Designing a model to measure and manage the implementation of green initiatives at South African universities

  • Received December 19, 2022;
    Accepted February 8, 2023;
    Published February 21, 2023
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ee.14(1).2023.01
  • Article Info
    Volume 14 2023, Issue #1, pp. 1-12
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

South African universities experience increased pressure to comply with and implement environmentally friendly practices. Specifically, state-funded universities need to enhance environmental management efficiency and environmental awareness. However, measuring the implementation of green initiatives in higher education takes time and effort. South African models for state-funded universities are absent, and international models are inapplicable. Therefore, this study aims to develop and empirically test the model by investigating existing theories and models and identifying potential factors for higher education. The paper determined ten initial factors from 31 environmental studies, limiting their number to five. The finally selected factors are cost of green products, awareness, training and education, top management attitude and commitment, committee for sustainable accountability, and digital transformation. This qualitative study uses a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire sampling 149 university managers. Structural equation modeling retained three of the original five factors in the model: cost of green products, top management attitude and commitment, and digital transformation. However, knowledge of the environment (SRW = 0.76) is also crucial. Ten theoretical measuring criteria are retained as valid measures of implementing green initiatives. The model has good fit indices (CMin/Df = 4.07, CFI = 0.944, GFI = 0.909), despite RMSEA exceeding 0.10. The developed conceptual model can be used to measure the implementation of green initiatives by South African state-funded universities.

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    • Figure 1. Conceptual model
    • Figure 2. A model to measure and manage green initiatives at public universities
    • Table 1. Green initiatives implementation models and factors examined
    • Table 2. Measuring criteria and theoretical support
    • Table 3. Sample adequacy and sphericity
    • Table 4. Validity and composite reliability
    • Table 5. Goodness of fit indices
    • Conceptualization
      Lelo Tshivhase, Christo Bisschoff
    • Project administration
      Lelo Tshivhase
    • Validation
      Lelo Tshivhase, Christo Bisschoff
    • Writing – original draft
      Lelo Tshivhase
    • Formal Analysis
      Christo Bisschoff
    • Methodology
      Christo Bisschoff
    • Writing – review & editing
      Christo Bisschoff