International Journal of Sustainable Society (15 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Counterintuitive Behaviour: Evidence from Indian Public Distribution System  
  by Virupaxi Bagodi 
  Abstract: GThe complexity is growing continuously due to the exponential growth in technological innovations. The managers in a business setting find it hard to manage a problem as it does not come alone; it is connected to another set of subsystems. This could be the reason why the list of Fortune 500 companies keeps changing. The mortality rate of the small and medium enterprises in India is also on the rise. The dynamic complexity is hard to handle and requires a radically different approach. System dynamics has been widely used to capture dynamic complexity due to its ability to capture non-linear relations, delays, interrelations, and interaction among all the elements in a system. A case study was conducted in a service organisation employing system dynamics methodology. It has been systematically demonstrated through policy experimentation how managers fall prey to quick-fixes in real world setting.
  Keywords: Counterintuitive behaviour; India; Public distribution system; social systems.
  
  
• Sustainability at the Firm-Level: Review and Case Driven Exploration  
  by Fitsum Getachew Bayu, Eshetie Berhan, Frank Ebinger 
  Abstract: The challenge to integrate, measure, and report sustainability at the firm level has been frequently discussed in theory and practice. However, there is still a limitation on narrowing the sustainability concept at the firm level and addressing the challenges in a holistic approach encompassing the economic, social, and environment triple bottom lines and firm strategic management. This study explores firm-level sustainability through a systematic literature review followed by a case study exploration. Based on the review findings, key measuring dimensions were identified to frame sustainability at the firm level. The dimensions were further explored, taking a country case of large-scale industrial firm zones in Ethiopia. Critical economic, social, environmental sustainability and strategic management concerns are systematically identified and discussed. Finally, a conceptual sustainability assessment framework was proposed to support firm-level sustainability measuring and reporting, which could be considered a stepping stone for the sustainable development of Ethiopia's industrial park.
  Keywords: Economic sustainability; Social sustainability; Environmental sustainability; Strategic management; Ethiopian Industrial Park Firms.
  
  
• Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Security Nexus: Perspectives and Challenges in Balochistan, Pakistan  
  by Warda Gul, Muhammad Makki, Tughral Yamin 
  Abstract: This paper utilises the autoregressive distributive lag model to examine the interrelationship between the overall water availability in Pakistan with HDI to uncover the correlation between water insecurity and the standard of living. The paper encapsulates the implications of the water energy food nexus and its challenges in identifying the role water security plays in food and energy production. This analysis helps understand the non-traditional security threats in Balochistan's case under the combined umbrella of the WEF nexus. It further uncovers the different causes of water scarcity in Balochistan and helps understand the role of water property rights. Findings report several projected WEF challenges: inequitable distribution of resources, shortage of dams, poor policy-making and low precipitation. Finally, coupled with high inflation and inadequate distribution of food resources within different regions of Balochistan, this paper reiterates the significance of the nexus and interconnects the WEF insecurities under one paradigm.
  Keywords: autoregressive distributed lag; ARDL; Balochistan; cointegration analysis; food production; HDI; water scarcity; WEF nexus; WEF challenges; Pakistan.
  
  
• Collaboration between Corporates and Non-Governmental Organisations Effective Way of Supporting the Society: A Case Study of Corporates and NGOs  
  by Kajal Kumar Dutta, Vandana Talegaonkar 
  Abstract: A survey was conducted of nine (9) Vadodara-based Corporates and nine (9) Vadodara-based NGOs to understand Corporate CSR programs, a collaboration between NGOs, and sustainability NGOs. The case study was a survey-based case study and the cases (Corporates & NGOs) and samples (Functionaries of Corporates, n=14 and NGOs, n=23) were selected using a purposive sampling technique. Primary data was collected through unstructured interviews of functionaries of Corporates and NGOs and secondary data was collected from CSR report, NGOs newsletter, annual report, web site. The nature of the data is both descriptive and quantitative. The key findings are, 1) Corporates generally prefer to implement their CSR programs through NGOs, 2) Annual CSR budget depends on the profit, 3) Majority of Corporates support NGOs for one-time project activities and not for the running expenses, 4) Allocation of CSR funds to NGOs is uncertain, 5) Corporates expect transparency in NGOs activities.
  Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs); CSR Act 2013; Sustainability; Collaboration.
  
  
• Concern For the Environment and Awareness of Eco-friendly products: A study of urban Indian Consumers  
  by Suman Kharbanda, Netra Pal Singh, Kavita Sharma 
  Abstract: This quantitative study assesses the awareness of eco-friendly products and their eco-labels among urban Indian consumers. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 504 urban Indian consumers, this cross-sectional study concludes that concern for environment and eco-literacy are two important determinants of awareness on eco-friendly (green) products. Two stage structural equation model and hypothesis testing was used in this research to arrive at conclusions. To meet the challenge of promoting sustainable consumption it is vital to propagate the seriousness of environmental issues and induce concern for the environment among consumers. The study also advocates that the policy makers need to be more focused on educating consumers in India about importance of ecolabels used on green products. This strategy could be an important contribution to achieving UN sustainable development goal 12.8 that aims to ensure that by 2030, people everywhere are aware of sustainable consumption
  Keywords: eco-friendly products; concern; environment; awareness; sustainable consumption; eco literacy; eco-labels; green product; ECO Mark.
  
