Green Skills Research Articles

Antecedents of labor shortage in the rural hospitality industry: a comparative study of employees and employers

PurposeAlthough the role of human capital in the hospitality sector is critical, the industry faces challenges in attracting workers with a poor industry image frequently mentioned regarding labor shortages. This research paper attempts to investigate the factors influencing labor shortages by presenting the perspectives of employees and employers.Design/methodology/approachPrecisely 232 rural hospitality industry employees (n = 128) and employers (n = 104) in Northern Italy were surveyed using a written close-ended online survey and a quantitative research design as part of a convenience sampling approach. For hypotheses testing, Spearman's rho was used.FindingsA relationship between the shortage of professional workers and a variety of factors was found, including professional, digital, social and green skills, industry-intrinsic characteristics and symbolic image attributes of the industry. The findings show that some factors are more important for employees, while others are more significant for employers.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates several practical implications for the hospitality sector by addressing the under-researched stakeholder group of existing hospitality employees, e.g. improving working conditions, reduction of manual operations through digital technologies, realistic career planning, employer branding, identification of skill deficiencies and provision of specialized trainings.Originality/valueMost research on labor shortages in the hospitality industry has focused on the perspective of either employees or employers. This study compares both perspectives, including the industry image, to gain a realistic picture of the relevant factors for a rural tourism destination in Northern Italy.

Contributor biographies

Contributor biographies

Catalytic Effect of Green Human Resource Practices on Sustainable Development Goals: Can Individual Values Moderate an Empirical Validation in a Developing Economy?

Utilizing the framework of the theory of planned behavior, a new model has been extracted and validated empirically to explore the role of green human resource management (GHRM) practices in the attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) among textile manufacturing firms. Therefore, this research study is the first attempt to empirically investigate the impact of green skills and employee green attitudes that may proffer a better explanation of the nature of the relationship between GHRM and the SDGs, proposing an inclusive re`search model on the effect of GHRM on the SDGs in the hi-tech manufacturing industry. Questionnaires were distributed to 465 textile firms; however, of those returned, only 197 surveys completed in all respects were used for further empirical investigation. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data to assess the validity and reliability of the instrument. The outcomes of the study affirmed the theoretical model according to which GHRM has a positive association with employee green attitudes, employee skills, decent work, and sustainable consumption and production behavior. Employee green attitudes and decent work had a positive effect on sustainable consumption and production behavior. It is also beneficial to identify significant moderators to explain the processes and circumstances through which the attitudes of employees are transformed into the desired behaviors. Therefore, individual green values were taken as moderators in the study to assess how they impacted the relationship between GHRM and employee green attitudes, as well as that between employee green attitudes and sustainable consumption and production behavior. The results also revealed that an employee’s green attitude acted as a partial mediator between GHRM and decent work. Moreover, employee green attitudes and employee skills fully mediated between GHRM and sustainable consumption and production behavior.

Strengthen or weaken? Research on the influence of internet use on agricultural green production efficiency

With the rise of “Internet + Agriculture”, existing related research has focused on the impact of Internet use on agricultural productivity. However, few studies have considered the impact on agricultural green production efficiency. This paper employed the SBM model to calculate the agricultural green production efficiency using the observation data of 459 farmers in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces. Further, the influencing factors, their nonlinear impact, and even the effect of using the internet on agricultural green production efficiency were analyzed. The results show that corn’s average agricultural green production efficiency is 0.44, with the main peak distributed in a low-level range. The impact of the Internet use on agricultural green production efficiency is positively moderated by rural infrastructure, household assets, and educational attainment. Age and arable land area significantly impact agricultural green production efficiency. The endogenous switching regression model (ESR) shows that the agricultural green production efficiency of farmers who do not use the internet will increase by 41.45% if they use the internet. Internet use has a “U-shaped” impact on agricultural green production efficiency, and the threshold value of the farmers’ expenditure to income ratio is 0.0886. The policy aimed at improving agricultural green production efficiency and popularizing Internet use should, therefore, focus on strengthening the emphasis on increasing agricultural green production, increasing investment in rural human capital, providing green production subsidies and green production skills training, improving infrastructure construction in rural areas, integrating and enriching agricultural-related information on the Internet.

About The Author

About The Author

Education Framework 2030: Do Vocational School Students Have Green Skills?

