Sustainability in Higher Education's Annual Reports: An Empirical Study on Australian and Austrian Universities

Autor/inn/en	Schaffhauser-Linzatti, Michaela Maria; Ossmann, Stefan F.
Titel	Sustainability in Higher Education's Annual Reports: An Empirical Study on Australian and Austrian Universities
Quelle	In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19 (2018) 2, S.233-248 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-6370
DOI	10.1108/IJSHE-05-2016-0093
Schlagwörter	Sustainability; Higher Education; Annual Reports; Universities; Foreign Countries; Cross Cultural Studies; Qualitative Research; Economic Factors; Social Influences; Accounting; Conservation (Environment); Standard Setting; Language Usage; Statistical Analysis; Content Analysis; Australia; Austria + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Nachhaltigkeit; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Annual report; Tätigkeitsbericht; University; Universität; Ausland; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Qualitative Forschung; Ökonomischer Faktor; Sozialer Einfluss; Abrechnung; Buchführung; Buchhaltung; Conservation; Environment; Konservierung; Bewahung; Umwelt; Standardisierung; Sprachgebrauch; Statistische Analyse; Inhaltsanalyse; Australien; Österreich
Abstract	Purpose: Higher education institutions are regarded as forerunners and pioneers of sustainability. However, it is to question whether they actually fulfill their role model function. This paper aims to reveal whether selected universities in Australia and Austria meet the reporting expectations about their activities on sustainability in very heterogeneous environments. Design/methodology/approach: Annual reports of selected universities in Australia and Austria are screened by the qualitative text analysis suggested by Mayring to identify their information policy on sustainability. Following the standard definitions, sustainability comprises economic, environmental and social aspects as main categories, which are supplemented further by specifically adapted eight subcategories. Findings: The results reveal that the universities concentrate on economic information, preferably on accounting, whereas social aspects are of second importance. Environmental activities that essentially shape the image of sustainability for the majority of the stakeholders are mostly unattended. Research limitations/implications: For further research, the authors suggest analyzing the reports of additional countries to get a bigger picture on the role of sustainability information in university reporting. Possible limitations are because of language use and time requirements, as each report must be encoded manually. Practical implications: The results reveal the gaps that standard setters should fill by enforcing sustainability content in universities' reports. Originality/value: This paper is the first to analyze the annual reports of international universities in respect to sustainability. Hereby, we further fill a gap by applying a qualitative text analysis on the basis of individually derived categories to reveal the sustainability aspects more precisely. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01