TY - JOUR
T1 - Odd couples
T2 - reconciling academic and operational cultures for whole-institution sustainability governance at universities
AU - Robinson, John
AU - Alhakim, Andi Darell
AU - Ma, Grace
AU - Alam, Monisha
AU - Brando, Fernanda da Rocha
AU - Braune, Manfred
AU - Brown, Michelle
AU - Côté, Nicolas
AU - Espinosa, Denise Crocce Romano
AU - Garza, Ana Karen
AU - Gorman, David
AU - Hajer, Maarten
AU - Madden, John
AU - Melnick, Rob
AU - Metras, John
AU - Newman, Julie
AU - Patel, Rutu
AU - Raven, Rob
AU - Sergienko, Kenneth
AU - Smith, Victoria
AU - Tariq, Hoor
AU - van der Lem, Lysanne
AU - Wong, Christina Nga Jing
AU - Wiek, Arnim
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2023/11/27
Y1 - 2023/11/27
N2 - Purpose: This study aims to explore barriers and pathways to a whole-institution governance of sustainability within the working structures of universities. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on multi-year interviews and hierarchical structure analysis of ten universities in Canada, the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, the UK and The Netherlands. The paper addresses existing literature that championed further integration between the two organizational sides of universities (academic and operations) and suggests approaches for better embedding sustainability into four primary domains of activity (education, research, campus operations and community engagement). Findings: This research found that effective sustainability governance needs to recognise and reconcile distinct cultures, diverging accountability structures and contrasting manifestations of central-coordination and distributed-agency approaches characteristic of the university’s operational and academic activities. The positionality of actors appointed to lead institution-wide embedding influenced which domain received most attention. The paper concludes that a whole-institution approach would require significant tailoring and adjustments on both the operational and academic sides to be successful. Originality/value: Based on a review of sustainability activities at ten universities around the world, this paper provides a detailed analysis of the governance implications of integrating sustainability into the four domains of university activity. It discusses how best to work across the operational/academic divide and suggests principles for adopting a whole institution approach to sustainability.
AB - Purpose: This study aims to explore barriers and pathways to a whole-institution governance of sustainability within the working structures of universities. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on multi-year interviews and hierarchical structure analysis of ten universities in Canada, the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, the UK and The Netherlands. The paper addresses existing literature that championed further integration between the two organizational sides of universities (academic and operations) and suggests approaches for better embedding sustainability into four primary domains of activity (education, research, campus operations and community engagement). Findings: This research found that effective sustainability governance needs to recognise and reconcile distinct cultures, diverging accountability structures and contrasting manifestations of central-coordination and distributed-agency approaches characteristic of the university’s operational and academic activities. The positionality of actors appointed to lead institution-wide embedding influenced which domain received most attention. The paper concludes that a whole-institution approach would require significant tailoring and adjustments on both the operational and academic sides to be successful. Originality/value: Based on a review of sustainability activities at ten universities around the world, this paper provides a detailed analysis of the governance implications of integrating sustainability into the four domains of university activity. It discusses how best to work across the operational/academic divide and suggests principles for adopting a whole institution approach to sustainability.
KW - Embedding sustainability
KW - Governance
KW - Institutional culture
KW - Operational and academic foundations
KW - Sustainability
KW - Whole-institution approach
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U2 - 10.1108/IJSHE-07-2022-0244
DO - 10.1108/IJSHE-07-2022-0244
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85165658564
SN - 1467-6370
VL - 24
SP - 1950
EP - 1970
JO - International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
JF - International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
IS - 8
ER -