Sustainability in Higher Education: Perceptions of Social Responsibility among University Students

Younghan Jung, Kayoung Park and Junyong Ahn
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Younghan Jung: Department of Engineering Technology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA
Kayoung Park: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA
Junyong Ahn: Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Many construction-related training and education programs in the United States have now embraced the concept of sustainability, offering sustainable construction courses that highlight sustainable design and construction practices. These courses have mainly focused on green building strategies for the design and construction of built environments and indoor environmental quality necessary for students’ knowledge enhancement and career development. This study examined the effect of sustainability course on students’ knowledge as well as their perceptions of social responsibility and sustainable behaviors. Data were collected by conducting a survey from construction related programs in U.S. universities. Students were categorized based on their experience of taking such course(s), and results were compared in terms of their environmental concerns, objective and subjective knowledge, and sustainable consumer behaviors by conducting independent two-sample t -tests. The purpose of this study was to examine sustainable behaviors and social responsibility perceptions among U.S. university students enrolled in construction-related courses. The results indicated that environmental concern and sustainable consumer behavior scores were significantly lower among students who had taken the course than those who had not. Both objective and subjective knowledge scores were relatively low. There was no difference between the two groups in objective knowledge scores and unexpectedly, subjective knowledge was significantly lower among students who had taken the course than those who had not. The findings of this study provide implications for sustainability curriculum development that can enhance students’ learning experience.

Keywords: sustainability education; sustainable construction education; social responsibility; sustainable consumer behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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