Search results for: sustainability analysis

Authors: Ramona Zharfpeykan, Paul Rouse

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Organizational sustainability is important to both organizations themselves and their stakeholders. Despite its increasing popularity and increasing numbers of organizations reporting sustainability, research on evaluating and comparing the sustainability performance of companies is limited. The aim of this study was to develop models to measure sustainability performance for both cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons across companies in the same or different industries. A secondary aim was to see if sustainability reports can be used to evaluate sustainability performance. The study used both a content analysis of Australian sustainability reports in mining and metals and financial services for 2011-2014 and a survey of Australian and New Zealand organizations. Two methods ranging from a composite index using uniform weights to data envelopment analysis (DEA) were employed to analyze the data and develop the models. The results show strong statistically significant relationships between the developed models, which suggests that each model provides a consistent, systematic and reasonably robust analysis. The results of the models show that for both industries, companies that had sustainability scores above or below the industry average stayed almost the same during the study period. These indices and models can be used by companies to evaluate their sustainability performance and compare it with previous years, or with other companies in the same or different industries. These methods can also be used by various stakeholders and sustainability ranking companies such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, sustainability, sustainability performance measurement system, sustainability performance index, global reporting initiative

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Authors: Kari M. Solomon

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Companies with a culture accepting of change management and performance excellence are better suited to determine their sustainability performance and impacts. A mature corporate culture supportive of performance excellence is better positioned to integrate sustainability management tools into their standard business strategy. Companies use various sustainability management tools and reporting standards to communicate levels of sustainability performance to their stakeholders, more often focusing on shareholders and investors. A research gap remains in understanding how companies adapt business excellence models to define corporate sustainability performance. A content analysis of medium-sized enterprises using corporate sustainability reports and business excellence models reveals the challenges and opportunities of reporting sustainability performance in the context of organizational excellence. The outcomes of this content analysis contribute knowledge on the resources needed for companies to build sustainability performance management systems integral to existing management systems. The findings of this research inform academic research areas of corporate sustainability performance, the business community contributing to sustainable development initiatives, and integrating sustainable development issues into business excellence models. There are potential research links between sustainability performance management and the alignment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) when organizations promote a culture of performance or business excellence.

Keywords: business excellence, corporate sustainability, performance excellence, sustainability performance

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Authors: Edmund Gyimah

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Using data from 146 annual reports of listed firms in Ghana for the period 2013-2020, this study presents indicative findings which inspire practical actions and future research. Firms which prepared and presented sustainability reports were excluded from this study for a coverage of corporate sustainability disclosures centred on annual reports. Also, corporate sustainability disclosures of the firms on corporate websites were not included in the study considering the tendency of updates which cannot easily be traced. The corporate sustainability disclosures in the annual reports since the commencement of the G4 Guidelines in 2013 have been below average for all the dimensions of sustainability and the general sustainability disclosures. Few traditional elements of the board composition such as board size and board independence could affect the corporate sustainability disclosures in the annual reports as well as the age of the firm, firm size, and industry classification of the firm. Sustainability disclosures are greater in sustainability reports than in annual reports, however, firms without sustainability reports should have a considerable amount of sustainability disclosures in their annual reports. Also, because of the essence of sustainability, this study suggests to firms to have sustainability committee perhaps, they could make a difference in disclosing the enough sustainability information even when they do not present sustainability information in stand-alone reports.

Keywords: disclosures, sustainability, board, reports

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Authors: Sung-Min Park, Chan Kwon Park, Chae-Bogk Kim

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between transaction fairness, social capital, supply chain integration and sustainability. Based on the previous studies, measurement items were determined by using SPSS 22 and exploratory factor analysis was performed, and again, using AMOS 21 for confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis was performed by using study items that satisfy reliability, validity, and appropriateness of measurement model. It has shown that transaction fairness has a (+) significant effect on social capital, social capital on supply chain integration, supply chain integration on economic sustainability and social sustainability, and has a (+), but not significant effect on environmental sustainability. It has shown that supply chain integration has been proven to play a role as a parameter between social capital and economic and social sustainability, but not as a parameter between environmental sustainability. Through this study, it is suggested that clearly examining the relationship between fairness of trade, social capital, supply chain integration and sustainability, maintaining fairness of the transaction make formation of social capital, and further integration of supply chain, and achieve sustainability of entire supply chain.

