Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
- Dissertation (257) (entfernen)
Sprache
- Englisch (257) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Nachhaltigkeit (20)
- Biodiversität (8)
- Entrepreneurship (8)
- Sustainability (7)
- Landwirtschaft (6)
- sustainability (5)
- Tourismus (4)
- Transformation (4)
- biodiversity (4)
- Agriculture (3)
- Arzneimittel (3)
- Energiewende (3)
- Entwicklungsländer (3)
- Governance (3)
- Kulturlandschaft (3)
- Negotiation (3)
- Steuerungsprozesse (3)
- Unternehmensgründung (3)
- social-ecological systems (3)
- Ökosystem (3)
- Abwasseranalyse (2)
- Arbeitsmotivation (2)
- Autonomes Fahren (2)
- Biodegradation (2)
- Energiepolitik (2)
- Energy Policy (2)
- Ethiopia (2)
- Europäische Union (2)
- Gesundheitswesen (2)
- Healthcare (2)
- Internationaler Vergleich (2)
- Israel (2)
- Management (2)
- Nachhaltige Entwicklung (2)
- Nutzerverhalten (2)
- Pestizid (2)
- Pharmaceuticals (2)
- Photolysis (2)
- Sediment (2)
- Training (2)
- Umweltbezogenes Management (2)
- Unternehmen (2)
- Verantwortung (2)
- Verhandlung (2)
- Vorstand (2)
- cultural landscape (2)
- developing countries (2)
- entrepreneurship (2)
- landscape ecology (2)
- Äthiopien (2)
- Ökologie (2)
- Abbau (1)
- Abwassermarkierungsstoffe (1)
- Abwasserreinigung (1)
- Activated Sludge (1)
- Afghanistan (1)
- African Union (1)
- Agency-Theorie (1)
- Agrarsystem (1)
- Algenkultur (1)
- Anden (1)
- Antibiotikum (1)
- Anticancer Drug (1)
- Antriebstechnik (1)
- Aquatic environment (1)
- Arbeitsbedingungen (1)
- Arbeitsmarkt (1)
- Arbeitsökonomie (1)
- Arctic Atmosphere (1)
- Arktis (1)
- Artenreichtum (1)
- Atmosphäre (1)
- Auditing (1)
- Aufsichtsrat (1)
- Bakterien (1)
- Bank (1)
- Bank Bailout (1)
- Bankenkrise (1)
- Bankenrettung (1)
- Banking Crisis (1)
- Baum (1)
- Bee (1)
- Bees (1)
- Benzopyrane (1)
- Berufsvorbereitung (1)
- Beschäftigungspflicht (1)
- Bestäuber (1)
- Betrieb / Umwelt (1)
- Bevölkerungsökonomie (1)
- Biene (1)
- Bienen (1)
- Big Data (1)
- Biochar (1)
- Biodegradability (1)
- Biodiversity (1)
- Biofilm (1)
- Biologische Abbaubarkeit (1)
- Biomass burning (1)
- Biotechnologie (1)
- Bondholder Relations (1)
- China (1)
- Citizen Science (1)
- Civic Engagement (1)
- Climate Simulation (1)
- Coastel environment (1)
- Cognition (1)
- Collaborative Initiative (1)
- Compensation (1)
- Computerspiel (1)
- Consumer Behaviour (1)
- Consumer Protection (1)
- Controlling (1)
- Corporate Bond (1)
- Corporate Disclosure (1)
- Corporate Entrepreneurship (1)
- Damascus (1)
- Damaskus (1)
- Data Mining (1)
- Datenanalyse (1)
- Decision-Making (1)
- Degradation (1)
- Depression (1)
- Derivate (1)
- Derivatives (1)
- Deutschland (1)
- Developing countries (1)
- Digital Learning (1)
- Digitales Lernen (1)
- Digitalisierung (1)
- Discourse Studies (1)
- Discrimination (1)
- Disease Resistance (1)
- Diskriminierung (1)
- Diversität (1)
- Driving Behaviour (1)
- E-Learning (1)
- EU Water Framework Directive (1)
- Economic behavior (1)
- Ecosystem services (1)
- Ecuador (1)
- Effizienzanalyse (1)
- Egypt (1)
- Eigeninitiative (1)
- Eisenbahn (1)
- Elektrifizierung (1)
- Elektromobilität (1)
- Emission (1)
- Emission model (1)
- Emissionsmodell (1)
- Employee Health (1)
- Employee Management (1)
- Energie (1)
