Education for sustainable development: Emerging themes from adopters of a declaration
Journal article
Zutshi, Ambika, Creed, Dr Andrew and Connelly, Brian L.. (2019). Education for sustainable development: Emerging themes from adopters of a declaration. Sustainability. 11(1), pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010156
Authors | Zutshi, Ambika, Creed, Dr Andrew and Connelly, Brian L. |
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Abstract | Universities that sign the Talloires Declaration signify their commitment to education for sustainable development. This research explores whether the signification is a strategic desire to be seen to be doing the right thing, or a genuine commitment to enhancing sustainability and helping the environment. This semi-structured interview research involves communication with the sustainability managers in the majority of Talloires signified universities in Australia. Since Australia has a comparably high rate of commitment to the Talloires Declaration, the findings represent rich and deep insight into reasons and motivations that can inform the adoption process around the world. Applying institutional theory and related concepts of structuration, isomorphism, and signaling, the findings are analyzed to reveal the range of environmental initiatives and the underlying explanation of themes. Current strategies and future directions for universities are indicated. Findings are that higher education is a key mechanism in business and society for finding and harnessing knowledge-based solutions. The challenge is that institutionalization has created resistance to change through coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphism, along with rhetoric. Structuration factors should be considered in the context of making positive changes for sustainability in the university sector. |
Keywords | Talloires Declaration; universities; environmental management; interviews; institutional theory |
Year | 01 Jan 2019 |
Journal | Sustainability |
Journal citation | 11 (1), pp. 1-15 |
Publisher | MDPI |
ISSN | 2071-1050 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010156 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/156 |
Page range | 1-15 |
Publisher's version | License |
Publication dates | |
Online | 29 Dec 2018 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 22 Dec 2018 |
Deposited | 30 Jul 2024 |
Additional information | This research received internal research funding for data collection activity from the Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University. |
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. | |
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). | |
Place of publication | Switzerland |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90w05/education-for-sustainable-development-emerging-themes-from-adopters-of-a-declaration
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Publisher's version
OA_Zutshi_2018_Education_for_sustainable_development_Emerging_themes.pdf | |
License: CC BY 4.0 |
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