Keywords: transaction fairness, social capital, supply chain integration, sustainability

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Authors: Olga Blasco-Blasco, Vicente Liern

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The development of tourism since the mid-20th century has raised problems of overcrowding, indiscriminate construction in seaside areas and gentrification. Increasingly, the World Tourism Organisation and public institutions are promoting policies that encourage sustainability. From the perspective of sustainability, three types of tourism can be established: traditional tourism, sustainable tourism and sustainable impact tourism. Measuring sustainability is complex due to its multiple dimensions of different relative importance and diversity in nature. In order to try to answer this problem and to identify the benefits of applying policies that promote sustainable tourism, a decision-making analysis will be carried out through the application of a multicriteria analysis method. The proposal is applied to hotel reservations and to the evaluation and management of tourism sustainability in the Spanish Autonomous Communities.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, multicriteria analysis, flexible optimization, composite indicators

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Authors: Anusha Vaddiraj Pallapu

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Measuring urban sustainable development is at the forefront in contributing to overall sustainability, and it refers to attaining social equity, environmental protection and minimizing the impacts of urbanization. Assessing performance of urban issues ranging from larger consumption of natural resources by humans in terms of lifestyle to creating a polluted nearby environment, social and even economic dimensions of sustainability major issues observed such as water quality, transportation, management of solid waste and traffic pollution. However, relying on the framework of the project to do the goals of sustainable development or minimization of urban impacts through management practices is not enough to deal with the present urban issues. The aim of the sustainability is to know how severely the resources are depleted because of human consumption and how issues are characterized. The paper aims to assign benchmarks for the selected sustainability indicators for research, and analysis is done through multivariate analysis in Indian context a case of Nagpur city to identify the play role of each urban issues in the overall sustainability. The main objectives of this paper are to examine the indicators over by time basis on various scenarios and how benchmarking is used, what and which categories of values should be considered as the performance of indicators function.

Keywords: environmental sustainability indicators, principal component analysis, urban sustainability, urban clusters, benchmarking

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Authors: L. S. Zavodna, J. Zavodny Pospisil

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The aim of this paper is to identify the factors for sustainability in the accommodation sector. Although sustainability is a current trend in tourism, not many facilities know how to apply the concept in practice. This paper presents a model for the implementation of sustainability in hotels, hostels, campgrounds, or other facilities. First, there are identified sections of each accommodation facility, which can contribute to sustainability. Furthermore, concrete steps are presented to transfer this model into reality.

Keywords: accommodation sector, model, sustainable tourism, sustainability

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Authors: Mijoh A. Gbededo, Kapila Liyanage, Sabuj Mallik

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The emerging approaches to sustainable manufacturing are considered to be solution-oriented with the aim of addressing the environmental, economic and social issues holistically. However, the analysis of the interdependencies amongst the three sustainability dimensions has not been fully captured in the literature. In a recent review of approaches to sustainable manufacturing, two categories of techniques are identified: 1) Sustainable Product Development (SPD), and 2) Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) techniques. The challenges of the approaches are not only related to the arguments and misconceptions of the relationships between the techniques and sustainable development but also to the inability to capture and integrate the three sustainability dimensions. This requires a clear definition of some of the approaches and a road-map to the development of a holistic approach that supports sustainability decision-making. In this context, eco-innovation, social impact assessment, and life cycle sustainability analysis play an important role. This paper deployed an integrative approach that enabled amalgamation of sustainable manufacturing approaches and the theories of reciprocity and motivation into a holistic simulation-based impact analysis framework. The findings in this research have the potential to guide sustainability analysts to capture the aspects of the three sustainability dimensions into an analytical model. Additionally, the research findings presented can aid the construction of a holistic simulation model of a sustainable manufacturing and support effective decision-making.

Keywords: life cycle sustainability analysis, sustainable manufacturing, sustainability performance assessment, sustainable product development

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Authors: Changfeng Fu

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Sustainable urban development has been widely accepted a common sense in the modern urban planning and design. However, the measurement and assessment of urban sustainability, especially the quantitative assessment have been always an issue obsessing planning and design professionals. This paper will present an on-going research on the principles and technologies to develop a quantitative urban sustainability assessment principles and techniques which aim to integrate indicators, geospatial and geo-reference data, and assessment techniques together into a mechanism. It is based on the principles and techniques of geospatial analysis with GIS and statistical analysis methods. The decision-making technologies and methods such as AHP and SMART are also adopted to address overall assessment conclusions. The possible interfaces and presentation of data and quantitative assessment results are also described. This research is based on the knowledge, situations and data sources of UK, but it is potentially adaptable to other countries or regions. The implementation potentials of the mechanism are also discussed.