- Energieeffizienz (1)
- Energiepreis (1)
- Energy Prices (1)
- Energy Transition (1)
- Entrepeneurship (1)
- Entscheidungsprozess (1)
- Environmental Communication (1)
- Environmental Monitoring (1)
- Environmental governance (1)
- Erneuerbare Energien (1)
- Ernährungslage (1)
- Error Management (1)
- Europa (1)
- European Union (1)
- Exportverhalten (1)
- Fahrerverhalten (1)
- Familienbetrieb (1)
- Familienunternehmen (1)
- Family Firm (1)
- Fatty Acids (1)
- Fehleranalyse (1)
- Fehlerbehandlung (1)
- Fehlermanagement (1)
- Fehlerverhütung (1)
- Ferntourismus (1)
- Feuchtgebiet (1)
- Financial Reporting (1)
- Financial Stability (1)
- Finanzierung (1)
- Finanzstabilität (1)
- Fischerei (1)
- Flammschutzmittel (1)
- Flood (1)
- Fonds (1)
- Food Security (1)
- Forschung und Entwicklung (1)
- Forschungsevaluation (1)
- Franchising (1)
- Fremdkapital (1)
- Fremdsprachenlernen (1)
- Führung (1)
- Führungskräfte (1)
- GIS (1)
- Gamification (1)
- Gamifizierung (1)
- Gender Roles (1)
- Generationengerechtigkeit (1)
- Geoinformationssystem (1)
- Gerechtigkeit (1)
- Geschlechterrollen (1)
- Geschäftsführung (1)
- Gesetzgebung (1)
- Gesundheitspolitik (1)
- Gewässer (1)
- Gewässerbelastung (1)
- Globalisierung (1)
- Graslandschaft (1)
- Grundschüler (1)
- Harz (1)
- Heide (1)
- Hochschulwahl (1)
- Holocene (1)
- Hydrological tracers (1)
- Immunity (1)
- Indien (1)
- Informationsmanagement (1)
- Insekten (1)
- Institutional Change (1)
- Institutional change (1)
- Institutioneller Wandel (1)
- Insurance (1)
- Interessenverband (1)
- Intergenerational justice (1)
- Internationale Organisation (1)
- Internet (1)
- Investition (1)
- Jordan (1)
- Kleinbauer (1)
- Kleinunternehmen (1)
- Klimamodell (1)
- Klimasimulation (1)
- Klimaänderung (1)
- Kläranlage (1)
- Kognition (1)
- Kollaborative Initiative (1)
- Kommunikationstraining (1)
- Konsum (1)
- Konsumentenverhalten (1)
- Krankheitsresistenz (1)
- Kulturelle Entwicklung (1)
- Kulturraum (1)
- Kulturwirtschaft (1)
- Käfer (1)
- Künstliche Intelligenz (1)
- Küstengebiet (1)
- Labor Economics (1)
- Labor market (1)
- Landnutzung (1)
- Landschaftsschutz (1)
- Landschaftsökologie (1)
- Laufkäfer (1)
- Learning Process (1)
- Lebensraum (1)
- Lebensunterhalt (1)
- Legislation (1)
- Leistungsbewertung (1)
- Lernprozess (1)
- Lernsoftware (1)
- Leverage-Effekt (1)
- Lieferketten (1)
- Lipids (1)
- Liquiditätsrisiko (1)
- Lobbyismus (1)
- Luftaustausch (1)
- Ländlicher Raum (1)
- Löhne (1)
- Machine Learning (1)
- Marketing (1)
- Meereis (1)
- Meerwasser (1)
- Menschenhandel (1)
- Mental Disorder (1)
- Mental Health (1)
- Mercury (1)
- Mindset (1)
- Mitarbeiterführung (1)
- Mitarbeitergesundheit (1)
- Monitoring (1)
- Motivation (1)
- Nachfolge (1)
- Namibia (1)
- Natural Language Processing (1)
- Naturschutz (1)
- Neoinstitutionalismus (1)
- Network Analysis (1)
- Network Data (1)
- Netzwerkanalyse (1)
- Netzwerkdaten (1)
- New Economy (1)
- Nichtstaatliche Organisation (1)
- Niederschlag (1)
- Non-Governmental Organisation (1)
- Nordseeküste (1)
- Nährstoffmangel (1)
- Older Workers (1)
- Online Behaviour (1)
- Online-Marketing (1)
- Onlineverhalten (1)
- Optionsschein (1)
- Organisationswandel (1)
- Ozonisierung (1)
- Ozonungsprodukte (1)
- PFCs (1)
- Palaeoclimate (1)
