Cultivating Support for the Sustainable Development Goals, Green Strategy and Human Resource Management Practices in Future Business Leaders: The Role of Individual Differences and Academic Training

Abstract

Sustainability managers are key stakeholders in implementing and diffusing sustainability initiatives. However, there is a significant gap in the literature examining the impact of greenwashing on sustainability managers. This research examines the effects of greenwashing on sustainability managers’ job satisfaction, commitment, turnover intentions, and job performance from a social identity/person–organization (P–O) fit perspective. Our sample consists of practicing sustainability managers (n = 125) in high- (77%) or mid-level (23%) positions. Results indicate that perceived greenwashing negatively affects the attitudinal outcomes and job performance of sustainability managers. The results also indicate that for sustainability managers whose social responsibility identity is higher than that of their firm, greenwashing has a significant association with lower satisfaction and job performance, and higher intentions to leave. However, for managers whose social responsibility identity is lower than that of their firm, employer greenwashing had no effect on the sustainability managers’ attitudes, even though they recognized their own poor job performance. The cumulative effect may be a situation in which managers in the best position to enhance a firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) leave the firm, and vice-versa.

Integrating Sustainability in the Business Administration and Management Curriculum: A Sustainability Competencies Map

“…It is, therefore, especially important that the universities with studies related to the business world and business and management schools are involved in the training of their students so that they are able to provide future business leaders with the skills necessary to face the complexity and uncertainty besetting companies and society [38,39]. This is precisely the goal of the United Nations' global initiative launched in 2007-Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).…”

Novel Insights in the Leadership in Business and Economics: A Post-Coronavirus Update

“…They have set an agenda for achieving inclusive economic growth by 2030 and have received input from companies, universities, and non-profit organizations around the world. Today, all CEOs would declare that sustainable development is critical to the success of their company (Khoshnava et al 2019;Lu et al 2019;Westerman et al 2021). The company formulates sustainable development strategies, markets sustainable products and services, establishes sustainability manager positions, and serves consumers, investors, green activists as well as the public by releasing a sustainability report publicly.…”

El camino hacia el desarrollo sostenible de los clusters industriales: Un estudio entre los futuro líderes del cluster textil valenciano

“…En este contexto, la forma en la que se afrontan los cambios necesarios para lograr un desarrollo sostenible vendrá definido por la actitud y los valores de los futuros líderes y dirigentes empresariales. Es en este punto en el que las universidades pueden y deben jugar un papel principal en el desarrollo de las capacidades y las competencias de sus alumnos, puesto que es necesario que las instituciones de Educación Superior preparen a sus futuros egresados para afrontar los desafíos críticos que, como futuros líderes empresariales, van a tener que afrontar (Westerman et al, 2021).…”

“…No obstante, y a pesar de la existencia de algunos estudios en los que se aborda la diferencia en el comportamiento de los estudiantes hacia diferentes aspectos del desarrollo sostenible y la ética medioambiental en función de la materia de estudio (Bergman et al, 2014, Westerman et al, 2021 o del género (Arlow, 1991;Bergman et al, 2014), consideramos que todavía quedan múltiples aspectos por abordar en esta área. En este sentido, creemos que resulta de especial interés en este proceso de transformación conocer la percepción que poseen los estudiantes de universidades que se ubican en el área geográfica y de influencia de los clusters industriales sobre este nuevo paradigma.…”