Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness

Roux, C. Le; Pretorius, Marius

doi:10.3390/su8040364

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…These challenges include conceptual ambiguity, too many narratives in practice, inherent unsustainability, investor bias and exhibiting stakeholder preferences (Thomson, 2014;Grey, 2010;Setia et al, 2015;Higgins et al, 2014). These were not intentionally omitted but rather explored as part of earlier, associated research (Le Roux and Pretorius, 2016a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the nexus between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness

Roux

Pretorius

2019

SAMPJ

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Purpose This paper aims to explore the nexus between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness. It seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the nexus by obtaining in-depth insight from the sensemaking of those in practice. Design/methodology/approach A single exploratory case study design strategy was applied to a leading stock exchange listed company in the property industry in South Africa. Rich qualitative data were gathered by applying multiple data gathering techniques to a diverse group of employees within the case company. Findings This empirical study contributes a metaphor of a cog and chain and nine themes that elucidate employee sensemaking at the nexus. Integrated reporting was found to drive sustainability embeddedness and foster changes within the organisation. The themes offer in-depth insight into how employees made sense of integrated reporting as a driver for sustainability embeddedness. Research limitations/implications The findings emerged from a single case study that operated in a mandatory disclosure context and are therefore not generalisable. The findings reflect the intended outcomes of integrated reporting and further research to explore the unintended outcomes and challenges associated with integrated reporting is suggested. Practical implications The study contributes to a growing practice based agenda by offering a better understanding of how integrated reporting and sustainability are conceptualised and adopted in practice. Social implications The findings offer organisations’ guidance on integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness adoption which can have vast implications for society and the environment. Originality/value The study responds to gaps in the literature and calls for studies to explore the intersection between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness by engaging those in practice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the nexus between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness

Roux

Pretorius

2019

SAMPJ

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“…Overall, key to university engagement with the SDGs was the strategic alignment of the academic mission with sustainable development in its broadest definition (Rouxle and Pretorius, 2016). An effective means of framing this was to adopt a "living lab" model that can bring a range of projects under one governance framework.…”

Section: Sustainable Development Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universities as the engine of transformational sustainability toward delivering the sustainable development goals

Purcell

Henriksen²,

Spengler

2019

IJSHE

241

171

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Purpose Universities can do more to deliver against the sustainable development goals (SDGs), working with faculty, staff and students, as well as their wider stakeholder community and alumni body. They play a critical role in helping shape new ways for the world, educating global citizens and delivering knowledge and innovation into society. Universities can be engines of societal transformation. Using a multiple case study approach, this study aims to explore different ways of strategizing sustainability toward delivering the SDGs are explored in a university setting with an example from the UK, Bulgaria (Europe) and USA. Design/methodology/approach The first case is a public UK university that adopted enterprise and sustainability as its academic mission to secure differentiation in a disrupted and increasingly marketized global higher education sector; this became a source of inspiration for change in regional businesses and the local community. The second case is a business sector-led sustainability-driven transformation working with a private university in Bulgaria to catalyze economic regeneration and social innovation. Finally, a case from the office for sustainability in a major US research university is given to show how its engagement program connected faculty and students in sustainability projects within the institution and with external partners. Findings Each case is in effect a “living lab,” positioning sustainability as an intentional and aspirational strategy with sustainable development and the SDG framework a means to that end. Leadership at all levels, and by students, was key to success in acting with a shared purpose. Partnerships within and with universities can help accelerate delivery of the SDGs, enabling higher education to make a fuller contribution to sustaining the economic, environmental, cultural and intellectual well-being of our global communities. Originality/value The role of universities as the engine of transformational sustainability toward delivering the SDGs has been explored by way of three case studies that highlight different means toward that end. The collegiate nature of the higher education sector, with its shared governance models and different constituencies and performance drivers, means that sustainability at a strategic level must be led with leaders at all levels acting with purpose. The “living lab” model can become a part of transformative institutional change that draws on both top-down and bottom-up strategies in pursuit of sustainable development.

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“…To realize more fully the innovation potential of such an organization, new capabilities need to be built into the leadership and governance systems and processes to enable idea flow across and within the institution (Middlehurst, 2004; Cullen-Lester et al , 2016). However, the processes and structures through which strategy and decision making are effected are typically hierarchical and present a barrier to co-creation such that creativity and innovation are hindered (Kothari and Handscombe, 2007; Le Roux and Pretorius, 2016). Indeed, it has been suggested that “the corporation is at odds with the future” (McCracken, 2013) such that permeability to ideas is key to sustaining success (Pentland, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leadership and governance frameworks driving transformational change in an entrepreneurial UK university

Purcell

Chahine

2019

LODJ

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Purpose Disruptive megatrends, such as technology and globalization, are driving transformational change in universities as they seek to differentiate themselves given economic and social market forces. However, higher education (HE) institutions can struggle to achieve change at the scale and speed needed, given their pluralistic nature and competing goals. As primarily collegiate organizations run by academics, leadership and governance are by persuasion and consensus over diktat. A retrospective analysis of the transformational journey of a UK university that set its radical new mission to become “the Enterprise University” has been undertaken, and a new leadership and governance framework articulated. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon a conceptual framework of leadership and governance to codify change management and its acceleration, the change journey in a university undergoing a strategic transformation has been analyzed. Leadership and organizational frameworks are examined focusing on the interactions between the senior management hierarchy (SMH), as the command-control operating system, and the adaptive community of social networks within the university and external stakeholders. The critical steps in effecting institutional change and the nature of the social agreements underpinning transformation are subject to retrospective analysis. How ideas flowed through the organization to create value through innovation is reviewed. Findings Analyses reveal how the SMH worked with the adaptive social networks of staff and stakeholders in concert around a shared purpose, identifying enablers and barriers to a healthy idea flow. Drawing on the leadership and governance framework empowers organizational transformation, paying more deliberate attention to the stewardship of ideas and how change actually happens. To thrive in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments and sustain competitive advantage in a dynamic global market place, leaders need to be able to harness the social forces and inspire people to take actions around a shared vision of the future. Originality/value Universities represent a traditional community of knowledge workers and service professionals where approaches to leadership and governance are typically collegiate and consensual. Examining the strategic transformation of a university seeking to move at pace to accommodate the global disruption of the HE sector is relevant to how change happens in related environments. Given the growth of the knowledge economy, represented as organizations and networks, key lessons are available. The importance of activating people around shared purpose through deliberate engagement by leaders with social networks is relevant to delivering transformation in conditions of super complexity.

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Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness

Cited by 16 publications

References 90 publications

Exploring the nexus between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness

Exploring the nexus between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness

Universities as the engine of transformational sustainability toward delivering the sustainable development goals

Leadership and governance frameworks driving transformational change in an entrepreneurial UK university

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