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The relationship with internal and external actors on the part of higher education institutions (HEIs) is a fundamental factor for them to fully exercise their role in sustainable development and the evolution of individuals, organizations and society as a whole. In this sense, this study aims to analyze the literature about stakeholder management in HEIs and to provide guidelines to support managers of HEIs to enhance stakeholder management practices.

This research was conducted through a bibliometric analysis followed by a content analysis to propose the guidelines to support HEIs’ managers in improving stakeholder management practices.

The guidelines were proposed for each of the following seven areas: engagement and governance; innovation and knowledge management; education for sustainable development; responsible research, innovation and collaborative partnerships; organisational change management; social responsibility; and performance management and sustainability report.

Although the topic addressed has gained traction in the academic community, the literature fails to provide guidelines to support managers of HEIs enhance stakeholder management practices. From a theoretical standpoint, the increasing recognition of the importance of stakeholder engagement reflects a paradigm shift in understanding sustainability and social responsibility in HEIs. On a practical level, managers can use the guidelines to promote effective dialogue, increase stakeholder engagement and collaborative partnerships.

This study aims, from the perspective of the recovery of sustainability, to develop a framework on sustainability and innovation in the formation of engineers in the courses of Engineering in the Brazilian Amazon.

For this work, a quantitative approach was adopted in the research process. A survey instrument was developed from the main evidence in the literature, the electronic instrument in Google Forms, was sent in the period from November 2022 to February 2023 to engineering students from public institutions in the Brazilian eastern Amazon, who had 80% of the course completed and graduates.

Of the students and graduates who responded to the survey, 58% are male and 42% female, with an average age of 24 years, 72% who have the 8th semester, 28% graduates. As for the practices, they stand out with the highest average degree of agreement in the innovation aspect formation of partnerships and fostering creativity and innovation; in the sustainability aspect the study of sustainability helps to understand the environmental, social and economic challenges and importance of training for sustainability and innovation; in the sustainable recovery aspect, the interaction between university and local community and new research can contribute to the recovery of sustainability and in the SDGs 6 and 8.

This paper presents the perceptions of engineering students and graduates from the Brazilian Amazon, which is considered one of the most strategic regions for the country and internationally in terms of environmental challenges. The main evidence shows that there is a need to adapt academic curricula, seeking to focus on projects that promote participation and the creation of trends aimed at social problems and the current demands of the society in which they are inserted.

This research aims to understand the primary challenges encountered by entrepreneurs operating in emerging economies, where entrepreneurship plays a vital role. The study places a particular emphasis on entrepreneurs in Brazil.

The research methodology involved the analysis of data obtained from interviews, using both content analysis and Grey Relational Analysis techniques.

The analysis revealed several prominent difficulties that entrepreneurs face in these domains. These challenges encompassed issues such as grappling with intricate taxation systems and the associated tax burden, navigating government bureaucracy, securing access to essential financing and initial investments, contending with the absence of supportive government programs and addressing the dynamic nature of market conditions. The findings on the most critical barriers reveal potential pathways for entrepreneurs, policymakers and universities to act in developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in emerging economies.

The insights garnered from this research have the potential to inform the formulation of robust public policies aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging countries. Furthermore, these findings can serve as a valuable resource for planning initiatives designed to train engineers to become successful entrepreneurs.

This paper aims to analyze the main challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) in managing multi-sided platforms (MSP) in Brazil, as well as to understand the differences between this management model and traditional companies.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced professionals in the field, focusing on challenges, CSFs and difficulties in managing MSP businesses. The data were analyzed using a mixed-method approach, involving content analysis for qualitative data and grey relational analysis and sensitivity analysis for quantitative data.

The experts identified eight CSFs, seven key differences between traditional businesses and MSPs, and five technology-related challenges in managing MSPs. They assessed the main difficulties reported in the literature and ranked them, with the most critical challenges being competition with companies adopting MSP models in the same sector (product/service niche) and the necessity for ongoing process adjustments to accommodate scalability.

This study enhances understanding of CSF, disparities between traditional and MSPs and technology-related challenges in this management model. The results can assist managers in emerging nations in enhancing the performance of MSP operations and can be a resource for researchers studying various contexts and creating company guidelines.

The purpose of this paper is to examine competence management practices in Brazilian industries using ISO 10015 as a framework of analysis, which establishes guidelines for competence management and people development.

