The Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire: The theoretical development and empirical validation of an evaluation instrument for stakeholders working with sustainable development

Abstract

In this paper, the concept of sustainability consciousness, an individual's experience and awareness of sustainable development, is introduced. Based on UNESCO's definition of sustainable development, a sustainability consciousness questionnaire (SCQ) is theoretically and empirically developed. Using the data of 638 respondents from Sweden aged 18-19 years old, the scale is developed in two versions. The long version (SCQ-L) can be used to measure individuals' environmental, social and economic knowingness, attitudes and behaviour (nine valid and reliable subscales), in addition to the second order constructs of sustainability knowingness, sustainability attitudes and sustainability behaviour, as well as the third order construct, sustainability consciousness. For the short version (SCQ-S) 27 items were identified that can be used to measure the second and third order constructs. Both versions of the scale present excellent psychometric quality. Possible applications of the questionnaire instruments in the context of evaluation of sustainability policies, practices and stakeholder engagement are discussed. KEYWORDS empirical validation of the sustainability consciousness questionnaire, questionnaire instrument, stakeholder engagement, Sustainability Consciousness, sustainable development, sustainable development policy, theoretical development of the construct of sustainability consciousness

Exploring the Role of the Economy in Young Adults’ Understanding of Sustainable Development

“…The items in the part probing environmental knowingness, attitudes and behaviors originate from a larger questionnaire, which investigates students' sustainability consciousness in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to environmental, social, and economic dimensions of SD, see a detailed description in [42] and Gericke et al [43]. Definitions of the SD dimensions found in transnational policy agreements by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization were used to categorize items into environmental, social, and economic dimensions (UNESCO).…”

Evaluation of sustainable supply chain management performance: Indicators

“…The nature of supply chains is competitive and has led organizations to compete with each other (Anti & Olson, 2017), and sustainable initiatives have widely been embedded in the missions and strategies of international and national organizations (Chofreh & Goni, 2017). In recent decades, the international community has agreed on the need to resolve the problems of sustainable development through international treaties (Gericke, Boeve-de Pauw, Berglund, & Olsson, 2019). To achieve real sustainability, organizations need a comprehensive, sustainable implementation framework to help keep experts in sustainability (Chofreh et al, 2016).…”

A cross-cultural comparative study of sustainability consciousness between students in Taiwan and Sweden

“…The concept of SC has been applied in different contexts to investigate differences between students from ESD-profiled schools and non ESD-profiled schools in Sweden (Berglund et al 2014;, differences between students from Green schools and nongreen schools in Taiwan , Swedish students' SC in the transition to adolescence , differences between genders in Sweden (Olsson and Gericke 2017), Swedish students' views of SD in relation to separated and integrated approaches to SD (Berglund and Gericke 2016), the effectiveness of ESD in Sweden (Boeve-de Pauw et al 2015), and inquiry-based learning among preservice teachers in Pakistan . The development and validation of the survey instrument measuring SC were reported by Gericke et al (2019). The present study is the first to use the concept in a cross-cultural investigation.…”