Sustainability Nexus Research Articles

The impact of agricultural producer price on sustainable food security in Africa – a system GMM approach

Purpose. Given the efforts towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for food security by 2030, this study investigates the moderating impact of public investments in agriculture on the agricultural producer price – agricultural sustainability nexus in 40 African countries covering the period from 2000 till 2019.
 Methodology / approach. In this study we used multiple regression techniques to explore a dynamic panel data model based on the one-step system Generalized Method of Moments (System-GMM). Proposed by Arellano and Bover and further developed by Blundell and Bond, the System-GMM estimator was preferred over other techniques because of its efficiency in eliminating the simultaneous biases that are associated with regression model estimations. Specifically, the one-step System-GMM was preferred over the two-step System-GMM for our estimation due to the efficiency of its optimal weighting matrices.
 Results. The study discovered that although the interactions between public investments on agriculture and agricultural sustainability amplify the positive impact of a set of explanatory variables on agricultural producer price to an extent, the impact on food security in Africa is insignificant. The study also discovers that the net effects of a set of interactive terms on producer price in the developing countries in Africa are slightly lower than in the least-developed countries. The weighted average food security index for the period under study was abysmal 44.54%, indicating moderate food insecurity in Africa. 
 Originality / scientific novelty. In the context of food security literature in Africa, this study is the first attempt at exploring the agricultural producer price – agricultural sustainability nexus based on the moderating impact of public investments on agriculture with the Global Food Security Index (GFSI), a composite food security model developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Among our study proposals it is a call for a detour from the current agricultural investment and producer price policies especially the current ‘one-size-fits-all’ regional frameworks which have proved to be less progressive and less transformative to more robust country/sector-specific frameworks that have the potential to better the fortunes of agriculture and improve food security. 
 Practical value / implications. The current state of agricultural producer price in most African countries is ample proof that the role and importance of the producer price have been gravely diminished. Despite governments’ efforts towards improving food security, the evidence as presented in this study supports the fact that those efforts have not achieved much success. The study, which contains a number of recommendations, highlights agricultural producer price as a potentially important driver of agricultural sustainability and sustainable food security in Africa.

Does sustainability reporting promote university ranking? Australian and New Zealand evidence

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between university rankings and sustainability reporting among Australia and New Zealand universities. Even though sustainability reporting is an established area of investigation, prior research has paid inadequate attention to the nexus of university ranking and sustainability reporting. Design/methodology/approach This study covers 46 Australian and New Zealand universities and uses a data set, which includes sustainability reports and disclosures from four reporting channels including university websites, and university archives, between 2005 and 2018. Ordinary least squares regression was used with Pearson and Spearman’s rank correlations to investigate the likelihood of multi-collinearity and the paper also calculated the variance inflation factor values. Finally, this study uses the generalized method of moments approach to test for endogeneity. Findings The findings suggest that sustainability reporting is significantly and positively associated with university ranking and confirm that the four reporting channels play a vital role when communicating with university stakeholders. Further, this paper documents that sustainability reporting through websites, in addition to the annual report and a separate environment report have a positive impact on the university ranking systems. Originality/value This paper contributes to extant knowledge on the link between university rankings and university sustainability reporting which is considered a vital communication vehicle to meet the expectation of the stakeholder in relevance with the university rankings.

A study of energy investment and environmental sustainability nexus in China: a bootstrap replications analysis.

Environmental sustainability is increasing emphasis on global environmental concerns at the forefront of public policy debate. This paper investigates the relationship between energy investments and environmental sustainability in China from 1980 to 2018 while considering the moderating effect of international trade and economic growth under the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. We apply advanced econometric modeling for empirical analysis. Our findings show that energy investment and economic growth are positive, while international trade is negatively associated with ecological footprints. Moreover, economic growth and energy investment deteriorate, while international trade improves environmental sustainability. This empirical evidence suggests the improvements in cleaner energy infrastructure with the participation of the private sector to promote clean energy investment. We argue that policymakers should ensure environmental provisions in the regional and bilateral trade agreements to harmonize the environmental regulations, and develop crucial trade and ecological policy indicators to monitor policy consistency.

