Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and provide propositions about survey assessment tools of the key sustainability competencies (KSCs) of education for sustainability. UNESCO points out how education plays an important role in transforming societies towards a sustainable future and achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. To plan education for sustainability, teachers need to know the students’ competencies for sustainability before they come to class. Thus, a formative assessment about student competence for sustainability is needed.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, a structured literature review of assessment tools used to measure sustainability competencies by questionnaire survey is presented. Secondly, the authors’ conceptualise how the competencies influence each other and provide propositions for future research.
Findings
The literature demonstrates that there is much ambiguity between prior research about the scales used and what they represent. A lack of validation across disciplines is apparent and an assessment tool that includes all eight KSCs could benefit education for sustainability. Future research could investigate how the competencies influence each other and which drivers are stronger for each discipline across different countries. A formative assessment tool can address this need.
Originality/value
The findings provide a new analysis about questionnaire assessment tools used in prior research to measure sustainability competence. The authors’ offer a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses found in prior research and propose suggestions for future research. Their conceptualisation also provides propositions for validating the KSCs presented in a recent framework.
Purpose -The present paper aims to extend an ongoing study of Swedish trade journal's, Privata Affä rer, recognition of the "bank of the year." Design/methodology/approach -The information used in this paper came from Privata Affä rer, which annually recognizes a "best" bank in Sweden. Each issue containing the annual recognition provides the rationale for selecting the specific bank as well as interviews with their CEOs. The data base is robust -every bank in Sweden is surveyed, so results come not from a sample, but a census of banks and banking practice; 17 year's selections are now available. Findings -Results are interpreted in terms of Porter's five forces model and Stabell-Fjeldstaad value model. For eight of the last 11 years, new entrants have dominated the award; in fact, in the last five years one winner was a virtual bank and another was a subsidiary of a retail grocery chain. Research limitations/implications -It is tempting to extend results to the USA and elsewhere in the industrialized world, but of course results relate only to Sweden. Nevertheless, it is suggested that competitors who enter with significantly new services can, and do, become popular leaders in this industry. Practical implications -Sweden tends to be a leader in service theory and development. Consequently, a model exists for developing a competitive edge in other countries. Originality/value -This paper provides an independent confirmation of service models of competition, which generally are lacking in the literature.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.