This study aims to analyze the condition of the green skills of vocational students with three focus problems, namely the condition of the green skills of vocational students and their implementation in the curriculum, indicators of green student skills, and learning strategies used to improve skills of vocational students. green skills. The approach used in this research is qualitative. Data was collected through Google Scholars, ResearchGate, ScienceDirect, Sinta, and Scopus. Data were collected from 27 articles which were then analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. The results showed that the green skills of vocational students had not met the challenges of the job market because the dimensions of green skills had not been fully implemented in the curriculum. Green skills can be measured by indicators of the value of technical skills, knowledge, and attitudes required by workers in a green economy. Learning strategies to improve green skills use a project-based and problem-based approach that encourages critical, innovative and responsible thinking. The results of this study are expected to have implications for the vocational education process which is more oriented towards green competence in accordance with the demands of DUDIKA. Thus, the quality of SMK graduates increases and unemployment decreases.

Green core competence and firm performance in a post‐conflict country, Iraq

AbstractGreen core competence theory proposes that green core competence is needed for green innovation performance and, in turn, firm performance. We demonstrate that this theory applies in post‐conflict Iraq where green innovation performance was conditional on commitment to sustainable management and development of green technology and skills. Data from 238 Iraqi executives showed that green product and process innovation performance increased with green core competence, but only when the firm invested in people and R&D or, in the case of green process innovation, top management demonstrated authentic commitment to sustainable practices. The moderation effects of R&D investment and top management commitment reflect the national context in Iraq, where R&D investment is low and management is often constrained by inflexible bureaucracy. As countries emerge from conflict, investment in modernization of companies' internal structure, management, and capacity for continuous improvement is required if core competence is to be translated into innovation performance.

Mediating Effect of Green Reward on Green Training and Environmental Performance in Nigerian Food and Beverages

This study examines the mediating effect of the green reward system on the relationship between green training, and environmental performance in the Nigerian Food and Beverages Industry. A purposive random sampling technique was used to select 10 food and beverages industries located in Southwest Nigeria. a sample size of three hundred and forty-seven using a simple random sampling technique was selected for the study from the total population of Two thousand six hundred and forty-seven (2647). A structured questionnaire was adopted to collect the required data. Data were analyzed with the aid of structural equation modeling (SEM) using STATA version 15. The results show that green training (β = 0.429; p<.05) has a direct relationship with environmental performance. The findings of the study show that the green reward system (β =.489; p<.05) has a significant influence on environmental performance. Result confirms that a positive and significant relationship exists between green training and the green reward system. It was also revealed that green reward (β =.334; p<.05) partially mediates between green training and environmental performance. Consequently, the study recommends that the management of the food and beverages industry should continuously engage their staff members in green training. Moreover, compensation packages should be adapted to reward individual employees with a spectrum of green skills and environmental sustainability achievements. This will serve as a motivational tool that assists employees to perform environmental desire behaviors and committing to the organization.

The Knowledge Work of the Future and the Future of Knowledge Work

Our paper investigates what forms the knowledge work design on a corporate level in the future. The future might be 2025, 2030, or 2035. The methodology includes interviews with researchers working with these issues in Telia and Telenor. These companies make their living from understanding the future of work both on a corporate and societal level. The main finding is that AI and robotics will be more advanced, but management and organizational structure will be the main changes. The work will be done more as distance work and through virtual teams. The management and organization of work through the coronavirus have opened for more work done independent of time and the workplace and in virtual teams. There is also predicted a lack of professionals and all types of employees in the years to come, leading both to compete for talent and increased importance in keeping the employed knowledge workers through internal career pipelines. AI and robotics will not reduce the need for professionals and employees. The steps will be taken towards an integrated digitalization that makes new opportunities for collaboration, communication, and knowledge work. The fundamental knowledge worker will be using more of his working time on significant business issues. The skills needed are technical, information management, knowledge management, project management, collaboration, communication, rhetoric, virtual team, creativity, and green problem-solving skills. There is a corporate need for ethical, cultural, tolerating, and sexual awareness. We may summarize the requirements as creative, sustainable, social, and perception manipulation intelligence. The future knowledge will be complex, and the knowledge worker will handle multiple skills in different situations. The future knowledge work will be dominated by increasingly autonomous workers co-opting automated digital systems to create and capture value. The education might be revamped into a more task-focused education offered through the work-life cycles. The revamping of education will also increase the overall employment, and we will not experience the mass unemployment described in the literature as the result of AI, robotics, and digitalization. We have identified that the literature uses the unit occupation and not the unit tasks for the predicted higher unemployment and gets the misinterpretation of negative consequences. The environmental issues and the climate crisis will be taken very seriously in the years to come. There will be cooperation between the political and corporate economies to do whatever is possible for sustainability in all internal and external processes to work greener and smarter. We will experience sustainability in action driven by a green leadership through a green strategy and green business models giving green services and products, reusing as much as possible, and using as few as possible resources to reduce the CO2 gases. This study concludes that there will be many small positive corporate and societal steps for each year towards 2030, improving the way of living and working together with environmental improvements. The reconstruction of the middle class is also emerging — neither a perfect nor an imperfect world.