The economic growth and environmental sustainability nexus: a metanalysis of three economic types

Recently, emerging, developed, and developing economies have placed great emphasis on the need to attain environmental sustainability while achieving economic expansion. In an effort to offer possible policy options toward the attainment of sustainable development, this study examines the effect of economic growth on carbon emissions mitigation. Yearly panel data for 44 countries comprised of emerging, developed, and developing economies from 1990 to 2017 is used. To address the gap in the literature, this nexus is examined on seven layers of carbon emissions. This study reveals reliable and robust empirical findings with the use of system and difference general method of moments, random and fixed effects using the Durbin-Wu-Hausman test model, and feasible general least-squares estimation approaches. Our findings indicate that for developed economies, carbon emissions by the power industry have been mitigated and increased domestic credit to the private sector leads to a decrease in all layers of carbon emissions. Nevertheless, gross national income increase negatively impacts emissions by the transport sector. In emerging and developing economies, increased domestic credit to the private sector increases emissions by the power industry, transport sector, buildings, other combustion industries, and other non-major sectors. For all economies, an increase in domestic savings leads to an increase in all layers of carbon emissions. Compared with prior studies that simply focus on gross domestic product and total carbon emissions, our study provides detailed insights on the carbon emissions mitigation efforts by sector and economic group given the true drivers of economic expansion.

Firms and the Growth-Sustainability Nexus: A Review and Research Agenda

Scholars of corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility have long pointed to the detrimental consequences of economic growth for ecological and social systems. However, thus far, the debate on the growth-sustainability nexus has primarily taken place at the macro-economic level. As a result, although firm growth forms a central underlying driver of economic growth, it remains unclear which role firms (can) play in fostering or hindering a post-growth world and how they can design strategies that more explicitly take into account the negative consequences of growth. To address this shortcoming, we analyze the management literature on growth to gain firm-level insights on the outcomes, measures, strategies, and drivers of growth, and to derive implications for the field of corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Our review shows that firm growth represents an important, prominent, and heterogeneous topic in management scholarship. Yet, sustainability considerations or critical reflections on firm growth have not made their way into the leading general management and sustainability management journals. Reflecting on our findings from a sustainability perspective, we develop a robust research agenda to stimulate future micro-level research on the growth–sustainability nexus.

Leveraging inner sustainability through cross-cultural learning: evidence from a Quichua field school in Ecuador

Inner worlds and subjectivity are increasingly recognized as key dimensions of sustainability transformations. This paper explores the potential of cross-cultural learning and Indigenous knowledge as deep leverage points—hard to pull but truly transformative—for inner world sustainability transformations. In this exploratory study we propose a theoretical model of the inner transformation–sustainability nexus based on three distinctive inside-out pathways of transformation. Each pathway is activated at the inner world of individuals and cascades through the outer levels (individual and collective) of the iceberg model, ultimately resulting in transformations of the individual’s relationship with others, non-humans, or oneself. Our main purpose is to empirically investigate the activation of inner leverage points among graduate students who are alumni of an Indigenous language field school in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Semi-structured interviews designed around three core aspects—(1) human–nature relationships; (2) subjective change; and (3) acknowledgment for Indigenous culture—yielded expressions of becoming aware of new forms of relationships and empirically illustrate the roles of deep leverage points in triggering the three inside-out pathways of our model. A strategic focus on activating inner levers could increase the effectiveness of cross-cultural learning in fostering transformations in relationships with non-humans, oneself and others that may yield sustainability outcomes.

The implementation of the Principles for Responsible Management Education within tourism higher education institutions: A comparative analysis of European Union countries

Despite the growing body of literature on tourism higher education, there is a notable absence regarding the Principles for Responsible Management Education and the tourism higher education and sustainability nexus. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the implementation of PRME in tourism courses and its outcomes in European Union countries. This conceptual paper finds that PRME is not effectively embedded in tourism curricula. As a result, we present a conceptual model centred around an ambidextrous management approach to enable a deeper contribution to sustainability and the tourism industry when engaging with PRME.

Science as a common language for contribution to sustainability and peace.

There are many reasons and background factors for conflict including differences in political and social beliefs and values. Wars have also been a threat to the environment and sustainability. Inequality and disparity are more apparent in the world due to COVID-19. Now, we also need to consider environmental changes caused by human activities as climate extremes might cause new conflicts. More studies are needed for a comprehensive understanding of holistic views on challenges at the interfaces of peace and sustainability that inherently involve inter- and trans-disciplinary collaboration among cohorts of communities of practice. Collaborative scientific research on these interfaces is being conducted under the Future Earth Programme, and many others. In this commentary, I posit that science offers an effective pathway and a common platform for engagement and interactions aimed at the nexus of sustainability and peace under global changes.

