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The purpose of this paper is first, to investigate empirically the plurality of understanding surrounding sustainability held by those working in the business sector, and second, to consider the likelihood of a dialogic accounting that would account for the plurality of perspectives identified.

The subjects of this study are those people actively working to incorporate sustainability within New Zealand business, both business people and their sustainability advisors. Participant’s subjective understanding is investigated using Q methodology, a method used widely by social science researchers to investigate typical views on a particular topic, from an analysis of the order in which participants individually sort a sample of stimuli. In this study, the stimuli were opinion statements.

Five typical understandings of sustainable development were identified, including understandings more usually attributed to business antagonists than business. Conflicts between environment and development are acknowledged by most participants. However, an agonistic debate that will create spaces, practices, and institutions through which marginalised understandings of sustainable development might be addressed and contested, is yet to be established and will not be easy.

The paper contributes to the few empirical investigations of the plurality of understandings of sustainability held by those people working to incorporate sustainability within business. It is further distinguished by the authors attempt to describe divergent beliefs and values, absent from their immediate business context, and absent from any academic priming. The paper also provides an illustrative example of the application of Q methodology, a method not commonly used in accounting research.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of research that aimed to determine what university students living in Unite accommodation in the UK understand about the concept of sustainable living. It considers what barriers they perceive to be standing in the way of following sustainable living practices. In particular, the research aimed to explore any value–action gap for the student population with a view to informing future actions to help close any gap.

The study was completed through an online questionnaire survey of students living in halls of residence operated by provider The Unite Group Plc. The survey informed semi-structured interviews and focus groups that explored the issues raised in greater detail.

It was found that students living in Unite properties believed sustainable living to be important, yet levels of understanding were very low and there appeared to be a wide value–action gap. Reasons for this are varied; however, an unexpected theme emerged around the association of effort and importance. There was a very strong association between sustainable living and recycling, which, therefore, saw the lack of adequate recycling facilities as a significant barrier to sustainable living. There were also issues around a lack of information, cost and respondents’ flatmates as further barriers. However, the most significant barrier was the displacement of responsibility for sustainable living to other people or organisations.

Gaining an insight into the complexity of attitude and behaviour of students with the sustainability agenda will enable understanding that can be applied to activities that promote sustainability.

Tourism policy is a generic term with many interpretations. For too long time tourism policy has been identified with promotion of the public sector. Nowadays the content is much more embracing. The first section of this contribution briefly describes the evolution in this content and deal with the present meaning that is given to tourism policy. “Competitiveness” and “sustainability” are the the two key terms in the modern view. The situation of Bruges with respect to those two core notions is the central theme of this contribution. For the analysis of competitiveness the Porter approach is an interesting instrument. This leads to the strenghts and weaknesses of Bruges with respect of competitiveness. Sustainability was always a major element in the tourism policy of Bruges.

This chapter frames the digital age transformation journey for sustainability from the lenses of transformation skills and competencies required for future work. It provides a synopsis of the digital transformation considering digital technologies, connecting digital transformation to future work and reflections on the new digital age to sustainability issues. In detail, this chapter comprehensively reviews digital technologies transformation skills, including digital skills and integrated skills for the digital economy linked to integrated skills. This chapter takes into consideration the possible effects from a competency point of view from the domains on issues like: global independence, trust, a shift in skills and ways of work, commitment to justice, improving the know-how, financial inclusion, data and data privacy that are critical imperatives for sustainability. Developing a digital economy requires integrated sustainable development competencies; this chapter considers combined skills for digital transformation in triple connecting points of human skills, business skills and digital building blocks skills to argue for sustainability. Because attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires input from different quotas globally, sustainable competencies are needed to ensure individuals work cohesively through new-age digital technologies. This chapter further highlights emerging competencies such as critical thinking, appreciative equity, open communication and acting on collective well-being as imperatives transforming digital disruptions. The final section of this chapter puts into perspective the implication of required digital technologies for the future of work and its significance on the need to reskill and retool. It concludes by reflecting on opportunities and challenges for crucial consideration towards creating a sustainable digital age.

Faced with global concerns about increasing vulnerability of the global system and its sustainability, private companies are asked and encouraged to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through multi-sectoral partnerships. Implementing the SDGs will require coordinated and collective effort by all stakeholders to move the world forward towards a shared vision as set out in the SDG goals and targets. Business diplomats representing the interests of enterprises are crucial to ensure a mutually beneficial participation of business in the implementation of the SDGs. Propositions are made in this chapter to outline the requisite competencies needed to implement business diplomacy both at the organisational and managerial levels in the context of SDGs implementation.

The method used for this study consists of literature review, conceptual analysis and further development of organisational theory.

The SDGs in fact mean transforming all countries and actors in all spheres of human existence in an integrated and coherent manner. This transformative journey will not be incremental, but rather disruptive and demands fresh new thinking and smart system redesign. The private sector has been recognised as a leading player in this endeavour that could and should contribute to the success of SDG implementation due to its comparative excellence in process design, management know-how, control of resources and global outreach. To ensure a healthy functioning of diverse formal and informal partnerships, business diplomats will have a central role to play in safeguarding the integrity of multiple interfaces with internal and external multistakeholders. Business diplomacy shall ensure timely consultations and seek feedback from their constituent stakeholders while at the same time doing their best to get their company to contribute to the SDGs.

This is the first article published so far which describes and discusses the role and contribution of business diplomats in the context of SDG implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to gather elements to propose a sustainability assessment tool (SAT) to be used in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil and the related program to be created for SAT dissemination and HEI monitoring, publication of results and benchmarking.

The characteristics of eight SATs were identified, seven of which are applied through widely known international programs to identify aspects to be considered in the definition of the Brazilian model.

In Brazil, stakeholders usually do not know how HEIs develop their potential to contribute with the construction of a sustainable development model. There currently is an international trend, which Brazil must join, to assess HEI sustainability through SATs. The comparison between different international SATs and respective programs yields some recommendations for a Brazilian model, such as definition of their purpose, types of questions to be used, the possibility to apply SATs to HEI sub-units, means of dissemination and others.

The research limitation is the difficulty to obtain information allowing a deeper understanding of sustainability-related activities developed by Brazilian HEIs.

This paper provides a base on which to construct SAT and program models tailored for Brazil.

This is the first paper that stresses the importance of adopting a SAT tailored for Brazil, by comparing and discussing models that may be used for that purpose.

This paper aims to problematise the notions of both “corporate social responsibility” and “stakeholder theory”. In particular, it seeks to challenge the promises it claims to hold regarding social responsibility and community engagement.

The paper provides a discussion of indigenous stakeholders’ activism in Sarawak, Malaysia.

It is shown that despite the rhetoric of corporate social responsibility and stakeholderism, there is a clear failure of the state government and corporations to actively involve local affected communities. In so doing, both the state and corporations have rendered the local indigenous peoples, a significant and legitimate stakeholder, powerless, redundant and inevitably compromised both the development and management process. The paper also suggests that community engagement can be problematic for indigenous peoples and for it and stakeholderism to be efficacious, they need to involve the discourse of rights and activism within Sarawak and Malaysia.

The paper offers insight into the indigenous peoples at Sarawak resistance against the state Government and corporations, Focusing on stakeholder activism.