings
Incentive effects were enhanced (i.e. preference for the environmental objective was significantly higher) when the environmental project offered complementary benefits for financial objectives, but not when organization values emphasized sustainability. An entrenched status quo bias for financial performance was discerned among a subset of the sample.
Research limitations/implications
Management scholars must pay close attention to the role of implicit norms for financial performance when investigating employee engagement in organizational sustainability efforts. From an applied perspective, framing sustainability objectives to emphasize financial benefits consistent with a financial mission may maximize employee engagement.
Originality/value
This study contributes to understanding of organizational sustainability efforts at the individual employee level of analysis, a conspicuously small part of the organizational research surrounding this topic.
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