Green Campus? An Analysis of the Factors that Drive Universities to Adopt Sustainable Practices

Sarah Stafford ()
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Sarah Stafford: Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

No 77, Working Papers from Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

Abstract: I examine how regulatory pressures, financial constraints, student pressures, and stakeholder influences affect the adoption of sustainable practices by institutions of higher education (IHEs). Using data from the Sustainable Endowments Institute, I conduct an ordered probit analysis on 167 IHEs located in the U.S. In addition to analyzing overall sustainability, I examine the factors that drive particular types of sustainability initiatives. The results show that stakeholders such as faculty, alumni, and the surrounding community play the most important and consistent role in promoting sustainable practices of all types. However, I find that the significance of other factors varies considerably across different categories of sustainable practices. For example, while an institution’s endowment is positively related to its adoption of sustainable practices in general, it does not have a significant effect in most of the specific areas analyzed. Surprisingly, student preferences and regulatory pressures play a very limited role for all categories.

Keywords: Sustainability; Higher Education; Regulatory Pressures; Stakeholder Influences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q01 L30 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
Date: 2008-09-25
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