Keywords: urban sustainability assessment, quantitative analysis, sustainability indicator, geospatial data, big data

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Authors: Mestawot Beyene Tafese, Erika Kopp

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Sustainable development, aimed at meeting current needs while safeguarding the needs of future generations, is a global imperative. Higher education stands as a pivotal force in fostering sustainable values and behaviors. However, most scholars and governments primarily focus on environmental and economic aspects. Consequently, this study examines the distribution patterns of higher education for social sustainability. The study highlights overall annual scientific production trends, leading journals and countries in scientific publication, most researched topics, and frequently used keywords. The study utilized a bibliometric method with the aid of the R Studio program. The analysis reveals Sustainability (Switzerland) as the leading journal, with 292 articles published, followed by the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, which published 186 articles. Additionally, the USA is identified as the leading country, with Spain ranking second in producing research related to higher education for socially sustainable development. Among the 54 African countries, only South Africa ranks 13th, contributing fifty-nine scientific articles. Furthermore, higher education for sustainability, sustainable education, sustainable development goals, etc., emerge as the most researched topics, while the term "higher education" is prevalent in 29% and "sustainability" in 28% of the documents. Notably, according to the analysis, social sustainability is the focus of only 3% of articles. This suggests that academics researching sustainable development and higher education have overlooked social sustainability, a crucial human component of sustainable development. Consequently, the researchers concluded that social academics who are interested in studying sustainable development and higher education should give priority to social sustainability.

Keywords: higher education, bibliometric analysis, social sustainability, sustainable development

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Authors: Laura Álvarez Antón, Joaquín Díaz

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The construction industry is turning towards sustainability. It is a well-known fact that sustainability is based on a balance between environmental, social and economic aspects. In order to achieve sustainability efficiently, these three criteria should be taken into account in the initial project phases, since that is when a project can be influenced most effectively. Thus the aim must be to integrate important tools like BIM and LCA at an early stage in order to make full use of their potential. With the synergies resulting from the integration of BIM and LCA, a wider approach to sustainability becomes possible, covering the three pillars of sustainability.

Keywords: building information modeling (BIM), construction industry, design phase, life cycle assessment (LCA), sustainability

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Authors: Kholil Kholil, Aniwidayati

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MDS (Multi-Dimensional Scaling) is one method that has been widely used to evaluate the use of natural resources. By using Raffish software tool, we will able to analyze sustainability level of the natural resources use. This paper will discuss the level of sustainability of the reservoir using MDS (Multi-Dimensional Scaling) based on five dimensions: (1) Ecology & Layout, (2) Economics, (3) Social & Culture, (4) Regulations & Institutional, and (5) Infrastructure and Technology. MDS analysis results show that the dimension of ecological and layout, institutional and the regulation are lack of sustainability due to the low index score of 45.76 and 42.24. While for the economic, social and culture, and infrastructure and technology dimension reach each score of 63.12, 64.42, and 68.64 (only the sufficient sustainability category). It means that the sustainability performance of Cirata Reservoir seriously threatened.

Keywords: MDS, cirata reservoir, carrying capacity, water quality, sustainable development, sedimentation, sustainability index

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Authors: Menoka Bal, David Bryde

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Sustainability in supply chain has become a topic of great interest and is linked to the assumption that a more sustainable the supply chain is the more the supply chain can perform better. The aim of this paper is to identify the different key aspects of the sustainable supply chain management. This paper will also identify the practices that are required to fulfill the demands of sustainability and, therefore, contributing to improve the sustainability performance. As part of this, the authors will identify how these different practices of implementing to achieve Sustainability in Supply Chain. This paper is conceptual in nature. This paper identifies some of the key categories which are of high importance for the sustainable management of supply chains. These key categories are: Managing the Supply Chain Risk, Improving the Supply Chain Performance, Managing the Supply Chain Value, Making the Supply Chain Leaner, Managing the Supply Chain Relationship. Through in-depth analysis, this paper aims to develop a theory of integrated management process that is most appropriate for sustainability assessment in supply chain.

