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Special Issue "Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability"

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2021.

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Colin Michael Hall
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Guest Editor

Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
Interests: tourism; sustainability; global environmental change; regional development; food; world heritage
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue entitled “Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability”. This is intended to be an important benchmark collection of high-quality reviews and original papers that cover recent advances in our understanding of the economic and business aspects of sustainability. The notion of economics and business should here be broadly interpreted to also include financial analysis, regional development, management, marketing, organizational studies, accounting, information systems, business education, and studies of specific industries and sectors. Only contributions from the Editorial Board and papers from distinguished scholars in the field invited by Editorial Board Members, Guest Editors, or the Editorial Office will be accepted in this Special Issue. Researchers are welcome to contact the Editorial Office to be invited.

Prof. Dr C. Michael Hall
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Consumer Behavior in Purchasing, Using and Disposing of Clothes

Mirella Soyer

and

Koen Dittrich

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8333; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158333 - 26 Jul 2021

Viewed by 435

Abstract

In this study we investigate how consumers in The Netherlands can be persuaded to adopt sustainable practices when purchasing, using and disposing of clothes. This study investigates the attitude-behavior gap for the sustainable choices for purchase, use and disposing of clothes. For each consumption phase we ran a two-step multiple regression. The findings showed that the importance of the factors vary in the three consumption phases. For purchasing and disposal decisions, the core motivator social motivation predicts sustainable practices best, while it has no role in the usage phase. The factor ability appeared to have a significant role in the disposal phase, but not in the other phases. Finally, the trigger appears to lower the consumers’ ability in the purchasing phase, while it enhances the core motivator social evaluation in the disposal phase. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Resilience of Urban Economic Structures Following the Great Recession

and

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2374; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042374 - 23 Feb 2021

Viewed by 625

Abstract

The future sustainability of cities is contingent on economic resilience. Yet, urban resilience is still not well understood, as cities are frequently disrupted by shocks, such as natural disasters, economic recessions, or changes in government policies. These shocks can significantly alter a city’s economic structure. Yet the term economic structure is often used metaphorically and is often not understood sufficiently by those having to implement policies. Here, we operationalized the concept of economic structure as a weighted network of interdependent industry sectors. For 938 U.S. urban areas, we then quantified the magnitude of change in the areas’ economic structures over time, focusing on changes associated with the 2007–2009 global recession. The result is a novel method of analyzing urban change over time as well as a typology of U.S. urban systems based on how their economic structures responded to the recession. We further compared those urban types to changes in economic performance during the recession to explore each structural type’s adaptive capacity. Results suggest cities that undergo constant but measured change are better positioned to weather the impacts of economic shocks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Does More Mean Better? Exploring the Relationship between Report Completeness and Environmental Sustainability

and

Roberth Andres Villazon Montalvan

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10635; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410635 - 19 Dec 2020

Viewed by 628

Abstract

The reliability of sustainability reporting can impact sustainable development and should provide relevant information to financial analysts, investors, and other stakeholders by reducing information asymmetry between them and management. Nevertheless, its utility is often undermined by a lack of the disclosure information’s trustability. This paper aims to evaluate if the completeness of the sustainability report’s environmental quantitative information is a reliable indicator of the company’s real commitment to environmental sustainability. The paper analyzes the relationship between the report’s completeness and the environmental performance evaluated by data of an independent third party. Fifty Italian companies that have submitted complete data on CO₂ emissions to the European Union Emissions Trade Scheme (EU ETS) in the six years from 2008–2013 and published sustainability reports have been evaluated. Results indicate that reporting completeness is not correlated with better environmental performance, and consequently with greater commitment to environmental sustainability, thus suggesting the potential existence of credibility gaps. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Accommodation Experience in the Sharing Economy: A Comparative Study of Airbnb Online Reviews

Zhihua Zhang

and

Rachel J. C. Fu

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10500; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410500 - 15 Dec 2020

Viewed by 619

Abstract

Current research investigating the accommodation experience in the sharing economy in China is limited, especially from a cross-cultural perspective. To fill this gap, this study examined the accommodation experience of Airbnb guests using text-mining techniques and compared the accommodation experience perception between two culturally different groups: domestic Chinese and foreign English-speaking Airbnb guests. The results showed that the two groups shared eight common dimensions, including “Convenience/Location”, “Amenities”, “Feel at home”, “Check-in/out”, “Experience”, “Availability/Transportation”, “Host”, and “Style/Decoration”. However, there are differences in the relative importance of each dimension of accommodation experience between the domestic and foreign Airbnb guests. For example, the foreign guests more often mentioned homeliness, location/convenience, and availability/transportation, while the domestic guests showed greater interest in check-in procedures and style/decoration. Additionally, the two groups have several unique dimensions. The dimensions unique to foreign guests are “Recommendation” and “Booking flexibility”, while the dimensions unique to domestic guests are “Revisit” and “Cleanliness”. This study provides both theoretical and practical implications for peer-to-peer accommodation hosts and platforms. For example, Airbnb hosts can improve the satisfaction of Airbnb guests by improving several common extracted topics (e.g., amenities quality and host response) and the fact that foreign guests care more about homeliness, while domestic guests pay more attention to the check-in process and house design and decoration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

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Review

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Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Investigating Circular Business Model Innovation through Keywords Analysis

Barbara Bigliardi

and

Serena Filippelli

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5036; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095036 - 30 Apr 2021

Viewed by 553

Abstract

Ongoing economic, social and environmental developments have forced the production system to undertake a profound transformation, shifting from a linear to a circular model. The transformation towards a circular economy poses significant challenges for established companies, in many cases requiring a strong modification of their current business models, start-ups and new ventures. Firms need to completely rethink their value proposition, modifying how the product or service is produced, delivered to the customers and disposed of. As a result, interest in business model innovation with a view to a circular system has increased significantly over the last five years, leading to a flourishing literature production. Although several literature reviews have been published on the topic of the circular business model, few of them include the innovation dimension. Moreover, the time horizon covered by the previous reviews extends to 2019 and in one case to 2020. Since 2020 saw a 135% increase in scientific production compared to the previous year, it is necessary to update the prior works, taking into account the new contributions. Our paper aims to bridge this gap by proposing a literature review based on keywords analysis. In this way, it is possible to analyze the issues addressed in the circular business model innovation (CMBI) by categorizing them as core, emerging/phantom, trendy or intermittent. This analysis is particularly suitable for identifying future research directions as signaled by the emerging themes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

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Other

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Open AccessSystematic Review

The Economic Aspect of Digital Sustainability: A Systematic Review

Livio Cricelli

and

Serena Strazzullo

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8241; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158241 - 23 Jul 2021

Viewed by 382

Abstract

In recent years, sustainability and Industry 4.0 have become crucial aspects of the global economy. Numerous studies focus on the link between environmental aspects of sustainability and Industry 4.0. On the contrary, few studies address the issue of the integration of economic sustainability and digital technologies. This paper aims to fill this gap through a systematic analysis of the literature. In particular, 32 articles were selected and following a descriptive analysis to evaluate the evolution of the theme, a content analysis was performed. The findings of this study highlight and categorize the main sustainability metrics associated with digital technologies. Specifically, the digitalization process enhances the connection of products and factories, the value chain and users to achieve a production cycle as sustainable as possible. The new technologies developed allow companies to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, increase the market share, reduce energy waste, recover and reuse the material, etc. Finally, managerial and academic contributions were identified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

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