  
• Impact of Firm Characteristics on Corporate Sustainability Reporting: A Meta-Analysis  
  by R.N.K. Soysa, Asankha Pallegedara, Ajantha Sisira Kumara, D.M. Jayasena, M.K.S.M. Samaranayake 
  Abstract: The study explores the commonly identified determinants of corporate sustainability reporting by conducting a systematic review and a meta-analysis. The systematic review conducted for 20 years from 2000 to 2019 returned a final sample of 55 empirical journal articles, and meta-analysis was performed considering effect size as correlation coefficient. The findings reveal that the frequently identified determinants in prior research were firm size, firm age, profitability and leverage using the proxies of natural logarithm of total assets, years since establishment, return on assets and ratio of total debt to total assets respectively. Firm size reported a significant positive overall effect (0.376) on sustainability reporting (SR), irrespective of the country setting. The results suggest some policy and practical implications to policymakers and practitioners of SR.
  Keywords: Sustainability reporting; Systematic review; Meta-analysis; Firm attributes; Correlation; Subgroup analysis.
  
  
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Internationalisation in Mitigating Risk  
  by Saarce Elsye Hatane, Noorlailie Soewarno 
  Abstract: This study aims to recognise the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and internationalisation on the idiosyncratic risk of the tourism and hospitality industry in ASEAN. The generalised method of moments GMM two-step model examined the research framework from 405 firm-years applied from 81 companies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, from 2015 until 2019. The results prove that CSR activities and internationalisation strategy can mitigate idiosyncratic risk. In addition, the demand for social responsibility in the global market is undoubtedly higher than in the local market. Therefore, adequate CSR disclosure is required to meet investor satisfaction in international markets. This study contributes to social responsibility studies by investigating the effect of CSR activities on idiosyncratic risk in ASEAN countries. Analysis of the interaction between internationalisation and CSR leverages the values of this study.
  Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; idiosyncratic risk; internationalisation; ASEAN; tourism and hospitality.
  
  
• Moving towards Sustainable Restaurants: Bridging the Attitude-behaviour Gap  
  by Booi Chen Tan, Nasreen Khan, Teck Chai Lau 
  Abstract: This paper proposed a path model to test the causal links from environmental values to environment-related attitudes, and how these variables lead to the intention to dine at sustainable restaurants among the patrons in Malaysia. SPSS and AMOS-SEM were used to test the data collected from 500 respondents. The results showed that the environmental values did not affect intention to dine at sustainable restaurants directly, but indirectly affected the intention via both attitude variables, and presented a three-path mediated effect on the path model. Besides, the specific attitudes towards sustainable practices of restaurants acted as the only predictor of intention, and not the general environmental attitudes. It concluded that using a specific environment-related attitude variable can better explain a specific behavioural intention to close the attitude-behaviour gap debated in the past studies. Both general and specific attitude variables should be included to mediate the relationship between environmental values and intention in the context of sustainable restaurants.
  Keywords: Environmental Attitude; Green; Intention; Sustainable Restaurants; Values.
  
  
• Largest public housing project in Iran: Are the residents satisfied?  
  by Seyed Saeid Mousavi, Mehdi Basaka, Farhad Nosratinejad 
  Abstract: : Mehr Housing Project as the largest state-run housing project in Iran aimed to provide housing facilities for low-income families. So, the present study tries to evaluate the residential satisfaction in Parand as the most important settlement created by this project in Iran and investigate the factors influencing this satisfaction. Primary data gathering was accomplished using a questionnaire from 398 sample participants of The Parand in Tehran province during 2017. In order to test hypotheses, ordered probit regression was utilized. The results show that residential satisfaction in Parand was 2.39 out of 5 points and the financial ability was the most critical factor affecting this variable. Given the proximity of Parand to Tehran and the low cost of living in this settlement, its residents will be satisfied only if they could commute easily. Therefore, urban infrastructure development can play a significant role in promoting the satisfaction of its residents.
  Keywords: Residential satisfaction; low-cost housing; Mehr Housing Project; Iran.
  
  
• Understanding Stakeholders' intention to follow National Education Policy 2020 using the theory of planned behavior.  
  by Sudhagar D.P, Mary TD 
  Abstract: The National Educational Policy (NEP) was introduced in the year 2020 after vigorous research and taking into consideration of all the views of the stakeholders to ensure that all the aspects are covered and made inclusive. Despite the research and the steps taken to ensure inclusiveness, the acceptance of change is always difficult. Hence, there is a great need to analyze and understand the stakeholders behavioral intentions to follow NEP 2020 for successful implementation. Hence, the present study aims to understand the stakeholders intention to follow National Education Policy 2020 using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). This study is based on the data collected using convenience sampling from an online survey. The results of the structural equation modelling indicate that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control positively influences the intention to follow NEP 2020. This study is the first in the Indian context to explore intention to follow NEP 2020 using TPB.
  Keywords: National Education Policy; India; Stakeholders; Theory of Planned Behavior; Structural Equation Modelling; India.
  
