scholarly journals Changes in Sustainability Priorities in Organisations due to the COVID-19 Outbreak: Averting Environmental Rebound Effects on Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Barreiro-Gen ◽  
Rodrigo Lozano ◽  
Afnan Zafar

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected societies and organisations in an unprecedented way. This has resulted in negative impacts to economic and social issues, but it is a “blessing in disguise” for environmental issues. This paper analyses how the outbreak has affected organisations’ sustainability priorities. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, such priorities were on the economic dimension followed by the environmental and social dimensions. A survey was sent to 11,657 organisations to analyse such changes, with a 5.60% response rate. The results show that for organisations, the main priority is now on the social dimension, followed by the economic one; however, the environmental dimension has suffered a negative impact in prioritisation, regardless of organisation type, country where they are based, organisation size, or the time they have been working on sustainability. We are currently facing an environmental conundrum, where air quality has improved and pollution has decreased in societies, but organisations are starting to neglect such environmental issues. The COVID-19 outbreak is an opportunity for organisations to better contribute to sustainability by ensuring that the efforts that have been undertaken in the last three decades are not forgotten, and that societies and organisations are better coupled to face such crises and avert rebound effects.

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 889-912
Author(s):  
Maria Luíza Farias Diniz ◽  
Aldo Leonardo Cunha Callado

Resumo: Com a preocupação de as empresas se manterem no mercado em longo prazo, passou a ser adotada por algumas organizações uma estratégia voltada à adesão a práticas sustentáveis. Com isso, o profissional contábil pode gerar ou gerenciar informações que auxiliarão no processo de resultados voltados à sustentabilidade. Assim, nesta pesquisa buscou-se responder à seguinte questão: de que forma o profissional contábil participa dos indicadores de sustentabilidade? Diante dessa problemática, o objetivo com o trabalho foi verificar a participação do profissional contábil em aspectos associados aos indicadores de sustentabilidade em uma empresa pertencente ao setor gráfico. A sustentabilidade empresarial foi mensurada a partir do Grid de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (GSE) que integra as dimensões ambiental, econômica e social. A participação do profissional contábil foi analisada a partir de ações voltadas ao planejamento, execução, controle e tomada de decisão dos indicadores de sustentabilidade. Esta pesquisa pode ser caracterizada como descritiva, exploratória e qualitativa, adotando a estratégia de estudo de caso, e foi desenvolvida a partir da aplicação de um questionário estruturado com realização de entrevista e visita técnica com a finalidade de observar in loco as ações mencionadas. A empresa investigada apresentou um resultado classificado como Sustentabilidade Empresarial Relativa, uma vez que possui resultados positivos nas dimensões econômica e social da sustentabilidade. Observou-se, ainda, que o profissional da Contabilidade participa de 14 indicadores dos 43 definidos pelo modelo, sendo quatro da dimensão ambiental, oito da dimensão econômica e dois da dimensão social. Diante do resultado, destaca-se a participação do contador em resultados associados ao desempenho da sustentabilidade empresarial (por meio dos indicadores) na organização analisada.Palavras-chave: Contabilidade gerencial. Profissional contábil. Sustentabilidade empresarial.Characterizing the participation of the accounting professional in the context of corporate sustainabilityAbstract: With the concern of companies to remain in the market in the long term, a strategy has been adopted by some organizations aimed at adhering to sustainable practices. With this, the accounting professional can generate or manage information that will help in the process of results oriented towards sustainability. Thus, this research sought to answer the following question: How does the accounting professional participate in sustainability indicators? In view of this problem, the objective of the study was to verify the participation of the accounting professional in aspects associated to the sustainability indicators in a company belonging to the graphic sector. . Business sustainability was measured based on the Corporate Sustainability Grid (CSG) that integrates the environmental, economic and social dimensions. The participation of the accounting professional was analyzed based on actions aimed at the planning, execution, control and decision making of the sustainability indicators. This research can be characterized as descriptive, exploratory and qualitative, adopting the case study strategy, and it was developed from the application of a structured questionnaire with interviews and technical visits with the purpose of observing the mentioned actions in loco. The company investigated presented a result classified as Relative Business Sustainability, since it has positive results in the economic and social dimensions of sustainability. It was observed that the accounting professional participates in 14 indicators of the 43 defined by the model, four of the environmental dimension, eight of the economic dimension and two of the social dimension. In view of the result, the accountant's participation in results associated to the performance of corporate sustainability (through the indicators) in the analyzed organization stands out.Keywords: Management accounting. Accounting professional. Corporate sustainability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Arvin Widiawan ◽  
Thomas Santoso ◽  
Sienny Thio

The purpose of this study is to determine visitors’ perceptions towards the implementation of sustainable tourism at Kawasan Ekowisata Mangrove Wonorejo (KEMW) as seen from the perspectives of the environmental, economic, as well as social dimensions. The research method used is descriptive quantitative by distributing questionnaires to 101 respondents as KEMW visitors. The study result shows that the implementation of sustainable tourism from the environmental dimension still prioritizes goals that lead to conservation. Sustainable tourism from the economic dimension is directed to provide benefit to the local economy. Whereas from the social dimension, KEMW has given visitors a sense of comfort and security. KEMW management is expected to be able to create more proactive programs, to educate visitors about conservation, and to involve the community to clean up waste in deeper forest areas. Moreover, the management should promote the variety of processed local mangrove products, as well as add facilities that provide easier access for visitors with special needs. Further research can be done by either measuring the level of visitor satisfaction towards the services of KEMW’s employees or identifying the impact of the presence of KEMW on the economic and social characteristics of the local population.


