Competencies of Sustainability Professionals: An Empirical Study on Key Competencies for Sustainability

Ronald Venn, Paquita Perez and Valerie Vandenbussche
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Ronald Venn: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Open Universiteit, 6401 VD Heerlen, The Netherlands
Paquita Perez: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Open Universiteit, 6401 VD Heerlen, The Netherlands
Valerie Vandenbussche: Department of Eco-Technology, VIVES University of Applied Sciences, 8200 Brugge, Belgium

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-22

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical study on key competencies for sustainable development. Over a period of two years, we collected empirical data on competencies of senior sustainability professionals by using an action research approach. Data collection took place in Belgium Flanders via an elaborate iterative action-reflection process including an interactive workshop, interviews, and an online survey. Our analysis provides strong empirical evidence for the existence of two complementary competency clusters, namely sustainability research competencies and sustainability intervention competencies. Together they enable the profound analysis and understanding of sustainability issues and ensure the ability to devise solutions and foster change towards sustainability. Furthermore, we shed a first light on the interaction of these competency clusters and their link with the practitioners’ topical knowledge and lived experience. This study bridges the divergence in literature between theoretically and empirically driven research and offers novel insights on sustainability competencies for the fields of sustainability science, human resource management, and higher education.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainable development; professionals; practitioners; key competencies; transformation; lived experience; higher education; human resource management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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