Awareness of campus sustainability initiatives: a comprehensive analysis using survey data

Purpose The purpose of the study is to examine stakeholders’ awareness of sustainability initiatives and their opinions on university efforts across stakeholder groups and majors. This study will allow campus stakeholders and planners to review specific initiatives, provide baseline data and fill gaps in sustainability activities to promote sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected survey data on the opinions of more than 850 stakeholders on a wide array of sustainability themes at a US university. The sustainability themes included buildings and infrastructure, waste management, energy, transportation, water use and management, grounds, purchasing, academics and campus life. A combination of factor analysis, ANOVA and regression approaches are used to analyze the data. Findings The authors found a strong belief in sustainability among all stakeholder groups and across majors. Undergraduate students were more enthusiastic about sustainability initiatives and more positive about the university efforts and achievements regarding sustainability. Overall, sustainability activities under waste management and campus life for which students can be involved were rated higher. Science and engineering students had more formal sustainability education and rated higher most sustainability activities. However, differences existed across disciplines, and they were likely caused by different knowledge and educational backgrounds. Originality/value Existing evaluation of universities’ sustainability initiatives are often sparse and fragmented, and they often find ambiguous results. The authors fill in the gap by examining comprehensively the awareness of sustainability initiatives in a US university using a unique data that encompass a wide array of sustainability themes.