Author(s):  
Erkut Akkartal ◽  
G. Yiğit Aras

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss sustainability in fleet management at companies considering simultaneously the three dimensions of sustainability, which are economic, environmental, and social, corresponding to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach. Approach/Methodology/Design: This paper examines the subject and employs a theory-building-descriptive design. Three key themes in the aspect of sustainability and in terms of fleet management were examined: economic, environmental, and social. Findings: In today’s world, almost every company operates vehicle fleets to perform business requirements and irrespective of the size of vehicles, these companies need to execute some certain fleet operations under the phenomenon of fleet management. Fleet management entails a transition to a more sustainable model which should try to adopt economic, environmental, social dimensions. While the economic dimension of sustainability brings about a new model called the TCM, the environmental dimension constructs a road map to greener fleets and delivers quick wins that companies can easily implement in their agendas. The social dimension concerns the well-being of people and society which seeks to find a balance between their needs and the requirements of fleet management. Practical Implications: The paper recommends a subsequent study through an empirical way that would investigate the actual sustainability behaviours and initiatives of companies present in Turkey. Originality/value: In recent years, sustainability has become an interesting topic for scholars in many areas of research. However, the literature is lacking ample studies concerning sustainability in corporate fleet management. Therefore, the main contribution and novelty of this paper is to provide companies with policy advice regarding the three pillars of sustainability for their applications to vehicle fleet management.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarret Crawford ◽  
Mark John Brandt ◽  
Yoel Inbar ◽  
John Chambers ◽  
Matt Motyl

Liberals and conservatives both express prejudice toward ideologically dissimilar others (Brandt et al., 2014). Previous work on ideological prejudice did not take advantage of evidence showing that ideology is multi-dimensional, with social and economic ideologies representing related but separable belief systems. In five studies (total N = 4912), we test three competing hypotheses of a multi-dimensional account of ideological prejudice. The dimension-specific symmetry hypothesis predicts that social and economic ideologies differentially predict prejudice against targets who are perceived to vary on the social and economic political dimensions, respectively. The social primacy hypothesis predicts that such ideological worldview conflict is experienced more strongly along the social than economic dimension. The social-specific asymmetry hypothesis predicts that social conservatives will be more prejudiced than social liberals, with no specific hypotheses for the economic dimension. Using multiple target groups, multiple prejudice measures (e.g., global evaluations, behavior), and multiple social and economic ideology measures (self-placement, issue positions), we found relatively consistent support for the dimension-specific symmetry and social primacy hypotheses, and no support for the social-specific asymmetry hypothesis. These results suggest that worldview conflict and negative intergroup attitudes and behaviors are dimension-specific, but that the social dimension appears to inspire more political conflict than the economic dimension.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1027-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
BUDI HADI NARENDRA ◽  
WIDIATMAKA WIDIATMAKA ◽  
CECEP KUSMANA ◽  
LINA KARLINASARI ◽  
MACHFUD MACHFUD

Abstract. Narendra BH, Widiatmaka, Kusmana C, Karlinasari L, Machfud. 2019. Multi-dimensional rapid appraisal technique for evaluating the sustainability of energy plantation forests in East Lombok District, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 1027-1033. The increased use of woody biomass as a renewable energy source should be supported by development of sustainable energy plantation forest. This study aims to evaluate the sustainability status of energy plantation forest in East Lombok District and to determine the leverage attributes affecting sustainability. The evaluation was carried out using rapid appraisal approach, consisting of multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis to provide sustainability indices for ecological, economic and social dimensions, followed by Monte Carlo simulation to define the validity. Dominant attributes affecting the sustainability were assessed by sensitivity analysis. All analyses were executed using the R software. The evaluation of eight locations generally results in a quite sustainable status for ecological, social, and economic dimensions with the validity index values of 72.73%, 61.07%, and 58.49%, respectively. To maintain or enhance sustainability, some leverage attributes need to be prioritized for policy intervention. In the ecological dimension, increasing species diversity using some potential energy woody species should be prioritized. In the social dimension, optimizing the role and capability of forest farmer groups and their members is needed, while for the economic dimension, government should support the expanding area of energy plantation forest managed by each farmer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Clarke