A survey was conducted with 22 high-qualified human resources management (HRM) professionals (81.8% of participants hold a PhD) with extensive experience in the Brazilian industrial sector (an average of 20.4 years). The experts assessed 13 practices (P) elaborated based on the ISO 10015:2020, considering two categories: large industries (LI) and small and medium-sized industries (SMI). Data analysis was performed using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, frequency analysis, Fuzzy TOPSIS and sensitivity analysis.

The practice “individual competences are correctly defined by organizations at all hierarchical levels” was deemed the best practice for LIs, while the practice “clear definition of activities and their specificities when structuring competence management and people development programs” was considered the best practice for SMIs. The practice “organizations map employees' future competence and development needs on a regular basis” received the lowest rating for both LIs and SMIs. When compared to LIs, SMIs have more severe deficiencies in applying competence management practices. The study's findings can be of great value in assisting managers in implementing structured competence management systems and people development initiatives.

The findings of this study can be used by managers of businesses of all sizes and economic sectors to analyze their critical points in order to identify opportunities to improve their competence management systems and people development programs.

This study fills a knowledge gap by analyzing the adoption of competence management practices in Brazil, answering the call for HRM research in developing countries. By using ISO 10015 as a framework of analysis, this study also addresses the literature gap regarding this important and relatively new management tool.

Sustainability has become a global concern to deal with complex and unprecedent survival, social, political and peace issues. Higher education institutions play a key role in this transformation. This paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis by continents of innovation and sustainability barriers in universities. The document also offers opportunities and potential actions for universities to create initiatives to minimize barriers and move towards a sustainable future.

To carry out the study, 25 closed questions, composed of a five-point Likert scale, were applied to 283 university representatives (rectors, managers or specialists in the area of innovation and sustainability), to check the degree of application of the questionnaire.

From an exploratory statistical analysis, it was found that the main barriers were lacking of planning and focus, lacking of environmental committee, lacking of applicability and continuity of actions and resistance to changes. Among continents, Africa and Oceania presented the best innovation and sustainability indicators in universities. The main approach of this exploratory study on barriers in universities is as an international research, whose findings showed that several barriers currently prevent universities from getting involved in sustainable development efforts. However, as we debate sustainable development, which is gaining momentum, universities are supposed to move forward to overcome barriers for the sake of implementing goals and initiatives. In addition, universities must seize opportunities to contribute through innovation in teaching, research and initiatives to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals.

This study has two main limitations: first, online research has involved professionals working in the field of sustainable development in higher education. Second, there were no interviews conducted to gather personal information with students and servers. However, the broad scope of the study and its strong international base provide important results that enable the design of an adequate profile of sustainability and innovation challenges that are currently found in universities.

The study showed that there is lack of knowledge management to connect science, technology, innovation and sustainability, to improve management conditions, innovate, make decisions, support initiatives, create incentives and control mechanisms. Trends suggest that future professional activities involve skills in dealing with complex problems, sometimes in careers and jobs yet to be created. Traditional teaching methods are generally only prepared for routine tasks and for existing jobs, thus requiring the creation of new approaches capable of stimulating creativity and autonomy, which are essential for the present and future demands of innovation and sustainability.

The exploratory study on barriers in universities brings international research as main approach, which made it possible to check that several barriers currently prevent universities from getting involved in sustainable development efforts. However, as we debate sustainable development, which is gaining momentum, it is important that universities should move forward to overcome the barriers to implementation of goals and initiatives. In addition, universities should take advantage of opportunities to contribute through innovation in teaching, research and action to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals.

Developed countries are leaders in promoting sustainability, while developing or underdeveloped countries are laggards. In this approach, the study sought to verify the differences through a comparative analysis across continents. As for originality and innovation, this paper presents an international study in the view of specialists who respond based on the experience of their university.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse through a systematic literature review the evolution of the theme of environmental social and governance (ESG) in universities, correlating variables and presenting a panorama for Latin American universities.

This paper uses a systematic literature review approach. The Web of Science database was used for data collection, and a set of keywords (Environmental, Social and Governance × Universities) and a classification method were used, resulting in 111 articles classified in the Zotero software. After classification, these publications were analysed in the VOSviewer software.

