Fostering Sustainable Behavior

Fostering Sustainable Behavior Workshop
An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing
June 13-14, 2012  

The cornerstone of sustainability is behavior change. Sustainability requires individuals and businesses to act (e.g., reduce waste, increase water and energy efficiency, and prevent pollution). To date, most programs to achieve these changes have relied upon disseminating information. Research demonstrates, however, that simply providing information has little or no effect on what people or businesses do. But if not ads, brochures or booklets, then what? Over the last decade a new approach, community-based social marketing, has emerged as an effective alternative for promoting sustainable behavior.

About the Workshop: 

Presented by Pacific Agenda, Inc. and taught by Doug McKenzie-Mohr, PhD, the Fostering Sustainable Behavior Workshop provides a comprehensive introduction to community-based social marketing and how it is being applied throughout the world to foster sustainable behavior. Attendees will learn the five steps of community-based social marketing (selecting behaviors, identifying barriers, developing strategies, conducting pilots, and broad scale implementation) and be exposed to numerous case studies illustrating its use. As such, this workshop provides participants with the knowledge they need to design and evaluate their own community-based social marketing programs.

About the Presenter: 

Dr. McKenzie-Mohr is the founder of community-based social marketing and has written and presented extensively on the topic. His work has been featured in the New York Times and his book, “Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing,” has been recommended by Time magazine.

Workshop Details:

The workshop is being held at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort (Clearwater Beach, Florida) June 13-14, 2012. To register or to find more information, please follow this link.

The workshop precedes the 22nd Annual Social Marketing Training Academy & Conference: Ideas Beyond Borders, sponsored by USF Health. Workshop attendees will be emailed further information on the annual conference as well as a code that can be used to obtain a reduced rate for staying at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort. Online conference registration now available at www.cme.hsc.usf.edu!

Training Academy: June 13-14, 2012
Main Conference: June 15-16, 2012
Sheraton Sand Key Resort
Clearwater Beach, FL
Sponsored by USF Health

The Climate Challenge: Special Issue of Business & Society

Business & Society has released a special issue on the important global topic of climate change, corporate strategy, and politics, bringing together articles by a team of scholars from institutions in Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. Guest editors Chukwumerije Okereke of the University of Reading, Bettina Wittneben of the University of Oxford, and Frances Bowen of Queen Mary University of London authored the introductory essay, titled “Climate Change: Challenging Business, Transforming Politics.” To access all articles in this special issue, please click here.

The abstract:

Climate change challenges contemporary management practices and ways of organizing. While aspects of this challenge have been long recognized, many pertinent dimensions are less effectively articulated. Based on contemporary literature and insights from articles submitted to this special issue, the guest editors of this special issue highlight some of the challenges posed by climate change to government and business, and indicate the range of options and approaches being adopted to address these challenges.

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Business & Society Calls for Papers

Business & Society currently has two Calls for Papers available here.

Corporate Sustainability – Off to Pastures New or Back to the Roots? Exploring New Perspectives, Theories and Research Methods in Corporate Sustainability Research

For this special issue we particularly encourage submissions that (a) look into corporate responses to sustainability aspects that have so far only received scant attention or (b) that take on theoretical and/or methodological perspectives that have not yet been widely used to analyze corporate responses to sustainable development.

Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2012

Submissions to the special issue should be sent by email to specialissue.bas@gmail.com and should be prepared in accordance with the submission guidelines of Business and Society (for details see here).

Any questions regarding the special issue can be addressed to the guest editors:
Tobias Hahn: tobias.hahn@euromed-management.com
Frank Figge: frank.figge@euromed-management.com
J Alberto Aragón Correa: jaragon@ugr.es
Sanjay Sharma: ssharma4@bsad.uvm.edu

For more information about this Call for Papers, please click here.

“Sustainable Development and Financial Markets”