Her majesty, the queen of sounds: Cultural sustainability and heritage in organ craftsmanship and music

AbstractOrgan craftsmanship and music are inextricably linked with each other. In Germany, a particularly rich symbiosis between craftspeople, composers, and performing artists has evolved over the centuries. In recognizing the transmission of this intangible cultural know-how from generation to generation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed organ craftsmanship and music together in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. This article elucidates how this inscription influences the perception and self-concept of organ craftsmanship and music, both in theoretic-intellectual and in virtual terms. Complementing the qualitative content analysis of literature and documents, narrative first-hand accounts/expert interviews with organ craftspeople/organ builders have been conducted and interpreted. Taking into account a dual nexus of cultural sustainability and intangible cultural heritage, sustainable value creation, substantial claims, multi-perspective visibility, and facilitative reassurance were analyzed and assessedvis-à-visorgan craftsmanship and music. Including organ craftsmanship and music in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity demonstrates an appreciation for sustainable value creation related to the quadruple bottom-line of sustainability – that is, addressing economic, environmental, and societal aspects, including culture as a fully integrated dimension; claims substantial rights for safeguarding and invoking/activating heritage; enhances visibility of performing organists, assigned organ builders, frequent practitioners, and nominated organ experts; and enables reassurance of passion and self-positioning with organ craftsmanship and music.

Halal food supply chains: A literature review of sustainable measures and future research directions

Introduction. Although sustainability represents a high-profile topic in supply chain management, it remains an unexplored research area for Halal food supply chains (HFSCs). Hence, to bridge this knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify the measures necessary for the development of sustainable HFSCs and potential research gaps at the nexus of sustainability and Halal food literature.
 Study objects and methods. We carefully analyzed forty (40) papers selected from leading, highly-ranked journals to answer the following research question: “What are the measures necessary for the development of sustainable Halal food supply chains?”
 Results and discussion. The findings revealed that the improvement of Halal processes through the implementation of quality management systems, the effectiveness of Halal labeling, and the use of technology could enhance the economic performance of HFSCs. Furthermore, HFSC’s sustainability efforts are strengthened by enhancing trust and transparency benefitting human resource skills development, promoting animal welfare issues, and increasing regulatory compliance. The implementation of environmental protection measures is a primary driving factor for environmental sustainability activities. Environmental sustainability could be fostered by a shift to the application of greening practices and the support of environmentalism in the Halal food industry.
 Conclusion. The findings of this study provide critical managerial implications for Halal food practitioners as they can have a summary of the previous studies and thus use it as a benchmark for introducing sustainable measures in their Halal food firms.

Four propositions on integrated sustainability: toward a theoretical framework to understand the environment, peace, and sustainability nexus

The sustainability agenda has evolved around a set of interconnected dilemmas regarding economic, social, and environmental goals. Progress has been made in establishing thresholds and targets that must be achieved to enable life to continue to thrive on the planet. However, much work remains to be done in articulating coherent theoretical frameworks that adequately describe the mechanisms through which sustainability outcomes are achieved. This paper reviews core concepts in the sustainability agenda to develop four propositions on integrated sustainability that collectively describe the underlying mechanisms of sustainable development. We then advance a framework for integrated sustainability and assess its viability through linear regression and principal components analysis of key selected indicators. The results provide preliminary evidence that countries with institutions that enable cooperation and regulate competition perform better in attaining integrated sustainability indicators. Our findings suggest that institutional design is important to sustainability outcomes and that further research into process-oriented mechanisms and institutional characteristics can yield substantial dividends in enabling effective sustainability policy.

Conceptual nexus of urban liveability and sustainability

The term “liveable cities” appeared in the literature during the 1980s in connection with the growing environmental concerns and the increasing competition among global cities to attract foreign investments and boost their economies. Also, the term sustainability emerged in the late 1980s as a warning to space and city users on the need to manage and regulate environmental resource consumption and utilization. While the concept of liveability seeks to utilize environmental resources for better living for urban dwellers, sustainable urban development on the converse tends to warn of the dangers of overuse and consumption of environmental resources. These concepts, much as they are closely related have also been adjudged to have certain intricate tensions in terms of their views on issues relating to utilization and consumption of environmental resources. This research, therefore, seeks to explore the conceptual relationships and tensions between urban liveability and sustainable development. The review of the literature reveals that, much as both concepts are related, they are critically diverse in their promotion of the use of environmental resources.