  
• Situational Analysis and Conceptual Model development of Crimes against Women and Children  
  by Aathira T, Rangasami P, Narassima MS 
  Abstract: Violence has existed in many forms in society whilst those against women and children have always been higher. The rate of occurrence of violence has been in an increasing trend over the last decade worldwide. The present study involves a detailed study on the impact of violence and the factors that contribute to violence. Situational analysis of the various forms of violence against women and children was studied in the state of Kerala, India. Several predominant factors across various levels of the Socio-ecological model were identified and a conceptual model was developed using an Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach. Matrice d'Impacts Crois
  Keywords: Violence Against Women and Girls; Violence Against Children; Interpretive Structural Modelling; Situational Analysis; Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classment.
  
  

Special Issue on: RBDS-2020 Sustainability and Marketing in the Emerging Markets

• Coaching as Business: Exploring its Growth in India  
  by Jinny Sharma, Anjali Mehra, Ajaz Ahmed Ganaie 
  Abstract: Post- 1991 era has seen a significant growth of private sector in India. The private education sector has emerged as one of the leading sectors, showing ample opportunities of investment. Investment in education is not only limited to formal sector, but has also spread to non-formal sector. Coaching business is becoming prominent segment of non-formal sector, which has grown from individual private tuition centres to big coaching business enterprises. Not only the metros, but, every town in the country has witnessed the mushrooming growth of private coaching institutes. Growth of the business of certain coaching institutes is so spectacular that it casts a shadow on the working of formal education system leading to a big debate on their fairness of existence. The present paper attempts to examine the growth of big coaching houses in India.
  Keywords: Shadow education; corporate coaching institutes; growth; determinants.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2022.10044847
   
  
• Impact of Integrated Reporting on Firm Value: An Indian perspective  
  by Sushant Gupta, Lalit Bhalla 
  Abstract: Integrated reporting has created attention of policy makers in the past few years, in and around the world. An integrated report is a complete report communicating about how an organization's strategy, governance, performance and prospects lead to the creation of value over the short, medium and long term. India has taken the lead in its development by adopting on voluntary basis. Therefore, the present study has been conducted to examine the effect of on firm value for Indian companies. The sample for the present study consisted of total 369 companies listed on National stock exchange for the period 2018-2020 with 1107 observations. The study applied fixed effect model technique for the purpose of analysis. Further, findings showed that scores of Indian companies have significant impact on firm value along with control variables i.e size of the firm, profitability, and efficiency.
  Keywords: Integrated Reporting; Corporate Disclosures; Firm value; IIRC.
  
  
• A Study on Exploring the Determinants of Country-of-Origin Effect-based Brand Avoidance  
  by Ajay Singh Chandel, Punam Mishra 
  Abstract: Country-of-origin effect is a significant factor that marketers must keep in mind while introducing a product in a foreign country. The country-of-origin effect, commonly discussed to as the made-in image effect or ethnic group bias, is a psychosomatic outcome explaining how perceptions, attitudes and buying decisions of consumers are affected by country-of-origin of a brand which when are negative, may lead to country-of-origin effect-based brand avoidance. Country-of-origin-based brand avoidance is a phenomenon of consciously rejecting a brand based on the consumers evaluation of the country-of-origin. The study was conducted to explore the determinants of country-of-origin effect-based brand avoidance and to find out the factors most predictive of the phenomenon. The study concludes with clear academic and managerial implications.
  Keywords: Country-of-origin effect; Consumer ethnocentrism; Animosity; Financial patriotism; Brand avoidance.
  
  
• Integrating Employees, Customers and Technology to Build an Effective Sustainable Marketing Strategy  
  by Bijay Kushwaha, Ambu Sharma 
  Abstract: Primarily green marketing concentrates on delivering value to existing and future prospects with special focus on impact of delivered product in the environment. Undoubtedly sustainable marketing is an approach to build relationship with the existing and future customers, and it is one of the important aspects where marketers need to think at strategic level. Since last decade, the businesses have started selling and promoting eco-friendly products to save environment, resources, and society. This study examines the role of employees, customers, and technology in sustainable marketing practices. It will also identify the contribution of each element in sustainable marketing practices. The findings of the study resulted that technology is the most important contribution of sustainable marketing whereas the roles of employees are minimum. Employees support and technological advancements improve several aspects of sustainable marketing approach. The implications of this study are discussed.
  Keywords: Sustainable Marketing Practices; Green Marketing; Eco-friendly Products; Technological Advancements.