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Drawing on the natural resource-based view and the literature on management control systems as a package, this study aims to investigate organizations’ sustainability control systems designed to achieve the interrelated sustainability objectives of performance and reporting.

The authors use three-stage least squares regressions on archival data for a large sample of international companies.

Better environmental performance and sustainability reporting quality are related to certain control system components, and the dual objectives of sustainability performance and reporting are interrelated.

This study provides theoretical contributions and practical implications by demonstrating how a set of sustainability control components can enable better sustainability reporting and performance outcomes.

This paper aims to determine whether high school students can become agents of change in their local communities by participating in a formal internship program implemented through a partnership between academia (high schools and universities), nonprofit organizations and key community stakeholders.

Pre- and post-assessments, activity journals and on-line interviews are used to measure the impact of internships on high school students’ sustainability leadership, using a train-the-trainer intervention led by university interns. A conceptual problem-solving framework is proposed and empirically tested to explore the linkages between complex problem constellations, sustainability transition strategies and sustainability visions.

The five core leadership competencies (systems thinking, strategic, anticipatory, normative and interpersonal) may not be as uniquely discrete as suggested in the literature. An effective learning experience depends on students’ developing competence in their ability to implement a strategic intervention, which is better acquired through hands-on experience rather than a classroom setting.

Students need experiential learning outside of the classroom to make sustainability come alive as a viable option for their communities.

The principles of social responsivity, engagement, experiential learning, capacity-building and entrepreneurialism can be executed by transforming the campus into a learning lab, which includes the local community.

This study empirically demonstrates that students need involvement in strategic interventions to imagine and conceptualize sustainability visions. It also shows how academia can help fulfill the United Nations sustainable development goals.

This study aims to provide insight into the question of whether graduate students who deliver environmental education workshops/residencies to elementary school children will develop environmental sustainability leadership qualities in themselves: a goal set in the University of Calgary’s Institutional Sustainability Strategy.

Survey research was undertaken in a case study setting. The researchers collected and analyzed data related to environmental leadership qualities, using the theory of planned behavior and an adaptation of the competing values framework. Graduate students participating in the co-curricular program responded to questions about the effect that the activity had on their knowledge, awareness and leadership characteristics.

Graduate students demonstrated considerable leadership potential in environmental sustainability. The survey results showed that their participation in a community educational program impacted their attitudes and awareness favorably in developing stronger competencies for leadership. In addition, they gained real-world knowledge about environmentally sustainable practices and skills to influence pro-environmental behavior changes in the community.

Through a partnership between a non-profit organization and the university, graduate students in an interdisciplinary sustainable energy development program used their formal education and previous work experience to adapt and deliver engaging and educational environmental content to younger children. This informal co-curricular activity brought together local educational institutions, educational content providers, graduate students, and elementary school children in an effective experiential learning platform to develop leadership characteristics both in the graduate students and elementary school children.

This study aims to empirically investigate the role of organizational culture and climate in supporting intellectual capital (IC) management systems. Specifically, it seeks to investigate the relationship between organizational characteristics (culture and climate) and IC management systems in the Middle East (Iran and Lebanon) and Canada.

Data were gathered via a survey instrument and statistical analysis was used to test for significance between dependent and independent variables. Then a two‐stage hierarchical multiple regression was used to test for the nature and effects of country of origin as a moderating variable.

The findings suggest that both culture and climate play significant roles in developing management systems for IC. In addition, for country, when organizational climate improves, Middle Eastern respondents perceived an even greater improvement in IC management systems compared to their Canadian counterparts.

There is limited research that has been undertaken to compare developed and developing countries with regard to the influence of organizational characteristics on IC management systems. This research is timely given the recent publication of the Arab Human Development Report and the Arab Knowledge Report. This study provides insight into the ability of organizations in the Middle East to develop a knowledge base and reduce the knowledge gap between the Arab world and countries currently classified as knowledge intensive.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of internal variables, such as strategic governance and operational controls, along with external variables that influence sustainability reporting.

Building on the corporate governance and sustainability reporting literature, the authors develop a model to integrate external motivators and internal facilitators to determine their impact on sustainability reporting. The authors also control for a number of financial and non-financial variables that may influence sustainability reporting. The authors limit their sample to the companies in extractive industries that report their greenhouse gas emission to the Government of Canada. The authors collected the data from several data sources including secondary archival databases, newspapers, Web sites and annual reports.