The nexus of business sustainability and organizational learning: A systematic literature review to identify key learning principles for business transformation

AbstractCompanies play a central role in the quest for sustainable development. Organizational learning theories have been utilized to explain sustainability‐related change processes in firms. However, implications from studies at the nexus of business sustainability and organizational learning are highly dependent on varying conceptualizations. The objective of this study is to provide clarity on the plurality of conceptual underpinnings in research and to uncover principles that are associated with deeper organizational change processes, that is, business transformation. Building on insights from a systematic literature review, we develop a sustainability learning typology, from which we distill three learning principles for business transformation: (1) the deutero learning mode, (2) the societal learning scope, and (3) the cooperative advantage objective. We formulate needs for future research to further elaborate on the learning principles associated with business transformation and suggest implications for practice.

Applying the Mandala of Health in the Anthropocene.

Issue addressedThe Anthropocene is a new era in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The negative impact humans have on the earth's systems pose significant threats to human health. Health promotion is a discipline well placed to respond to planetary health challenges of the Anthropocene. The overarching aim of this paper is to describe the elements of 21st century socio‐ecological health and apply them in a revised socio‐ecological framework for health promotion.MethodsA qualitative description study design was employed to explore the significance of ecological and cultural determinants of health and review models in contemporary health promotion to inform the development of a revised Mandala of Health. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit ten experts from across Australia including academics and practitioners working at the nexus of health promotion, environmental management and sustainability. Data were analysed thematically, using deductive and inductive methods.ResultsA revised Mandala of Health could address existing gaps in health promotion theory and practice. Ecological and cultural determinants of health were considered essential components of health promotion that is often lacking in socio‐ecological frameworks. Indigenous Knowledge Systems were considered immensely important when addressing ecological and cultural determinants of health.ConclusionsA revised Mandala of Health could encourage development of contemporary health models, assisting health promotion to evolve with the health and environmental issues of the Anthropocene. This study highlights the need for more theoretical development and empirical research regarding ecological and cultural determinants of health in a health promotion context.So what?In the context of the Anthropocene, this study highlights the potential gaps in health promotion theory and practice in terms of the natural environment and health and emphasises the need of a paradigm shift to embed ecological and cultural determinants with other determinants of health.

The literature landscape on peace-sustainability nexus: A scientometric analysis.

Academics, policymakers, and practitioners have long considered peace and sustainability to be fundamentally linked. However, despite the increased attention paid toward the intersection of peace and sustainability, there is still limited knowledge on the nature of their linkages. To advance the current understanding on the peace-sustainability nexus and inform an integrated research agenda, this paper employs a scientometric analysis of literature to identify publication trends, thematic clusters, and knowledge gaps. Analyzing the publications according to the types of peace, the pillars of positive peace, the dimensions of sustainability, and the SDGs further reveals weak engagement among academic disciplines and acrossthe SDGs. The results of this analysis emphasize the need for future research to focus on underexamined subjects, geographic regions, and sectors to bolster the linkages between peace and sustainability.

The natural flow regime: A master variable for maintaining river ecosystem health

AbstractRiver health is sustained by time‐based variation in their flows, and the maintenance of natural flow regime is essential for keeping the rivers healthy. However, the dynamism in natural flow regime now stands altered by changing climate, and the omnipresent regulation of river flows throughout the world has severely impacted the river health. It is well documented that harnessing and altering the flow of the rivers and streams comes at a huge cost. Numerous rivers in the world have stopped supporting socially and economically important native species or sustain vibrant ecosystems that offer valuable goods and services. The alteration of the natural flow regime has led to the collapse of many healthy and resilient river ecosystems throughout the world. Therefore, to ensure appropriate naturalized flow regimes for riverine organisms and a sustainable nexus between energy demand, water requirements and climate, more understanding is required to study the consequences of alteration in natural flow regime triggered by climate change and anthropogenic interventions. Moreover, conservation and management practices must be firmly based on scientific principles to restore the integrity of river ecosystems. The current approaches often fail to take into consideration a basic fundamental principle that the integrity of the river ecosystem is largely determined by the natural dynamic character of their flow regimes. In this synthesis, we try to explain how the maintenance of the natural flow regime is an essential requirement for maintaining river ecosystem health.