Learning practices as a continuum

Abstract Continuous learning culture frontlines the purpose into developing such research on learning and skills relevance and the adoption of a learning culture. Ignoring the elements of development and skill relevance in the business world, implies a full dependency on robots (which is highly unlikely, still) or a risky ignorance into sustaining a poor business strategy. Based on such business assumptions, the paper is aiming to identify the current perception of leaders towards learning practices and similarly of their direct reports, in understanding the triggering elements for consuming knowledge and maintaining the learning appetite. While the economic landscape is now shifting into developing a green economy, with green skills, this research goes into the understanding of the human behavior and development need, to generate a sustainable business. While development is a continuous act and people dependent, the effects of it are directly impacting the business deliverables. The current paper investigates the learning practices, by running a study within an organization on a large-scale operational team. The method of data collection is a set of interviews with the top management, then a larger qualitative data collection through focus groups and the third approach is deploying a survey with the most tenured employees. By understanding their perspectives and expectations, and compared with historical training attendance records, the authors proposed a set of recommendations towards developing that culture of knowledge that enables growth and in the long term the mobility of other job opportunities within the organization. The results are proposing a slight adjustment towards the learner’s needs, by addressing it with micro topics, bite size learning, for immediate applicability and a better communication strategy for content awareness, given the vast inflow of learning opportunities.

Green new hiring

The mere marketing of firms as environmentally friendly does not mean that the firms are genuinely green. In this paper, we propose a new measure, Green Score, to capture firms’ investment in green human capital based on the concentration of green skills required in firms’ job postings. First, we find that firms that increase their Green Score have higher future profitability. Second, firms that increase their Green Score generate more green patents, and those green patents are of higher quality and receive more citations. Third, traditional ratings widely used to evaluate firms’ environmental efforts do not consider firms’ Green Score. Overall, our new action-based measure is simpler and less subjective and it offers a larger time-series variation than traditional disclosure-based environmental ratings.

A green skills framework for climate action, gender empowerment, and climate justice

SummaryMotivationAs governments move in earnest toward a green economy, few countries are considering education policy that can facilitate the development of green skills for such transitions. Where policy discussions are happening, green skills are often conflated with science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) skills, with little attention to the breadth of green skills needed to achieve climate justice.PurposeWe present a green skills framework to help support policy stakeholders imagine a continuum of green skills for a just transition.Methods and approachThis article applies a critical feminist lens to understand how green skills have been conceptualized across the gender and adolescence, greening and sustainability, and education fields. It also integrates the perspectives of stakeholders from climate, education, and gender‐focused multilateral, government, and non‐governmental organizations working on green skills.FindingsThe analysis finds that green skills coalesce around three distinct but overlapping paradigms. The first understands green skills through a technical lens as the specific capacities needed for green jobs. The second and third paradigms understand green skills through a sociological lens, seeking to tackle the behaviours and social structures driving the climate crisis. As such, they centre on cross‐cutting generic capacities and transformative capacities, respectively. Taken together, the article offers a new definition of green skills for policy stakeholders.Policy implicationsThe three approaches to green skills outlined in this paper constitute the pillars of a new green learning agenda for climate action, climate empowerment, and climate justice. This green learning agenda fills a significant void in both climate policy and education policy, and could help governments address current capacity building needs while setting their populations up for the long‐term social transformations required to achieve a just transition.

Designer as an Innovation Trigger for the SME Manufacturing Sector: An European joint Master’s degree program based on soft, digital, green, and design skills

The aim of this article was to describe the definition process of a joint master’s degree program as a proposal for the training of professional smart designers on the skills needed to contribute to the current green and digital transition of the European industry context. Arising from the framework of the INTRIDE European project, this article has been structured starting from an introductory analysis of the demanded skills of designers and the needs of European Union (EU) companies in the current contemporary scenario. As such, the reflection extends to the research methodology established for the development of a state of the art on soft, digital, and green skills as a scientific basis for the definition of a cross and interdisciplinary training course entitled Strategic design for innovation in the manufacturing sector. Thus, focusing on the Bologna Declaration (June 19, 1999) in which the need to build a "European Higher Education Area" has been declared. Based on the achieved research results, the authors propose the INTRIDE Joint Master’s Degree Program (JMDP) as a cross and interdisciplinary training course for smart designers that will become the future innovation triggers for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the EU manufacturing sector. This, together with added competencies related to soft, digital, and green skills – as general ones – and design and technological – as specific ones. At the end of this scientific contribution, a discussion has been reported regarding a general reflection on the developed design process and the lessons learned in the application of the design methodology, combined with the suggestions for a sustainable use and implementation of the proposed training program.