Contributions to the Special Issue may cover (but are not limited to) the following research questions:
• What are the contemporary sustainable investment practices, and how effective are they in terms of their contribution to sustainable development? How are these sustainable investing practices affected by other events and upheavals in financial markets, such as the 2008/2009 financial crisis or the 2011 Euro crisis?
• How can different (economic, sociological, psychological, etc.) theories of equity market participants’ decision making, business cycles, and aggregate market dynamics inform the debate on sustainable development and financial markets?
• How do individual market participants react to sustainable investment products? Do the characteristics of these “sustainable” investors differ from those of regular investors?
• Is the filing of shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues an effective mechanism for investors? And, if so, which investors are most likely to have an impact?
• How do ESG signals affect financial markets? What is the impact of institutional entrepreneurs on the viability of ESG investing?
• How, if at all, do sustainability-oriented institutional logics influence investor choices and corporate finance decisions? In general, what is the impact of sustainable investing?
• To what extent do the trends in sustainable investing call for changes in corporate governance structures?
• What are effective (or ineffective) corporate strategies to attract capital from sustainability-oriented investors? How can we use theory to derive best practices for business—particularly environmental entrepreneurs?
• What are some firm-internal preconditions for more successful business positioning vis-à-vis with sustainability-oriented investors?
• What is the role of sustainability-related investment recommendations from security analysts and rating agencies for firms and investors (see, e.g., Ioannou & Serafeim, 2010)?
• What theoretical perspectives or typologies can be identified for different investment styles, and what do they imply for efforts seeking to foster sustainable business practices? For example, what is the role of “impact investments”? This investment style critically reflects on the outcomes (e.g., the environmental improvement) of an investment strategy before an investment in an asset or construction of a portfolio occurs (Eurosif, 2010).
• What are individual and/or institutional investors’ expectations about sustainable development, and how do these expectations affect their investor behaviors? To which extent do (should) investors reflect on sustainability trends in investment decisions from a real-options point of view (e.g., Busch & Hoffmann, 2009)?
• What are the myths and realities of sustainable investments? What are the validity challenges inherent in ESG data screens (Chatterji, Levine & Toffel, 2009; Entine, 2003; Waddock, 2003)? In other words, do ESG criteria and data really measure what they purport to measure?
• How can ESG criteria best be applied to other asset classes beyond publicly traded securities (e.g., corporate bonds), and how may possible barriers be overcome?”

Deadline for submissions: October 15th, 2012

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically via email to Timo Busch: tobusch@ethz.ch. The submission should consist of two separate WORD documents: (i) a manuscript without title page and without author identification information of any kind, and containing an abstract (about 100-150 words) and keywords (3 – 5); (ii) a title page with full author contact information.

For more information about this Call for Papers, please click here.

If you would like to learn more about Business & Society, please click here.

Addressing the Climate Change-Sustainable Development Nexus

Jonatan Pinkse, Grenoble Ecole de Management, and Ans Kolk, University of Amsterdam Business School, published “Addressing the Climate Change–Sustainable Development Nexus: The Role of Multistakeholder Partnerships” on November 23rd in Business & Society. To view other OnlineFirst articles, please click here.

The abstract:

While calls are being made to deal with the linkages between climate change and sustainable development to arrive at an integrated policy, concrete steps in this direction have been very limited so far. One of the possible instruments through which both issues may be approached simultaneously is a multistakeholder partnership, a form of governance with the potential to address existing regulatory, participation, resource and learning gaps as it harnesses the strengths of private, public, and nonprofit partners. There is some insight into partnerships for climate change, but largely limited to developed countries, and those in developing countries most often do not involve companies. To help fill this gap, this article explores the role of multistakeholder partnerships in addressing climate change and sustainable development in developing country settings. It elaborates on the governance function of partnerships, on actor involvement, the gaps addressed, as well as synergies and trade-offs in the climate change-sustainable development nexus and how partnerships may help address them. As the number of such partnerships is still limited, we discuss seven illustrative partnerships and draw conclusions as to further conceptualizations and implications for research and practice.

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Towards a Deeper Philosophy of Biomimicry

Freya Mathews, Latrobe University, published “Towards a Deeper Philosophy of Biomimicry” on November 9th, 2011 in Organization & Environment’s OnlineFirst Section. To view the other OnlineFirst articles , please click here.

The abstract:

Biomimicry as a design concept is indeed revolutionary in its implications for human systems of production, but it is a concept in need of further philosophical elaboration and development. To this end certain philosophical principles underlying the organization of living systems generally are identified and it is argued that not only our systems of production but also our psychocultural patterns of desire need to be reorganized in accordance with these principles if we are collectively to achieve the integration into nature to which biomimicry aspires. Even were this reorganization to be effected however, there is still an ethically momentous ambiguity in biomimicry that needs to be teased out before we can be assured that biomimicry will indeed produce the bioinclusive sustainability outcomes that it seems to promise.

To learn more about Organization & Environment, please follow this link.

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We Are All Stakeholders of Gaia

Sandra Waddock, Boston College, published “We Are All Stakeholders of Gaia: A Normative Perspective on Stakeholder Thinking” in the June 2011 issue of Organization & Environment.

The abstract:

This essay takes the normative perspective that we, including humans, institutions and enterprises, other living beings, and ecological systems, are all stakeholders of a core focal entity—the Earth conceived as the living system Gaia. The argument is that for the purposes of considering the long-term health and well-being of humanity, Gaia rightly should be conceived as the ultimate focal entity with a huge variety of other living beings, systems, and future generations, whose well-being is also at stake in the relationship. This perspective highlights the ways in which Gaia affects and is affected by her various stakeholders. It incorporates a rationale for such thinking that relies on recognizing the normative elements of stakeholder theory, particularly those that derive from interactions of stakeholders and planetary elements. It presents a framework of mutual influence and interdependence, with implications for the ways in which humanity needs to act with respect to Gaia.

