Premium
Relating sustainability theory to practice at Auckland airport: An engaged scholarship endeavour involving students
Author(s) -
Kearins Kate,
Fryer Martin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
corporate social responsibility and environmental management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.519
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1535-3966
pISSN - 1535-3958
DOI - 10.1002/csr.270
Subject(s) - sustainability , mandate , scholarship , public relations , sustainability reporting , salient , business , sustainability organizations , best practice , value (mathematics) , corporate social responsibility , marketing , management , political science , economics , computer science , ecology , law , biology , machine learning
This paper results from an engaged scholarship endeavour involving an academic, a practitioner, and students. It describes salient interactions which sought to inform Auckland Airport's sustainability planning efforts, and which also provided research and learning opportunities. The company wanted to develop a comprehensive approach to sustainability following best practice. However, the practical reality was that staff were working under the mandate that the formal introduction of sustainability into the business needed to add value. Novel ideas were somewhat difficult to generate when the company was already deemed to be doing well; external stakeholders were not so willing to engage; sustainability performance reporting did not always find a ready audience; and external awareness of the company's sustainability initiatives was relatively low. These challenges to the business case offered excellent opportunities for student engagement. They also provided a test as to how theoretical ideals embracing broader systems thinking relate to on‐the‐ground practice. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.