Keywords: sustainability, risk management, value management, project performance, supply chain management

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Authors: Narendra Babu Bommenahalli Veerabhadrappa

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Teaching sustainability concepts along with profit maximizing philosophy of business in management education is a challenge. This paper explores and evaluates various learning models to inculcate sustainability concepts in management education. The paper explains about a new pedagogy that was tested in a business management school (Indus Business Academy, Bangalore, India) to teach sustainability. The pedagogy was designed by intertwining concepts related to sustainability with digital marketing concepts. As part of this experimental method, students (in groups) were assigned with various topics of sustainability and were asked to work with concepts of digital marketing and thus market the concepts of sustainability. The paper explains as a case study as to how sustainability was integrated with digital marketing tools and how learning towards sustainability was facilitated. It also explains the outcomes of this pedagogical method, in terms of inculcating sustainability concepts amongst management students as well as marketing and proliferation of sustainability concepts to bring about the behavioral changes amongst target audience towards sustainability.

Keywords: management-education, pedagogy, sustainability, behavior

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Authors: Nwobu Obiamaka, Owolabi Akintola

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This study examined the extent of statistical significant difference between the economic, environmental, governance and social aspects of sustainability reporting as a result of board committee on sustainability and time (year) of reporting for business organizations in the Nigerian banking sector. The years of reporting under consideration were 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Content analysis methodology was employed through a reporting index used to score the amount of economic, environmental, governance and social indicators of sustainability reporting. The results of this study indicated that business organizations with board committee on sustainability had more indicators of sustainability reporting than those without board committees on sustainability issues. Also, sustainability reporting in 2013 was higher than that of prior years (2012, 2011 and 2010) for the economic, environmental and social indicators. The governance indicators of 2012 was highest compared to the other years (2013, 2011 and 2010) under consideration in this study. The implication of this finding is that business organizations that have board committees on sustainability are monitored by such boards to report more to their stakeholders. On the other hand, business organizations are appreciating the need to engage in sustainability reporting with each passing year. This could be due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Sustainability Reporting framework that business organizations in the banking sector have to adhere to. When sustainability issues are monitored from the board of directors, business organizations are likely to increase and improve on their sustainability reporting.

Keywords: governance, organizations, reporting, sustainability

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Authors: Ananth Malali, Rohan Prasad, Ananth Revankar, Chiranth Hulgur

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This paper aims to show evidence that value creation by sustainable methods is achieved when a relation is shared with a sustainability attribute between two or more companies in every stage of the supply chain. The pillars of this paper, the value creation factors, attributes of sustainability and various relations that exist between firms in a horizontally integrated supply chain are defined. Further, a relational analysis was done using a simple analysis tool built based on research. Couple of case studies from the German manufacturing and Australian retail sectors were considered for the intra industry analysis and comparison. Taking the analysis ahead, for inter-industry comparison, the same cases were scrutinised in order to understand how the sustainability attributes change across each industry. Concluding, this paper gives an overview of how companies can plan their strategies to attain sustainability through horizontal integration.

Keywords: horizontal integration, value creation, sustainable supply chain

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Authors: Anand Ankush, Wani Mohammed Farooq

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A procedure based on digraph and matrix method is developed for modelling and evaluation of sustainability of Mechanical System in a concurrent engineering environment.The sustainability parameters of a Mechanical System are identified and are called sustainability attributes. Consideration of attributes and their interrelations is rudiment in modeling and evaluation of sustainability index. Sustainability attributes of a Mechanical System are modelled in termsof sustainability digraph. The graph is represented by a one-to-one matrix for sustainability expression which is based on sustainability attributes. A variable sustainability relationship permanent matrix is defined to develop sustainability expression(VPF-t) which is also useful in comparing two systems in a concurrent environment. The sustainability index of Mechanical System is obtained from permanent of matrix by substituting the numerical values of attributes and their interrelations. A higher value of index implies better sustainability of system.The ideal value of index is obtained from matrix expression which is useful in assessing relative sustainability of a Mechanical System in a concurrent engineering environment. The procedure is not only useful for evaluation of sustainability of a Mechanical System at conceptual design stage but can also be used for design and development of systems at system design stage. A step-by-step procedure for evaluation of sustainability index is also suggested and is illustrated by means of an example.