In a recent podcast, Judith Clair, Boston College, interviewed Sandra Waddock about this article.

To view other podcasts available on the Organization & Environment website, click here.

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Environmental Perception, Management, and Competitive Opportunity

María Dolores López-Gamero, Enrique Claver-Cortés and José Francisco Molina-Azorín, all of University of Alicante, published “Environmental Perception, Management, and Competitive Opportunity in Spanish Hotels” on September 15th in Cornell Hospitality Quarterly’s OnlineFirst collection. Other articles that are available OnlineFirst can be found here.

The Abstract:

Seeking to fill the gap on research regarding the hospitality industry in relation to the environment, this article examines the environmental peculiarities of the tourism industry. Applying a single framework, the article analyzes the antecedents of organizations’ perceptions of the environment by combining two theoretical approaches: institutional theory and the resource-based view. The study uses a structural equation model to analyze the data from 239 hotels in Spain. The findings show that a number of external factors (i.e., environmental regulation, stakeholders, and uncertainty) and internal factors (i.e., resources and capabilities) have different effects on managerial perceptions of the environment as a competitive opportunity. The study demonstrates that the attitude and perceptions of managers appear to be essential factors for investment in preventive environmental technologies. Among other findings, the study found that managers respond favorably to voluntary norms, rather than environmental legislation; stakeholder pressure seems to have a negative effect on managers’ perceptions of the competitive opportunity inherent in sustainability; and the availability of complementary resources encourages managers’ perceptions of sustainability as a competitive opportunity. These perceptions are behind the adoption of an environmental management scheme with a stronger focus on prevention strategies. The perception of this competitive advantage means that a manager is more likely to develop a proactive environmental management approach.

More information about Cornell Hospitality Quarterly can be found here. If you would like to receive an email alert whenever an article or issue becomes available, please click here.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Sustainability

Ivan Montiel, Loyola Marymount University, published “Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Sustainability: Separate Pasts, Common Futures” in the September 2008 issue of Organization and Environment. It was the most-frequently read article of July 2011 for Organization and Environment, based on calculations from Highwire-hosted articles. Most-read rankings are recalculated at the beginning of the month and are based on full-text and pdf views. Professor Montiel kindly provided the following responses to his article.

Who is the target audience for this article?

This literature review article is addressed to any scholar, student or practitioner interested in the fields of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Sustainability (CS), and/or Business Ethics and Environmental Management.

Were there findings that were surprising to you?

This article analyzes the CSR and CS definitions and measurements used by management scholars between the 1970s and 2005.  These two constructs are often used interchangeably as synonymous both in management literature and in the business world.  My goal is to present how the definitions and measurements have evolved over time and to map out similarities and differences between both constructs.

How do you see this study influencing future practice?

I think this article can be a useful tool as a reference (or guide) to anyone (scholars, students, managers, or practitioners) interested in social and environmental issues as they pertain to corporations. This article also serves as an appropriate reading assignment for MBA students in the fields of Strategy, CSR, and Sustainability.

How does this study fit into your body of work/line of research?

My stream of work is focused on corporate social and environmental strategies and sustainable development.  As one of my first articles, it helped me gain a better understanding of both CSR and CS. This paper also serves as a tool for those who seek a broad overview of these two fields of research.

How did your paper change during the review process?

Both the editor as well as the reviewers helped me refine my ideas and organize aspects of my research material found in various sections.  One of the sections I created after the first round of reviews was a discussion of different definitions of Environmental Management to complement the section on Corporate Sustainability.

What, if anything, would you do differently if you could go back and do this study again?

I definitely learned a lot during the data collection stage (literature review) of this article. Literature review articles can sometimes be very time-consuming and therefore I find it important to maintain a well-organized database of definitions and variables from the onset of the project and for each of the articles reviewed.  Having such a database would prevent researchers from having to read the same article multiple times.

Free Trial to SAGE Management Content

To celebrate the 71st annual meeting of the Academy of Management, SAGE is pleased to offer  access to our Management journals via a free trial through the month of August, as well as links to our other Management products. See below for details.

Register for a free trial to SAGE journals in Business, Management and Organization Studies

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Sustainable Market Orientation

“Sustainable Market Orientation: A New Approach to Managing Marketing Strategy”, by Robert W. Mitchell, Ben Wooliscroft, and James Higham, all of the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, was the most frequently read article in the Journal of Macromarketing in 2010. Ben Wooliscroft has provided a brief reflection on the article:

This paper and Rob Mitchell’s doctoral research arose from a growing frustration with conceptual models of business orientation and business success being, almost, entirely economically focussed. There is evidence of those conceptual models leading to business decisions with little regard for societal and ecological imperatives.

The conceptualisation of SMO is designed to provide a corporate strategic management framework for considering firms asfull citizens, rather than solely economic citizens.