What do freshmen know about sustainability? Analysing the skill gap among university business administration students
Author
Manresa, Alba
Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina
Faura-Martínez, Ursula
Llinares-Ciscar, Juan-Vicente
Publication date
2021ISSN
2071-1050
Abstract
This study aims at creating and validating an instrument to assess the level of mastery in sustainability competencies of freshmen students in business-related studies. To reach this goal, a questionnaire that captures the level of acquisition of the competencies in sustainability is provided. A three-step process has been followed to analyse the results gathered among first-year students in two Spanish universities. First, eight confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to verify the grouping of the dimensions included in the questionnaire, resulting in 10 competency units in sustainability (CU). Next, we averaged the values of the items included in each CU to facilitate interpretation and then calculated the skill gap; that is, the difference between the level that CU students are expected to achieve on graduation compared to the current level. Third, a series of ANOVA tests were run to investigate potential differences in the level of acquisition due to gender, prior training and educational background, which according to the literature might influence current student knowledge of sustainability. Our results reveal that freshmen enter university with a heterogeneous level of development, both in terms of breadth (different CUs) and depth (the extent to which each CU is developed). The original value of this work stems from the creation of an instrument which is expected to be applicable in a variety of contexts. Additionally, the information it provides assists us in the identification of the CUs that should be further emphasized at university level, and therefore helps professors to prioritise those teaching strategies targeted at overcoming this deficit.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
37 - Education
Keywords
Educació superior
Currículum per a la sostenibilitat
Competències de sostenibilitat
Empresa i administració
Bretxa d’habilitat
Educación más alta
Plan de estudios para la sostenibilidad
Competencias de sostenibilidad
Negocios y administración
Brecha de habilidades
Higher education
Curriculum for sustainability
Sustainability competencies
Business and administration
Skill gap
Pages
21
Publisher
MDPI
Collection
13;16
Is part of
Sustainability
Citation
Manresa, Alba; Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina; Faura-Martínez, Úrsula [et al.]. What do freshmen know about sustainability? Analysing the skill gap among university business administration students. Sustainability, 2021, 13(16). Disponible en: <https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8813>. Fecha de acceso: 2 sep. 2021. DOI: 10.3390/su13168813
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Rights
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/