Sense making of (social) sustainability: a behavioral and knowledge approach

Kristian Peters, Laura Maruster, Rob van Haren, René Jorna, Niels Faber

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Although sustainability is often discussed solely in ecological terms, it
    cannot be disconnected from the way humans behave in their social environment.
    This article presents a theoretical approach toward sustainability that takes a
    human behavior and knowledge view on sustainability as a starting point.
    This approach requires that human behavior should change, individually and
    collectively, in order to achieve sustainability. Knowledge is identified as the
    driving force behind human behavior and its effect on the ecological and social
    environment. In connecting knowledge with sustainability, two concepts are
    introduced: knowledge of sustainability (KoS), which refers to the sustainability
    content of knowledge, and sustainability of knowledge (SoK), which denotes the
    dynamics of the continuing process of knowledge creation and application. To
    apply SoK and KoS, we argue that a cognitive interpretation of human behavior
    should be formulated within a knowledge management approach that incorporates the stages of knowledge creation, integration, and application and that ensures the critical evaluation of created knowledge. In order to show that our new approach is practical, we use existing research from the Dutch starch potato industry to reformulate possibilities for the enhancement of sustainability in terms of KoS
    Original languageUndefined
    Pages (from-to)8-22
    JournalInternational studies of management organization
    Volume40
    Issue number3
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    Keywords

    • sustainability
    • behavior change
    • learning

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