Keywords: digraph, matrix method, mechanical system, sustainability

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Authors: Amrutha Venugopal, Rabee Rustum

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In spite of huge investments and the vital role infrastructure plays in the economy of UAE, the country has not yet developed an assessment scheme to measure the sustainability of infrastructure projects/development. The aim of this study was to develop a sustainability rating system for infrastructure projects in UAE using weighted indicator scoring. The identification of the list of 66 indicators was done by content analysis. The sources of content analysis were from government guidelines, research literature and sustainability rating system for infrastructure projects namely BCA Greenmark for Infrastructure (Singapore), ISCA (Australia) and Envision (USA). These indicators were shortlisted based on their relevance in the UAE. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methods is utilized to find the weightage to be applied to the indicators and to find suggestive measures to improve infrastructure sustainability in this region. Interviews and surveys were conducted with a good mix of experts from the industry. The data collected from the interviews were collated to provide suggestive measures for improving infrastructure sustainability. The collected survey data were analyzed using statistical analysis techniques to find the indicator weighing. The indicators were shortlisted by 75% to minimize the effort and investment into the process. The weighing of the deleted indicators was distributed among the critical clusters identified by Pareto analysis. Finally a simple Microsoft Excel tool was developed as the rating tool by using the calculated weighing for the indicators.

Keywords: infrastructure, rating system, suggestive measures, sustainability, UAE

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Authors: Bayan Ahmed Alsaffar

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The aim of this study is to assess the sustainability initiatives at Applied Sciences University (ASU) in Bahrain using a mixed-methods approach based on students, staff, and faculty perceptions. The study involves a literature review, interviews with faculty members and students, and a survey of ASU's level of sustainability in education, research, operations, administration, and finance that depended on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). STARS is a tool used to evaluate the sustainability performance of higher education institutions. The study concludes that a mixed-methods approach can provide a powerful tool for assessing sustainability initiatives at ASU and ultimately lead to insights that can inform effective strategies for improving sustainability efforts. The current study contributes to the field of sustainability in universities and highlights the importance of user engagement and awareness for achieving sustainability goals.

Keywords: environment, initiatives, society, sustainability, STARS, university

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Authors: Lobna Hafez, Eman Elakkad

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Sustainability is no longer a choice for firms. To achieve sustainable supply chain, all three dimensions of sustainability should be considered. Unlike the economic and environmental aspects, social sustainability has been rarely given attention. The problem surrounding social sustainability and employees’ welfare in Egypt is complex and remains unsolved. The aim of this study is to qualitatively assess the current level of application of social sustainability in the retailing sector in Egypt through using the social sustainability indicators identified in the literature. The purpose of this investigation is to gain knowledge about the complexity of the system involved. A case study is conducted on one of the largest retailers in Egypt. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with managers and employees to determine the level of application and identify the major obstacles affecting the social sustainability in the retailing context. The work developed gives insights about the details and complexities of the application of social sustainability in developing countries, from the retailing perspective. The outcomes of this study will help managers to understand the enablers of social sustainability and will direct them to methods of sound implementation.

Keywords: developing countries, Egyptian retailing sector, sustainability, social sustainability

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Authors: Rahma Amri, Narjès Bellamine Ben Saoud

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Sustainable development or sustainability is one of the most urgent issues in actual debate in almost domains. Particularly the significant way the software pervades our live should make it in the center of sustainability concerns. The social aspects of sustainability haven’t been well studied in the context of software systems and still immature research field that needs more interest among researchers’ community. This paper presents a Goal-Question-Metric based approach to assess social sustainability of software systems. The approach is based on a generic social sustainability model taken from Social sciences.

Keywords: software assessment approach, social sustainability, goal-question-metric paradigm, software project metrics

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Authors: Mary Panko, Rashika Sharma

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Sustainability often appears to be an unfamiliar concept to many international students that enrol in a New Zealand technological degree. Lecturers’ experiences with classroom interactions and evaluation of assessments indicate that studying the concept enlightens and enhances international students understanding of sustainability. However, in most cases, even after studying sustainability in their degree programme, students are not given an opportunity to practice and apply this concept into their professions in their home countries. Therefore, using a qualitative approach, the academics conducted research to determine the change in international students understanding of sustainability before and after their enrolment in an Applied Technology degree. The research also aimed to evaluate if international students viewed sustainability of relevance to their professions and whether the students felt that they will be provided with an opportunity to apply their knowledge about sustainability in the industry. The findings of the research are presented in this paper.