Analysing Teaching Strategy, Reflection and Networking Indicators Towards Learning for Sustainable Development (LSD) of Green Skills

UNESCO-UNEVOC has reported that the levels of awareness towards the implementation of green skills amongst TVET teacher are at low level. Meanwhile, studies have shown that teacher have lack of skills and weak of knowledge about the concept of sustainable development. The study used quantitative approach and the structural equation model was used to measure the effect of the three indicators which are teaching strategy, networking and reflecting towards learning of sustainable development. These indicators have been adapted from the Model of CSCT. The population of this study consisted of 202 TVET teacher trainee from the Institute of Teacher Education. Meanwhile the sample technique used is disproportionate stratified random sampling method and the sample size is 144. Findings show that networking and reflection were found to be positively related to learning for sustainable development, while teaching strategy was not significantly related to learning for sustainable development. The indicator of model was observed to be sufficiently solid and flexible to incorporate and measure the four construct which are cognitive, technology, emotional intelligence and action competency. Finally, the results show that networking indicator have the strongest relationship to learning for sustainable development in order to develop green skills competency in industrial 4.0 amongst TVET teacher trainee.

English

Higher education institutions play a pivotal role in instilling green economy and sustainable development principles in students. There are complex environmental challenges, and breaking through this complexity necessitates the incorporation of green economy learning to assist students in understanding these complex connections. This study explores the inculcation of interdisciplinary learning at the Master’s level of assessed green economy aspects among ten schools. It explores green economy topics in courses and the degree of action-oriented learning. Results from the total respondents (N=227), indicate, among the existing green aspects in sampled schools, the sustainable use of natural resources (n=108, 47.6%) thematic area was the most dominant across the Master’s courses. Examination of green learning in schools shows a disparity amongst schools where the school with the most examined green aspects was engineering and technology (93.8%) with the school of economics as least examined (75%). Cumulatively, green aspects, even with skewed disparity, were taught across the ten schools (p = 0.000). It is recommended that university programs should enhance regular reviews of curriculum and coursework in different disciplines, to set precedence on emerging green economy studies and their relevance.   Key words: Green economy, interdisciplinary learning, higher learning institutions, green skills, action-oriented learning, sustainability.

Green Training And Development Practices On Environmental Sustainability: Evidence From Wamco plc

Environmental concerns may be addressed with the help of green training and development strategies, which have been recognized as effective tools. Since they eventually lead to circumstances where management and employees both benefit, they are also crucial to fostering a working environment where ecological preservation is valued. This study aimed to learn more about how acquiring green skills influences environmental awareness and the link between workers' environmental commitment and their grasp of green issues. We used quantitative techniques to collect data from 175 WAMCO Nigeria plc employees. Five studies revealed that only 93.7% of improvements in environmental awareness could be linked to the growth of green abilities. This implies that enhancing one's green abilities has a beneficial influence on environmental consciousness as a gauge of environmental sustainability. In a similar vein, having employees who care about the environment is strongly correlated with having employees who are knowledgeable about sustainability issues. According to the study's findings, employing training and development programs that are environmentally friendly helps to successfully increase staff members' understanding of the need of pursuing sustainable development goals. Therefore, it is important to prioritize and enhance ongoing training and development focused on accomplishing green goals to boost employee participation in environmentally friendly operations.

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Towards a conceptual framework of enterprise support for pro-environmental small and medium-sized enterprises: A contextualised review of diverse knowledge domains

Whilst there are well-established bodies of knowledge about enterprise support and the role of entrepreneurial learning for SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) in general and a growing body of evidence relating to environmental capabilities, green/eco-innovation, sustainable supply chains and green skills for SMEs in particular, there is little empirical and peer reviewed literature that address approaches to enterprise support specifically focussed on the needs of the growing number of pro-environmental SMEs. This study undertakes a contextualised review of diverse knowledge domains to identify the key features of enterprise support for pro-environmental SMEs. In doing so, the paper plots the knowledge journey of experienced academic programme providers, from the initial design of an enterprise support programme for pro-environmental SMEs, through a thematic review of academic, grey and other related literature and finally presents a propositional and normative conceptual framework that proposes eight key features of enterprise support for pro-environmental SMEs. The resulting ‘framework for action’ aims to offer a practical tool for providers of pro-environmental enterprise support to review and improve their own provision, an analytical frame for other researchers in this field and a benchmark for SMEs seeking guidance on their pathway to net-zero business performance.

