Future Professionals: A Study of Sustainable Behavior

Vanderleia Martins Lohn, Rafael Tezza, Graziela Dias Alperstedt and Lucila M. S. Campos
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Vanderleia Martins Lohn: Post-Graduate Program in Production Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), 88040 Florianopolis, Brazil
Rafael Tezza: College of Administration and Economic Science, State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC), 88040 Florianopolis, Brazil
Graziela Dias Alperstedt: College of Administration and Economic Science, State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC), 88040 Florianopolis, Brazil
Lucila M. S. Campos: Department of Production Engineering and Systems, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), 88040 Florianopolis, Brazil

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Sustainability in an organizational environment involves a form of management that allows attaining a balance between the economic, environmental and social dimensions, and can contribute to the sustainable behavior of employees and administrators. Nevertheless, studies that evaluate sustainable behavior of future professionals using a multidimensional approach to create a scale to measure sustainable behavior of students are relatively rare and there is a need for research in this field. Therefore, the objective of this article is to analyze the sustainable behavior of potential professionals, using the multidimensional approach of item response theory (IRT). A set of 13 items evaluated by specialists and tested by graduate students was applied to 492 undergraduate students from a community university in Southern Brazil in the schools of administration, human resources, accounting, law, civil engineering and biology. The results indicate that the students have higher sustainable behavior in the social dimension and lower in the economic dimension, highlighted by participation in voluntary activities. This result can provide important information to companies, given that in their processes for recruiting and selecting new employees, many have included issues related to sustainable practices, not only from an economic perspective, but particularly from environmental and social perspectives.

Keywords: sustainable behavior; sustainability; undergraduate students; item response theory (IRT) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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