The use of the theory of planned behaviour to assess graduate attributes for sustainability

Abstract

Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve as an important feedback loop for developing and advancing sustainability in higher education. A knowledge gap exists between graduate learning outcomes and employability skills, with little exploration of the methods to collect evidence of such relationships. This paper presents the results of a study to measure the uptake and application of sustainability attributes by graduates, post degree-completion. The study developed and trialled a graduate attribute assessment tool informed by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The results demonstrate that the graduates sampled understood what was required for them to act sustainably and showed preparedness to act appropriately. However, these actions were moderated by the influence of key stakeholders and work-place contexts.

Keywords:

• Employability
• capabilities
• sustainability education
• work-readiness
• theory of planned behaviour
• graduate attributes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Australian University Quality Agency (AUQA) has been replaced by TEQSA.

2 An overview of discussion of the thinking about sustainability in relation to the outcomes of tertiary education, i.e. skills, competencies and the like has been presented in Wiek et al. (2011).

3 Means and their Standard Deviations have been computed for the responses, where: ‘Always’ was coded as 1; ‘Most of the time’ coded 2; ‘About half the time’ coded 3; ‘Sometimes’ coded 4; ‘Never’ coded 5.

4 See Holdsworth and Sandri (2014) for more detail about one of the dedicated sustainability compulsory core courses that Property, Construction and Project Management undergraduates undertake.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, Office of Learning and Teaching under Grant SD15-5122. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching.

Notes on contributors

Sarah Holdsworth

Sarah Holdsworth is an Associate Professor, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Associate Professor Holdsworth is an academic within the School of Property Construction and Project Management at RMIT. Dr Holdsworth’s professional roles involve change projects in relation to tertiary learning and teaching, academic development in higher education, and theorisations of academic identity and subjectivity. Over the past 15 years she has taught future Built Environment professionals, nationally and internationally, within the disciplines of Property, Construction, Project Management, Planning, Landscape Design, Engineering, Environment and Social Science content and concepts in the areas of sustainability and environmental management. Dr. Holdsworth’s research focus is the development of learning activities and materials to foster urgent skills for an environmentally constrained future, and devising drivers for the diffusion of sustainability studies in higher education programs. Specifically, this work focusses on understanding the diffusion and application of RMIT’s graduate attributes within its alumni, and the development of resilience in relation to undergraduate and post graduate curriculum.

Orana Sandri

Dr. Orana Sandri, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Dr. Sandri’s is a teacher and researcher in the Schools of Property Construction and Project Management, and Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne. Dr. Sandri’s PhD investigated sustainability education and related capability development through good practice learning and teaching scholarship. Her current research interest is in advancing learning and teaching in sustainability education; specifically, in the areas of learning & teaching, pedagogies, and graduate capabilities.

Ian Thomas

Ian Thomas is an Associate Professor, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Associate Professor Ian Thomas has twenty years of project and research work associated with the development of environmental education, and sustainability education, across the curricula at tertiary institutions in Australia. Ian has led research into graduate attributes and competencies in relation to employer requirements.

Peter Wong

Peter Wong is an Professor, Associte Dean Construction, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Prosessor Wong is the Associate Dean of Construction and is a leding researcher in the area of offsite construction manufacturing, virtual reality in construction, carbon accounting and reduction in built environment, organizational learning, sustainable housing, and construction dispute resolution. He is an active researcher and a founding member of the Research Centre for Integrated Project Solutions (CIPS). Further, Peter’s teaching has been highly recognised at the national and the international levels.

Andrea Chester

Professor Andrea Chester, Dean School of Education, RMIT University Professor Chester is an accomplished senior academic and executive with 20+ years’ experience in tertiary education with a track record of multi-disciplinary, cross-institutional and industry based research funding in excess of $1.5 million covering both scholarship of learning and teaching and psychology. Professor Chester has more than 100 articles, book chapters and conference presentations and supervision of more than 45 PhD, Masters and Honours students to timely completion. Professor Chester’s research focuses on how partnerships can improve learning – partnerships between students, between staff, and between students and staff.

Patricia McLaughlin

Dr. Patricia McLaughlin is an Associate Professor, School of Education RMIT University Associate Professor McLaughlin works in the School of Education at RMIT University. Her work in the university includes a background in education and cross-sector and cross-cultural skills development. She has experience in leading many OLT grants and advising on project management of funded projects will enable this project to remain on track and achieve project deliverables. She has published widely in the area of student engagement, and has led and completed a number of OLT/ALTC projects, in the areas of pathways, student diversity and student engagement. Her expertise in project management and “big picture” outcomes will provide leadership and direction for this project. She has strong connections with student equity and engagement services and has worked in industry settings prior to an academic appointment. She is currently a project team member (0.1) on the OLT STEM Ecosystem project and the OLT The Global Canopy: linking international inbound students with domestic outbound students for improved learning and global connections (SP14-4592), funded in 2014.