Keywords: education for sustainability, international students, vocational education

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Authors: Taknaz Banihashemi, Jiangang Fei, Peggy Shu-Ling Chen

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Reverse logistics (RL) is a part of the logistics of companies and its aim is to reclaim value from the returned products in an environmentally friendly manner. In recent years, RL has attracted significant attention among both practitioners and academics due to environmental directives and governmental legislation, consumer concerns and social responsibilities for environment, awareness of the limits of natural resources and economic potential. Sustainability development is considered as a critical goal for organisations due to its impact on competitive advantage. With growing environmental concerns and legal regulations related to green and sustainability issues, product disposition through RL can be considered as an environmental, economic and social sound way to achieve sustainable development. When employed properly, RL can help firms to improve their sustainability performance. The aim of this paper is to investigate the sustainability issues in the context of RL in the perspective of the triple-bottom-line approach. Content analysis was used to collect the information. The findings show that there is a research gap to investigate the relationship between RL and sustainability performance. Most of the studies have focused on performance evaluation of RL by considering the factors related to economic and environmental performance. RL can have significant effects on social issues along with economic and environmental issues. The inclusion of the social aspect in the sustainability performance will provide a complete and holistic picture of how RL may impact on the sustainability performance of firms. Generally, there is a lack of research on investigating the relationship between RL and sustainability by integrating the three pillars of triple-bottom-line sustainability performance. This paper provides academics and researchers a broad view of the correlations between RL and sustainability performance.

Keywords: verse Logistics, review, sustainability, sustainability performance

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Authors: Lynn Ruggieri

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The worldwide pandemic has only increased sustainability awareness. The public is demanding that businesses be held accountable for their impact on the environment. While financial data enjoys uniformity in reporting requirements, there are no uniform reporting requirements for non-financial data. Europe is leading the way with some standards being implemented for reporting non-financial sustainability data; however, there is no uniformity globally. And without uniformity, there is not a clear understanding of what information to include and how to disclose it. Sustainability reporting will provide important information to stakeholders and will enable businesses to understand their impact on the environment. Therefore, there is a crucial need for this data. This paper looks at the history of sustainability reporting in the countries of the European Union and throughout the world and makes a case for worldwide reporting requirements for sustainability.

Keywords: financial reporting, non-financial data, sustainability, global financial reporting

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Authors: Raziyeh Teimouri, Sadasivam Karuppannan, Alpana Sivam, Ning Gu

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Urban Green Space (UGS) is one of the most critical components of urban systems to create sustainable cities. UGS has valuable social benefits that closely correlate with people's life quality. Studying social sustainability factors that can be achieved by green spaces is required for optimal UGS planning to increase urban social sustainability. This paper aims to identify key factors that enhance urban social sustainability through UGS planning. To reach the goal of the study international experts’ survey has been conducted. According to the results of the survey analysis, factors of proper distribution, links to public transportation, walkable access, sense of place, social interactions, public education, safety and security, walkability and cyclability, physical activity and recreational facilities, suitability for all ages, disabled people, women, and children are among the key factors that should consider in UGS planning programs to promote urban social sustainability.

Keywords: UGS, planning, social sustainability, key factors

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Authors: Chunfang Zhou

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The growing issues of sustainability have increased the discussions on how to foster “green engineers” from diverse perspectives in both contexts of education and organizations. As creativity has been considered as the first stage of innovation process that can also be regarded as a path to sustainability, this paper will particularly propose creativity as a scientific literacy meaning a collection of awareness, ability, and skills about sustainability. From this sense, creativity should be an element in IT engineering education and organizational learning programmes, since IT engineers are one group of key actors in designing, researching and developing social media products that are most important channels of improving public awareness of sustainability. This further leads this paper to discuss by which pedagogical strategies and by which training methods in organizations, creativity and sustainability can be integrated into IT engineering education and IT enterprise innovation process in order to meeting the needs of ‘creative engineers’ in the society changes towards sustainability. Accordingly, this paper contributes to future work on the links between creativity, innovation, sustainability, and IT engineering development both theoretically and practically.

