Transcript slides - The College of Saint Rose

Support for Sustainability:
Vision or
Janet Spitz
The College of Saint Rose School of Business,
[email protected] 518 454 2032
CREST Presentation November 2, 2010
The Author would like to thank The College of Saint Rose, and the
University of Queensland, for generous research support
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This work focuses on Sustainability
- what is that?
Pollution, Clean Air, Clean Water
We can also think about Sustainability as a
“Sustainable Society” writ large
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A Sustainable Society might include Social Goals
A Healthy Economy
workers earn a living wage, medical care
A Democratic system of Governance
without undue interference
A Sustainably sized population
that can reasonably support itself
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This Vision of Sustainability has both
ideological and practical components –
Sustainability as a Goal, Theory
Practical Application, Enactment:
What does Sustainability mean
in the Real World?
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In particular, I ask
What does Sustainability mean to those
in powerfully determinant decision-making
positions? In a Market-Driven World,
People in Business
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Business Managers seek to satisfy goals and groups:
- stockholders
- stakeholders
- employees
- customers
- other Business Managers
- External Requirements – political, legal, and so forth.
Managers use Tools and Strategies Learned
on the job, and
from Schools
of Business
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The premise I follow in this investigation is,
Students Learn More
Than what is in the Books.
Culture, an Ideology
a Pattern of Shared Values and Beliefs
held by any organization or
strongly-identified group
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This research investigates
Values and Beliefs about Sustainability
held by Academics
- in Business Schools
- in other Academic Fields
To gain insight into general patterns of outcomes relating
to various Sustainability dimensions
emergent in economically active global locales
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Five Dimensions of Sustainability we Explore:
1. Abstract Sustainability – theory or goal
2. The Pollution Aspect – Hazardous Materials
3. Healthy Economy – Living Wage, Med. Care
70-75% GDP = Consumer purchases
4. Democratic Governance
5. Sustainable Population Strategies
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Hypotheses
1. Academics in the field of Business will hold more
negative Values and Beliefs about Sustainability.
2. Academic Women will support Sustainability to a
greater extent than will equivalent academic men.
[3. National identity (AU vs EU vs US vs Indonesia) will matter to
Sustainability Views - has not yet been tested.]
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Sample, Data:
Survey Results from 2008-2009, paper and online
Academics in U.S., Australia/NZ, E.U., a few S. Africa
All Academic Fields
All Academic Ranks
Compare Business Academics who teach Business Decision Makers
to Academics in Other Fields
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Sampling Details:
• 2008-2009 Academic Year, hardcopy anonymous surveys were sent with
return envelopes to academics in three waves
– To several thousand academics in all departments in seven major U.S.
universities (5.8% response)
– To a purchased mailing list from the Academy of Management, International
Business and Strategy divisions, to oversample of business academics (12.8%
response rate)
– To academics in two major Australian universities, sent through campus mail,
with return envelopes (18.7% response rate)
• Response Rate: 12.55% overall; no reminders except in my dept at UQ
(34% response rate).
• 1,290 AU & US responses sufficiently complete to be used in this run.
• Several hundred emailed requests for survey participation to Academics in
the EU, AU, NZ, various African states, to an identical online survey
(2% response rate)
1843 cases was the total Academics sample size
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Social Goals
HazMat
Healthy
Democratic
Birth
NOT a
Unavoidable in
Economy:
Society: no Bus Control Be
Concern of
Business
Good Wages &
Military or
Easily Avail.
Business
Prod'n
Med. Care
Election Influence World-Wide
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2
3
4
5
constant
-0.939
-1.085
2.591
2.365
1.605
-0.216**
-.034
-.738**
-.514**
-.190**
Male
.117*
.387**
-.402**
-.327**
-.184**
Years Int'l
.022
-.004
.017**
.018**
.002
7.526**
.012
14.246**
.023
49.138
.076
25.258**
.041
14.676**
.024
Business
F
R-sq
** p<.01
*p<.05
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Results -
1.Business Faculty support the idea
of Sustainability more than non-Business Faculty,
…but…
Bus Fac oppose its enactment in 3 of 4
measures:
2. Healthy Economy
3. Democratic Society
4. Sustainable Population
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2. Men Academics oppose the idea of
Sustainability more than Women Academics, and
Men Academics oppose its enactment in 4 of 4 measures:
1. Avoiding Pollution
2. Healthy Economy
3. Democratic Society
4. Sustainable Population
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These Results are Preliminary -- Still to do:
a) Segment the sample by Nationality:
US vs EU vs AU vs Indonesia
(Indonesian sample still in data collection)
b) Control for Income, Publications, Rank
Considerable missing data on these variables
c) Further segment by Academic Field
- Hard Sciences vs Social Sciences
- Education, Medicine
- Art, Music
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Nontheless…these results make Clear
- Business Faculty Values & Beliefs, and
- Male Faculty Values & Beliefs
about Sustainability, theory and practice,
are “different” than other people’s
Sustainability Views:
The theory is a Vision, the Practice a Mirage
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By contrast,
• Women Academics consistently support
Sustainability (vision and practice) as do
• Academics in Other Fields
[vision but no mirage]
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So, what can we learn from this?
1. There is a contest of identities, of what type of humanity will
prevail – differences in views.
2. In that contest, the social & institutional construction of reality, or
of a milieu within which culture is reproduced, matters.
3. That milieu has multiple factors:
Gender identity emerges powerfully and consistently
Field identity emerges powerfully and consistently
 in particular, the Business School culture as it pertains to
Sustainability “is different.”
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One way
in which Business Values and Beliefs are
different is that often,
Business Academics focus narrowly on one aspect
of Business activity:
Short Run Profit
And when Business considers Improvement or
Innovation, we seek Incremental Innovation,
using existing technologies and skills, adjusted.
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Sustainability
is seen through the Larger Picture
it needs a Wider Lens, a Holistic View
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Today’s Business Community opposes full employment, good
wages, medical care, to get higher profit … but then we’re
confused:
Why has the economy not recovered?
In the U.S. over 70% of GDP is Consumer Purchases:
- 10% unemployment = 10% of households not buying.
- 10% under-employed (working Part Time, wanting Full Time) buy
very little
- 10% have Given Up finding work (no longer counted as
unemployed); they don’t make many purchases, either.
add ‘em up: 30% of the
robustly or sustainably
70% of GDP not happening
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Creating a
Sustainably Healthy Economy
requires both
a
Vision of the Sustainability Idea, and
a
Tangible Practice of Sustainability Acts:
- Avoiding Haz Mat Production
- Paying Wages for a Healthy Economy
- Democratic Governance
- Sustainable Population Practices (World Bank)
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Some years ago, Henry Ford actually thought about this:
Model T Factory paying a $5/day
was subject to enormous ridicule:
- why pay so much? (2-3 times the going average)
Ford’s answer:
a) Because these people will work diligently to produce a
complex product that reliably works
b) Because then they will Buy One.
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Looking forward from Today…
we need Forms & Methods of Production that are
Entirely Different from the forms of production
and the types of products we all use today
Path Breaking Research in a Partnership of
Science and Industry will get us there
Creating literally Millions of Good-Paying Jobs en route
as a Sustainable economic engine
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That is a Vision
we can
Make a Reality
Thank you.
Questions / Comments / Thoughts?
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