Green Human Resource Management: Proposed Conceptual Model Through Systematic Literature Review

This evaluation serves two goals: to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and to provide a support to facilitate future researchers to examine issues faced during practice of GHRM. Analysis derived from SLR of empirical research papers from 2010 until 2021 published in Scopus-listed journals highlighted strongly favored theories, i.e. the abilities-motivation-opportunities theory and resource-based-view theory. Unveiling research hypothesis that GHRM trainings influences green skills and green behaviors among employees. The literature analysis resulted in conceptual model that shows integration of supply chain management, cost cutting, corporate governance, lean manufacturing, and operations management with GHRM practices resulting in improved business outcomes especially for natural resources and/or labor intensive businesses.

COLLABORATION COMPETENCIES AND GREEN BUSINESS MINDSET

INTRODUCTION&#x0D; There is increased international pressure to develop sustainable and circular businesses. This raises the question of entrepreneurs’ green awareness and the ability to adopt green values ​​in their business and management practices. While this has become a hot topic on the agenda of policymakers and researchers, there is a critically low level of green awareness among entrepreneurs. This highlights the need to explore how to better foster the development of a green business mindset among entrepreneurs.&#x0D; Collaboration with multiple stakeholders is currently promoted as an essential resource for companies to create a positive environmental impact and circular value. However, entrepreneurs do not recognise the advantages of collaboration, but instead face growing stakeholder green pressure.&#x0D; Collaboration competence has been recognised as one of the essential elements of the green business mindset. The awareness of green values ​​and the importance of collaboration in this context needs to be developed at school to provide theoretical knowledge and promote green skills.&#x0D; This study aimed to investigate the understanding of teachers and academic staff about the green business mindset and to assess their perception of the importance of collaboration competencies within the green business mindset.&#x0D; Research questions: 1) What are the main competencies comprising the green business mindset model and the status quo of the collaboration within this model; 2) How do teachers and academic staff perceive the importance of collaboration in developing the green business mindset?&#x0D; MATERIALS AND METHODS&#x0D; The systematic literature analysis, content analysis and clustering of the co-occurrence of keywords and concepts were used for the research. The empirical study reflects the situation in Latvia, and accordingly, the academic staff as well as teachers from Latvia were surveyed. Interviews of experts were conducted. The descriptive analyses synthesised the research results and described the main implications and further research gaps.&#x0D; RESULTS&#x0D; The green business model encounters the development of critical thinking, creativity, initiative and leadership, reflection, sharing and collaboration, environmental concerns and the attitude towards green values. The research results reveal the increased necessity to promote green awareness among youth, entrepreneurs, families and teachers. The academic staff rather have an overall understanding of green business, but they lack detailed green knowledge. Changing the behaviour and attitudes towards environmentally friendly business is considered most important, but collaboration is less critical.&#x0D; DISCUSSION &#x0D; Latvian entrepreneurs do not recognise the benefits and positive impact of green business practices. Changing customer values and global trends of sustainable transition will foster green business practices. Therefore, it is essential to develop knowledge of the circular and green business and stimulate behavioural changes of entrepreneurs to accept and follow environmentally friendly values. Previous studies prove the vital and integral role of collaboration with and for multiple stakeholders in creating positive environmental impacts. Such stakeholder collaboration includes various managerial tasks - the establishment of the relationship, value mapping and standard value orientation, regular communication, involvement and engagement, sharing and co-creation, and requiring appropriate competencies.&#x0D; Collaboration with multiple stakeholders is a cross-cutting issue that should be reflected horizontally in different study courses, not just in a specific environmental or ecological curriculum. However, the entrepreneurship and management study programmes should include stakeholder collaboration topics as one of the managerial practices.&#x0D; CONCLUSION&#x0D; This study describes the green business mindset model and its multi-dimensional nature, including knowledge and skills related to entrepreneurship, sustainability, ecology, and green education on the one hand, and emotional intelligence, green values and attitudes on the other. This research reveals the shorthand situation of Latvia. The green business mindset model envisages several levels of development and assessment – raising awareness, acquiring knowledge, changing attitudes and values, changing behaviour, and initiating green actions. The academic staff and teachers consider that, in Latvia, besides green business knowledge, the emotional, intuitive and spiritual intelligence, self-awareness and self-confidence encompassing green values ​​are essential, and should be developed.