Keywords: creativity, innovation, IT engineers, sustainability

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Authors: Taimaz Larimian

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During recent years, sustainable development has increasingly influenced urban policy, housing and planning in cities all over the world. Debates about sustainability no longer consider it solely as an environmental concern, but also incorporate social and economic dimensions. However, while a social dimension of sustainability is extensively accepted, the exact definition of the concept is still vague and unclear. This study is addressing this lack of specificity through a detailed exploration of social sustainability as the least studied pillar of sustainable development and sheds light on the debate over the definition of social sustainability through developing a measurement model of the constitutive dimensions of the concept. With this aim, a conceptual framework is developed based on the existing literature, determining seven main dimensions of the social sustainability concept namely: social interaction, safety and security, social equity, social participation, neighborhood satisfaction, housing satisfaction and sense of place. The validity and reliability of the model is then tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In order to do so, five case study neighborhoods from Dunedin city with a range of urban forms and characters are investigated, to define social sustainability concept and its consisting dimensions from people’s perspective. The findings of this study present a clear definition of social sustainability at neighborhood scale and highlight all different dimensions of the concept in the context of New Zealand cities. According to the results, among the investigated dimensions, neighborhood satisfaction and safety and security had the most influence on people’s feeling of social sustainability in their neighborhood.

Keywords: social sustainability, factor analysis, neighborhood level, New Zealand cities

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Authors: Albert Acheampong, Tamer Elshandidy

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We investigate the extent to which sustainability disclosure from the narrative section of European banks’ annual reports improves analyst forecast accuracy. We capture sustainability disclosure using a machine learning approach and use forecast error to proxy analyst forecast accuracy. Our results suggest that sustainability disclosure significantly improves analyst forecast accuracy by reducing the forecast error. In a further analysis, we also find that the induction of Directive 2014/95/European Union (EU) is associated with increased disclosure content, which then reduces forecast error. Collectively, our results suggest that sustainability disclosure improves forecast accuracy, and the induction of the new EU directive strengthens this improvement. These results hold after several further and robustness analyses. Our findings have implications for market participants and policymakers.

Keywords: sustainability disclosure, machine learning, analyst forecast accuracy, forecast error, European banks, EU directive

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Authors: H. Nejadriahi

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A growing demand for sustainability makes sustainability as one of the significant debates of nowadays. Energy saving is one of the main criteria to be considered in the context of sustainability. Reducing energy use in buildings is one of the most important ways to reduce humans’ overall environmental impact. Taking this into consideration, study of different design strategies, which can assist in reducing energy use and subsequently improving the sustainability level of today's buildings would be an essential task. The sustainability level of a building is highly affected by the sustainability performance of its components. One of the main building components, which can have a great impact on energy saving and sustainability level of the building, is its facade. The aim of this study is to investigate on the role of facade in sustainability enhancement of the contemporary buildings of Iran. In this study, the concept of sustainability in architecture, the building facades, and their relationship to sustainability are explained briefly. Following that, a number of contemporary Iranian buildings are discussed and analyzed in terms of different design strategies used in their facades in accordance to the sustainability concepts. The methods used in this study are descriptive and analytic. The results of this paper would assist in generating a wider vision and a source of inspiration for the current designers to design and create environmental and sustainable buildings for the future.

Keywords: building facade, contemporary buildings, Iran, sustainability

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Authors: Sawarni Hasibuan, Juliza Hidayati

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Competitiveness and sustainability issues not only put pressure on big companies, but also small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs Batik Bogor is one of the local culture-based creative industries in Bogor city which is also dealing with the issue of sustainability. The purpose of this research is to develop framework of sustainability at SMEs Batik Indonesia case of SMEs Batik Bogor by integrating innovation of cleaner production in its supply chain. The approach used is desk study, field survey, in-depth interviews, and benchmarking best practices of SMEs sustainability. In-depth interviews involve stakeholders to identify the needs and standards of sustainability of SMEs Batik. Data analysis was done by benchmarking method, Multi Dimension Scaling (MDS) method, and Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis. The results recommend the framework of sustainability for SMEs Batik in Indonesia. The sustainability status of SMEs Batik Bogor is classified as Moderate Sustainable. Factors that support the sustainability of SMEs Batik Bogor such is a strong commitment of top management in adopting cleaner production innovation and creativity approach. Successful cleaner production innovations are implemented primarily in the substitution of dye materials from toxic to non-toxic, reducing the intensity of non-renewable energy use, as well as the reuse and recycle of solid waste. “Mosaic Batik” is one of the innovations of solid waste utilization of batik waste produced by company R&D center that gives benefit to three pillars of sustainability, that is financial benefit, environmental benefit, and social benefit. The sustainability of SMEs Batik Bogor cannot be separated from the support of Bogor City Government which proactively facilitates the promotion of sustainable innovation produced by SMEs Batik Bogor.

Keywords: cleaner production innovation, creativity, SMEs Batik, sustainability supply chain

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