College and university dining services administrators' intention to adopt sustainable practices: Results from US institutions
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 11 April 2011
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine college and university dining services administrators' (CUDSAs) intention to adopt sustainable practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The theory of planned behavior (TPB) including constructs of subjective norm (SN), attitude, perceived behavior control, and personal norm (PN), formed the theoretical framework. A web‐based questionnaire was developed, pretested, and distributed to 535 CUDSAs in the USA.
Findings
Results indicated that SN (pressure from others) had the most influence on CUDSAs' intention to adopt sustainable practices, followed by attitude and PN. Including the PN construct in the TPB model reduced unexplained variance by 33.48 percent.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of this research are generalizability of results due to use of a sample of US members of a professional organization (National Association of College and University Food Services) and low response rate.
Practical implications
Results suggest that pressure from college administrators and students has the greatest impact on CUDSAs' decisions to adopt sustainable practices.
Originality/value
The question of why some university dining operations are models for sustainability and others have few sustainable practices has not been explored. The dining services' director plays a key role in determining sustainability efforts for that operation. This research explored factors influencing a director's intention to adopt sustainable practices.
Keywords
Citation
Chen, C.(R)., Gregoire, M.B., Arendt, S. and Shelley, M.C. (2011), "College and university dining services administrators' intention to adopt sustainable practices: Results from US institutions", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 145-162. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371111118200
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited