Understanding Sustainability as a Cyclical Process: Insights from Social Innovation and the Adaptive Cycle

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18

Higher Education; Sustainability; Institutional Characteristics; Innovation; Social Theories; Guidelines; Student Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; College Faculty; Power Structure; Conservation (Environment); Organizational Climate; Campuses; Systems Approach; Case Studies; Liberal Arts; Private Colleges; Ecology; Clubs; Alumni; Mentors; Universities; Teacher Student Relationship; Barriers; Costs; Resource Allocation

10.1108/IJSHE-11-2021-0492

1467-6370
1758-6739

Purpose: This paper aims to understand why higher education institutions (HEIs) struggle to become sustainable institutions themselves despite providing relevant teaching and research on sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: Using 17 open-ended, semistructured interviews to determine common themes (codes) regarding sustainability, the authors mapped those codes to the adaptive cycle from social innovation theory. Findings: Using the adaptive cycle offered a framework for understanding sustainability at HEIs as a cyclical process where innovation occurs in ebbs and flows. Differing perceptions of power by students and faculty slow down the process, and cross-collaboration is the key to further sustainability. Practical implications: Insights from the adaptive cycle can contribute to HEI assessment of its sustainability initiatives by identifying the stage of the adaptive cycle relevant to the institution's present sustainability work. Originality/value: Applying the adaptive cycle is an original way of understanding the process of anchoring sustainability at HEIs providing concrete insights into advancing this process.

As Provided

2023

EJ1382941