Using a sample of companies in high-polluting industries, the authors found that variables representing both external pressures that act as motivators and internal controls that act as facilitators are significantly associated with enhanced sustainability reporting.

Considering the formation of several international initiatives such as International Integrated Reporting Council to improve sustainability reporting for decision-making, the authors’ research provides interesting insights both to policymakers and managers about organizational characteristics that are important to make reporting useful and relevant.

Little academic research has investigated the role of internal variables in facilitating sustainability reporting. The authors use a robust model that combines external and internal variables to more thoroughly understand the reporting process.

Illustrates the importance of a strong, implementable environmental plan and control system for the start‐up phase of a back‐country mountain biking company in the Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta, Canada. Careful planning showed that a commitment to the environment allowed the founder access to the necessary trails on public land. The key was to consider where company goals overlapped with stakeholder goals and incorporate a plan to achieve these goals. By developing a simple but effective monitoring and control system, the company was allowed to self‐regulate. The Land and Forest Service felt that the only regulation needed for Treadsoftly was adherence to its own environmental policy and monitoring its progress through its own control system. The company’s environmental management system was instrumental in receiving speedy approval for other permits and licences needed to operate in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what motivated Shell Canada, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, to be one of the first companies in the world to report its environmental initiatives in 1991. It aims to explore how Shell Canada, driven by a set of core values and business principles, continues to make strides in the quality of its sustainability reporting and communication.

Shell historical reports and documents were reviewed and interview data gathered from company personnel.

The paper reveals that Shell Canada has gained a reputation for striving toward stakeholder engagement and transparency in its reporting as well as through its actions.

The paper offers advice to other companies as to how to improve their corporate communications regarding their environmental and sustainability performance.

The paper demonstrates Shell Canada's efforts to initiate transparent sustainable development reporting and stakeholder engagement, two areas in which other companies can learn from Shell Canada.

The purpose of this study is to determine what initiatives have been undertaken by universities across North America in implementing environmental management systems (EMS). Many universities have discovered that their activities can have significant impacts on the environment. As a result, some institutions have implemented systems to help them organize activities in order to recognize and reduce adverse environmental effects. This paper contributes to our understanding of these systems. A framework is developed that identifies important characteristics of effective EMS currently in use at some North American universities. The framework also provides guidance for those universities that have not yet developed effective EMS.

The management of intellectual capital (IC) within organizations depends on appropriate organizational structures and characteristics. This paper seeks to argue that certain structural, cultural, and climate characteristics will lead to more effective IC management.

The paper reviews the theoretical and empirical IC literature, as well as the literatures regarding organic environments, trust, participative decision making, and creative renewal processes, to develop a model relating to the antecedent conditions necessary for the management of IC.

The model developed will assist researchers in the identification and exploration of variables linked to the effective management of IC within organizations.

It is concluded that managers of organizations need to create organic structures, build trust with employees, encourage creative renewal, and develop participative decision‐making processes.

By integrating several fields of the literature that relate to IC management, the paper suggests propositions that deserve future research consideration.

This study sets out to examine how organizational characteristics are related to intellectual capital and how these variables are different between Canadian and Middle East contexts.

A questionnaire was developed to measure the four major study constructs, i.e. intellectual capital, culture, climate, and organizational traits. Each of these constructs was represented by a number of subscales that were subjected to ANOVA and correlations to test the hypotheses.

The analysis showed that all three categories of characteristics (culture, climate, and other traits) are significantly correlated with IC management. The results also indicated significant differences in all organizational characteristics and IC management between Canada and the Middle East.

Culture, climate, and other traits are important enablers for the effective management of IC. Although the research tested three culture variables, four climate variables, and two other traits, future research should investigate these variables and the interactions among them more thoroughly.

The results have implications for organizations operating in different international contexts. Managers can use the results for more effective and efficient management of organizational characteristics that would foster IC management.

The research provides a comprehensive study of enablers of effective IC management, an area of study that has not received much attention in the past. It also provides insight as to why effective IC management may be more successful in certain countries.