The digitisation of data about the world relevant to business has given rise to a new phase of digitalisation of business itself. The digitisation of data about people has linked with the notions of information society, surveillance society, surveillance state and surveillance capitalism, and given rise to what is referred to in this article as the digital surveillance economy. At the heart of this is a new form of business model that is predicated on the acquisition and consolidation of very large volumes of personal data, and its exploitation to target advertisements, manipulate consumer behaviour, and price goods and services at the highest level that each individual is willing to bear. In the words of the model’s architects, users are ‘bribed’ and ‘induced’ to make their data available at minimal cost to marketers. The digital surveillance economy harbours serious threats to the interests of individuals, societies and polities. That in turn creates risks for corporations. The new economic wave may prove to be a tsunami that swamps the social dimension and washes away the last five centuries’ individualism and humanism. Alternatively, institutional adaptation might occur, overcoming the worst of the negative impacts; or a breaking-point could be reached and consumers might rebel against corporate domination. A research agenda is proposed, to provide a framework within which alternative scenarios can be investigated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob A. B. Oostendorp ◽  
Hans Elvers ◽  
Emilia Mikołajewska ◽  
Marjan Laekeman ◽  
Emiel van Trijffel ◽  
...  

Objective.To develop and evaluate process indicators relevant to biopsychosocial history taking in patients with chronic back and neck pain.Methods.The SCEBS method, covering the Somatic, Psychological (Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior), and Social dimensions of chronic pain, was used to evaluate biopsychosocial history taking by manual physical therapists (MPTs). In Phase I, process indicators were developed while in Phase II indicators were tested in practice.Results.Literature-based recommendations were transformed into 51 process indicators. Twenty MTPs contributed 108 patient audio recordings. History taking was excellent (98.3%) for the Somatic dimension, very inadequate for Cognition (43.1%) and Behavior (38.3%), weak (27.8%) for Emotion, and low (18.2%) for the Social dimension. MTPs estimated their coverage of the Somatic dimension as excellent (100%), as adequate for Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior (60.1%), and as very inadequate for the Social dimension (39.8%).Conclusion.MTPs perform screening for musculoskeletal pain mainly through the use of somatic dimension of (chronic) pain. Psychological and social dimensions of chronic pain were inadequately covered by MPTs. Furthermore, a substantial discrepancy between actual and self-estimated use of biopsychosocial history taking was noted. We strongly recommend full implementation of the SCEBS method in educational programs in manual physical therapy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 2335-2348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Milanez

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that attempting to solve real problems is a possible approach to bring social and natural sciences together, and suggest that - as Environmental Impact Assessment necessarily brings together social and environmental issues - this debate is a strong candidate for such a task. The argument is based on a general discussion about the possibilities and limitations of Environmental Impact Assessments, the social-environmental impacts of mining activities and three case studies. The analysis of the cases indicates possibilities and limitations of the dialogue between scientists from various areas - and of the collaboration with social movements and affected communities - in avoiding negative impacts of mining projects and, eventually, increasing their sustainability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-262
Author(s):  
Samira Mokhlesi ◽  
Masoumeh Simbar ◽  
Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani ◽  
Nourossadat Kariman ◽  
Hamid Alavi Majd

Objectives: High-risk pregnancies can affect the quality of life (QOL) of pregnant women due to their complications. QOL involves different dimensions including physical, psychological, and social health of the individuals. Assessing the QOL, especially in mothers with gestational diabetes is important in planning for maternal and newborn care and understanding the need for care for policymakers and the health care association. Therefore, the present study aimed to review the effects of gestational diabetes on QOL during pregnancy. Materials and Methods: In this study, articles indexed in several databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, and Magiran were obtained among which, those related to the QOL of mothers with gestational diabetes were extracted and evaluated based on the aim of the study. Results: The series of the reviewed studies included 10 articles on the physical, psychological, and social dimensions of the QOL of mothers with gestational diabetes. Most of the examined articles failed to find any significant change in the physical dimension of QOL of mothers with gestational diabetes. The psychological effects of gestational diabetes were diverse and less understandable, therefore, different studies obtained contradictory results in this regard. Three out of four studies examining the social dimension of QOL of women with gestational diabetes showed that mothers’ QOL could be jeopardized by social dimension. Conclusions: In general, the results revealed that gestational diabetes could affect various physical, psychological, and social dimensions of the QOL of mothers. In addition, adequate education should be provided for mothers with diabetes in order to reduce their fear, anxiety, and depression concerning gestational diabetes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-210
Author(s):  
Rajeswari G

Thirukkural, global literature does not only talk about human behaviours which are to be glorified. It also proposes bright cut ideas about the relationship between humans and nature. The attention of the modern world is on environmental issues. The fast developments due to science and technology resulted in destroying nature. Due to industrial-based products and for the sake of the sophisticated life of the modern man, we left the nature for destruction. And now humanity faces the consequences. It is a general truth that the literature reflects the social issues of that time of its outcome. One can notice that the recent creative literature of Tamil talks about environmental aspects of the globe and the local areas. Thirukkural also deals with the issues of nature and it proposes the ideal relationship between man and nature, which is the concern of this paper. Thiruvalluvar says that the whole world depends on water. All the activities in the world cannot be possible if the rain fails. All the activities of living creatures, including humans, depend on water. Start with food production and leading to every activity are depends on rain. So Tiruvalluvar concludes that the relationship between humans and nature depends on water i.e. is rain. The paper concludes that the concept of Thiukkural towards nature is the dependency of humanity.


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