The main evidence about ESG and universities shows that its relevance has been growing worldwide with an emphasis on England, the USA, Spain, followed by Brazil in fourth place regarding the number of papers published worldwide. The most representative areas identified were governance, sustainability, higher education, sustainable campus, environmental science, ecology, science and technology. The journals presenting more published papers under the topic are International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Journal of Cleaner Production and Sustainability. As for the most relevant authors, the Europeans Lozano and Leal Filho, Velasquez from Mexico and Brandli from Brazil were identified. As for institutions, the University Durham, State University System of Florida and State University of Campinas do Brazil stand out.

As the main limitation of the study is related to the sample of articles. This study is focused on the analysis of publications from the last decade, presenting only 111 results. However, this restriction in the timeline is justified as it is a new topic; this study was also limited to the use of a single database; in this sense, future research can carry out a more comprehensive review of the sustainability literature covering periods prior to a decade and an analysis in other databases.

These results provide a basis for improving sustainability in universities and ESG in Latin America. It also allows to explore and reflect on several indicators, enabling the evaluation and planning of actions to improve competitiveness.

This study aims to investigate the contribution of higher education institutions (HEIs) to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and propose strategies to cultivate a culture centred on the SDGs in HEIs.

The methodology used encompassed an integrative literature review, combining bibliographic analysis on how HEIs incorporate the SDGs into their practices, adopting a qualitative approach for the analysis and categorization of the results.

The multifaceted contributions of HEIs in promoting the SDGs stand out, through their roles in teaching, research, management and integration and communication between university and society.

While influencing policies at various levels, HEIs encounter challenges in the effective integration of SDGs into their strategies. This underscores the need for contextualized governance, understanding students’ perspectives on sustainability and active external collaboration in policy formulation.

There is an urgent need to integrate SDGs into academic programmes, emphasizing the importance of redesigning curricula, actively involving teachers, researchers and students, establishing partnerships and promoting research applied to SDGs.

The social relevance of the study lies in the emphasis on an SDG-centred culture, involving teaching, research, outreach, community engagement and governance practices.

The study’s uniqueness lies in identifying persistent challenges during the transition to an SDG-centred culture, necessitating multisectoral collaboration and educational programmes that integrate sustainability principles into the strategy of HEIs.

Studies have shown that higher education institutions (HEIs) need to achieve deep organizational learning to develop and implement long-term strategies for responding to the climate crisis. This study aims to analyze the sustainability efforts of HEIs, in particular those who use the sustainability tracking, assessment and rating system (STARS), to ascertain what type of organizational learning is being achieved.

This paper does this by analyzing perceptions of learning amongst this group of HEIs. More specifically, it analyzes survey data regarding perceptions of types and system levels of organizational learning achieved by 116 HEIs in the USA that currently use or have used STARS in the past. The approach also aims to develop a macro view of the relationships between practicing campus sustainability, using sustainability reporting tools and learning as an organization.

An examination of the practice of campus sustainability and its relationship to organizational learning reveals that the use of sustainability reporting promotes broad learning, but deep learning at the level of the organization is seldom achieved.

Given the success of using sustainability reporting tools to diffuse knowledge and foster broad learning, this paper argues that such tools should incorporate more metrics relative to soft organizational characteristics of HEIs to shift organizational cultures and foster deeper organizational learning.

This work constitutes one of the few studies analyzing empirical data on campus sustainability, sustainability reporting and organizational learning for a large number of HEIs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of institutions and policies on growth convergence in Africa.

This study uses different methods of panel modelling on a panel of 50 African Countries covering a period of 1990-2014.

The results confirmed the presence of conditional convergence among countries in the region. On the average, technology accumulation and fiscal policies indicators are positive function of growth, while human resources, monetary policies indicators and ineffective institutions partly necessitated by poor level of development negatively impact growth. The study concludes, though traditional growth variables and policies are imperative in achieving growth in income, they remain insufficient in an environment characterize by extractive and absolutist institutions. Therefore, institution remains the link that bridges the gap in between proper mix of resources and policies.

Based on the results, policy-makers in the region should allocate certain percentage of their resources (on a sustainable basis) towards building a qualitative institution. Also, future studies on Africa should be focused on the rate at which poor level of economic development determines the quality of institutions which in turn impacts the level of growth in income.

The study contributes to the existing literature on institutional convergence with particular focus on African countries using system GMM to capture the endogeneity among the series.