The nexus of environmental sustainability and agro-economic performance of Sub-Saharan African countries

The increasing concern of environmental degradation and climate change impacts of agricultural-based activities are becoming more pronounced in the Sub-Sahara region of Africa especially due to urgent drive to meeting food, healthy diet, and economic needs. In retrospect. This novel study explores the relationship between agro-economic performance, the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Total natural rent, urbanization and environmental degradation vis-à-vis (Carbon dioxide emissions) in a carbon function. The empirical analysis used a panel data for the period 1980–2014 for the selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The Kao test uncovers a cointegration between carbon dioxide emissions, Real Gross domestic product, Total natural rent, agriculture and urbanization. The panel Pooled Mean Autoregressive distributed lag model (PMG-ARDL) posits a positive and significant connection between the gross domestic product and CO2 emissions in the long run. Our examination asserts that agricultural value-added reduces emissions in sub-Saharan Africa while urbanization and natural resource rent both increases CO2 emissions in the long run. In addition, the causality analysis reveals a bidirectional link between agriculture value-added and CO2 emissions. Essentially, policymakers in African nations must pay close attention to the issues of rural-urban drift as this leads to more emissions.

Addressing endogeneity by proposing novel instrumental variables in the nexus of sustainability reporting and firm financial performance: A step‐by‐step procedure for non‐experts

AbstractMost of the prior literature that investigated the nexus between corporate sustainability disclosures (CSD) and firm financial performance (FFP) has largely been ignored the potential problem of endogeneity. The omitted variable(s), measurement error, and reverse causality, which are the known causes of endogeneity, may also be the possible reasons for the indecisive and inconsistent relationship between CSD and FFP. Accordingly, this study reinvestigates the relationship by addressing the problem of endogeneity through applying the two‐stage least squares (2SLS) estimator to data collected from the annual reports of the top 10 Pakistani banks through content analysis from 2013 to 2017. The results show a positive impact of the CSD and social sustainability on FFP. However, environmental sustainability exerted a negative impact on FFP. The statistics for 2SLS are much different than those of the ordinary least squares (OLS), which explain the importance of addressing the endogeneity bias. The study offers a methodological procedure that identifies and addresses the endogeneity through a step‐by‐step process in Stata 13.0. Besides, the study also has a novelty to propose and validate additional instrumental variables for the research in the future. Overall, the study has many contributions and implications for different stakeholders such as academia, regulatory bodies, and practitioners in the field of corporate sustainability.

Diffusion of labor standards through supplier–subcontractor networks: An agent‐based model

AbstractSubcontracting represents a popular business model in supply chains across industries. In the case of hidden subcontracting, subcontractors are beyond the visible horizon of the (focal) buying firm. Hence, buyers must rely on a cascading effect for diffusing practices such as compliance with labor standards through their supply networks. Motivated by the case of the Bangladeshi garment industry, we constructed an agent‐based model with buyers, first‐tier suppliers, and subcontractors as agents in a supply network in order to study the impact of network characteristics on the diffusion of labor standards. Our model followed a power‐based diffusion rule that emphasized the coercive power that buyers use to pressure their suppliers into adopting labor standards. This rule is a key underlying assumption of compliance‐based supplier management. Hypotheses regarding power asymmetries through centrality and density of specific network components, as well as structural elements of the network, such as complexity and distance, were tested for different industry scenarios. Our analysis demonstrated that network asymmetries have ample negative effects on the adoption of labor standards, whereas complexity plays a minor role. Moreover, the impact of the tested structural determinants for sustainability diffusion was found to be contingent on specific industry types in the garment industry. This paper discusses its findings in light of previous research on subcontracting and multitier supply chain management. Among others, we highlight how subcontracting increases horizontal complexity at each supply chain tier, and how intermediaries such as sustainability nexus suppliers may crucially affect the adoption of labor standards within industries.

Integrated analysis of energy-economic development-environmental sustainability nexus: Case study of MENA countries

The new industrialization necessitates the integration of energy efficiency, economic development, and environmental sustainability. However, quantifying the efficiency of renewable energy towards economic development is an ongoing debate. On this basis, this study presents a multi net-put efficiency and conventional efficiency approach to analyze non-renewable energy and renewable energy efficiency towards economic development and environmental sustainability nexus. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is utilized to estimate multi net-put conventional and renewable energy efficiency. Likewise, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Pooled Mean Group (PMG) approach is applied to examine the impact of non-renewable efficiency on economic growth, total natural resource rent and environmental quality. Results show that the efficiency nexus of conventional energy is significant and higher (98%) than renewable energy (69.5%) for the evaluated period (2006–2016). Nonetheless, conventional energy efficiency of the panel of MENA countries worsen the environmental quality, thus does not enhance environmental sustainability especially in the long-run. The results also posit that economic growth in the panel of MENA countries is detrimental to the region's environmental sustainability. Further analysis indicates that the inefficiency of renewable energy nexus has more to do with scale size inadequacy rather than operational deficiency. Therefore, resources and policies must be targeted towards up scaling renewable energy capacity accompanied with cautious and target oriented strategy.