Reflections on methodology for and the importance of indicators for campus sustainability – a Lithuanian case study

Abstract

Aim: Provide a summary of the discussion of focus group 2 at the workshop on “Methodology for assessing the campus sustainability from the perspective of multi-level antifragility” held in June 2016 at Siauliai University (Lithuania), as well as reflection notes each of the participant wrote after the workshop. The paper shows the outcome of the process of interaction and reflections of the authors. Design / Research methods: This article contains feedback based on the experience and ideas from third year students from sustainable business from the University of Siauliai (Lithuania). Discussion took place during the workshop in focus groups. Afterwards, a discussion took place among all participating students and lecturers. After the workshop, the authors wrote individual feedback notes. These are summarized in this paper. Conclusions / findings: When using a wider set of indicators of campus sustainability showing different types of fragilities, different stakeholders need to be used as a source of information. The reason is that when not possessing information on a certain aspect, as was confirmed by this focus group, an indicator tends to be considered irrelevant. A conclusion that should be treated with care is that indicators of lying and cheating, honesty, as well as indicators of mistakes may be a good starting point for creating indicators of campus sustainability focusing at threats for organizational viability and sustainability of the university’s external environment. Originality / value of the article: The article provides critical feedback on an innovative approach towards research on campus sustainability.