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In their work on ‘online consumer stewards’ in E-sports, the authors point to the competing social and commercial imperatives that govern behaviour and who can be seen as ‘authentic’ in a fast-paced digital environment. Drawing on insights from Bauman’s work on ‘liquidity’ they explore the case of Starcraft II, a global, multi-player online game, and show how the most successful stewards need to be both adaptable and free-floating whilst at the same time anchored in solid community structures. The most successful of these stewards are then able to leverage this (perceived) authenticity to meet both community and commercial objectives.

Business initiatives that improve environmental impact are increasing in number and the trend continues to accelerate. However, there is a growing consensus that transformations to protect the environment and conserve natural resources should be more pervasive and much larger steps than those already being taken are needed. Among the difficult challenges that business leaders and practitioners face today is to understand the driving forces that encourage environmental sustainability in the context of their own operation. This work articulates the key drivers of “green” activities that support environmental stewardship, and their relevance to business management.

Environmental stewardship is positioned as a growth area, business leaders are already taking action to apply environmental sustainability principles, and each key driver of environmental stewardship is discussed separately. A rationale for each driver is provided, business management implications are articulated, and real world cases for what businesses are actually doing in the marketplace are described.

This work defines the drivers of environmental stewardship for business leaders, and connects those drivers directly to management implications and real world, actual cases of business activity. With this approach and framework, businesses can easily use the same approach to identify which drivers they are responding to, and which others may have gaps that represent a competitive risk if no action is taken.

Business leaders and practitioners can use insights provided in this work to better understand the driving forces behind environmental improvement actions, and better align their own initiatives to achieve higher business value and environmental stewardship. Without understanding the driving forces behind their actions, businesses are likely to sub‐optimize their transformation initiatives and fail to realize the expected value.

Brand authenticity has emerged as a strategic imperative for many firms. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of consumer perceptions of brand marketing communications on brand authenticity of fast-moving consumer goods.

Direct and indirect pathways from brand marketing communications to brand authenticity were conceptualized. Data were collected from US energy drink consumers and analysed using structural equation modelling. Multiple marketing mix variables and context-relevant covariates have been controlled for.

Direct and indirect pathways to building brand authenticity have been observed. The total effect of brand marketing communications on brand authenticity is strong, thereby highlighting the predictor’s overall effectiveness in shaping the ultimate outcome.

The focus on consumer-perceived authenticity as opposed to objective authenticity complements the prior literature. An integrative perspective on brand marketing communications is offered, specifying it as an antecedent of perceived brand authenticity.

An important implication is that investments into brand marketing communications will likely influence perceived brand authenticity. Such investments may also have favourable implications for the clarity of brand positioning. Overall, brand marketing communications are effective tools for building consumer-perceived brand authenticity.

A need to outline managerially controllable drivers of authenticity was addressed. How consumer perceptions of brand marketing communications influence brand authenticity via direct and indirect mechanisms was demonstrated. The existence of authenticity in fast-moving consumer goods was also demonstrated.

The purpose of this paper is to ground contemporary sustainability education in John Dewey’s democratic pedagogy. Specifically, the authors argue that Dewey’s thought anticipates, and theoretically informs, the sustainability skill set required of contemporary citizens in a complex and changing world.

For illustrative purposes, the authors consider how these skills are at work in current approaches to the adaptive co-management of ecosystems, and they argue that these same skills are at work across professional and cultural contexts, toward the achievement of sustainable societies. In turn, the authors situate Dewey’s relevance to contemporary sustainability education in his writing on interdependence, fallibilism and experimentalism.

Dewey’s writings provide both a historical antecedent and still valid moral and practical justification for sustainability education’s emphasis on integrated and adaptive learning.

Grounding sustainability education in Dewey’s democratic pedagogy underlines its capacity and obligation to develop critical thinking and systems thinking skills, communication skills and collaboration skills in students.

The paper acknowledges the many ways Dewey has been incorporated into environmental philosophy, experiential pedagogy and sustainability theory. But Dewey’s role in the historical development of skills-based pedagogy and, more specifically, his continuing contribution to contemporary practices of sustainability education has yet to be explored. By grounding sustainability education in Dewey’s democratic pedagogy, the authors underline its civic mandate to empower citizens to become lifelong learners and skillful stewards.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the concept of “transformative business sustainability”. “Business sustainability” refers the total effort of a company – including its demand and supply chain network – to reduce the impact on the Earth's life‐ and eco‐systems –, i.e. the total e‐footprint. “Transformative” highlights the need for an open minded, dynamic and flexible approach to “business sustainability” not governed by blinkers.

This paper discusses a conceptual development of transformative business sustainability, derived from a frame of reference. The essence is the introduction of a multi‐layer model of units (i.e. different businesses or other stakeholders), a network of e‐footprint sources and a “recovery pool and redistribution buffer” at the interface.

Transformative business sustainability is both a theoretical and managerial concept. It could also be seen as a roadmap to plan, implement and evaluate business sustainability.

Transformative business sustainability provides opportunities for development. Suggestions for further research are presented.

E‐footprint sources in business, applying an Earth‐to‐Earth approach, are described. The concept of transformative business sustainability contributes by achieving genuine and continuous business sustainability and awareness at strategic, tactical and operative levels of business, avoiding use of buzzwords and window dressing.

Well‐being of the planet Earth has to be at the core of business sustainability. The authors contend that the “recovery pool and redistribution buffer” is crucial in the planning, implementation and evaluation of transformative business sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the theory and practice of stakeholder democracy. After examining the liberal notion of representative democracy, the paper seeks to identify the democratic deficit associated with the shareholder and stakeholder approaches to corporate governance. Investigating stakeholder democracy in nationalized industries in both market‐ and state‐capitalist societies, the argument presented is that neither type of society has significantly increased stakeholder involvement in decision making.

The paper uses a Hegelian dialectical approach to stakeholder democracy; relying on such modes of analysis as identifying internal contradictions.

The paper concludes that stakeholder democracy is both real and nominal in the political sphere, but restricted and contested in the private and public sectors in the economic sphere.

The paper calls for the setting‐up of democratic structures to oversee the production and distribution of the goods and services necessary for human wellbeing.

The paper investigates the relatively neglected topic of stakeholder democracy, using a Hegelian dialectical methodology. In the context of the 2007/2008 financial crisis and its recessionary aftermath, the paper calls for a radical re‐evaluation of corporate governance.