- Paläoklima (1)
- Participation (1)
- Partizipation (1)
- Peru (1)
- Pesticide formulation (1)
- Pflanzen (1)
- Pflege (1)
- Philippinen (1)
- Philippines (1)
- Photodegradation (1)
- Pleistozän (1)
- Polarraum (1)
- Population Economics (1)
- Post (1)
- Postal sector (1)
- Precipitation (1)
- Preisrisiko (1)
- Prestige (1)
- Product Marketing (1)
- Produktivität (1)
- Produktmarketing (1)
- Prüfungsqualität (1)
- Psychische Gesundheit (1)
- Psychische Störung (1)
- Pupils (1)
- Quartär (1)
- Quaternary (1)
- Quecksilber (1)
- Regionalentwicklung (1)
- Regionalism (1)
- Reisen (1)
- Reiseveranstalter (1)
- Reiseverhalten (1)
- Religion (1)
- Renaturierung <Ökologie> (1)
- Renewable Energies (1)
- Research Evaluation (1)
- Research and Development (1)
- Resin (1)
- Restoration <Ecology> (1)
- Retirement (1)
- Risikobewertung (1)
- Risikokapital (1)
- Ruhestand (1)
- Räumliche Verteilung (1)
- Samen (1)
- Saving (1)
- Schadstoff (1)
- Schwerbehinderter (1)
- Schädlingsbekämpfung (1)
- Schüler (1)
- Sea Ice (1)
- Selbstdarstellung (1)
- Selbstregulation (1)
- Selbstschutz (1)
- Selbständigkeit (1)
- Social entrepreneurship (1)
- Social standards (1)
- Software (1)
- Soil quality (1)
- Soziales Engagement (1)
- Soziales System (1)
- Space Policy (1)
- Sparen (1)
- Stickstoffbelastung (1)
- Strukturfonds (1)
- Städtebau (1)
- Städtische Bauplanung (1)
- Sub-Saharan Africa (1)
- Subsaharisches Afrika (1)
- Sustainability Research (1)
- Syrien (1)
- Süßstoff (1)
- Teamführung (1)
- Terrorismus (1)
- Textilindustrie (1)
- Theater (1)
- Thermal energy storage (1)
- Totholz (1)
- Tourism (1)
- Toxicity (1)
- Transdisciplinarity (1)
- Transition Management (1)
- Transitionsmanagement (1)
- Transnational civil society (1)
- Trinkwasser (1)
- UV photolysis (1)
- Umweltbelastung (1)
- Umweltbildung (1)
- Umweltgefährdung (1)
- Umweltkommunikation (1)
- Umweltplanung (1)
- Umweltüberwachung (1)
- University Choice (1)
- Unternehmensbezogene Dienstleistung (1)
- Unternehmenserfolg (1)
- Unternehmenskultur (1)
- Unternehmensperformance (1)
- Unternehmensplanung (1)
- Unternehmer (1)
- Unternehmertum (1)
- Unternehmerverhalten (1)
- Urban Planning (1)
- User Behaviour (1)
- Vagheit (1)
- Verbraucherschutz (1)
- Verbundwirtschaft (1)
- Vereinigte Staaten (1)
- Vergütung (1)
- Verhalten (1)
- Verhandlungsergebnis (1)
- Verhandlungsführung (1)
- Versicherung (1)
- Versicherungswert (1)
- Verteilungsgerechtigkeit (1)
- Vertical Linkages (1)
- Vertikale Bindung (1)
- Vertikale Verknüpfungen (1)
- Verwaltung (1)
- Wald (1)
- Waldökosystem (1)
- Warrants (1)
- Wasserbehandlung (1)
- Wasserqualität (1)
- Wasserverschmutzung (1)
- Wasserwirtschaft (1)
- Wasserzyklus (1)
- Wastewater treatment plant (1)
- Water Pollution (1)
- Water Quality (1)
- Water Recycling (1)
- Water Resources Management (1)
- Water treatment (1)
- Weather Parameter (1)
- Weide (1)
- Weltraumpolitik (1)
- Werbewirkung (1)
- Werbung (1)
- Wetter (1)
- Widerstandsfähigkeit (1)
- Windenergie (1)
- Wirtschaftliches Wachstum (1)
- Wirtschaftsbericht (1)
- Wirtschaftsprüfung (1)
- Wissensmanagement (1)
- Work Motivation (1)
- Wärmespeicher (1)
- Zahnschmelz (1)
- Zugeständnis (1)
- agriculture (1)
- algal-bacterial culture (1)
- atmosphere (1)
- bacterial composition (1)
- biotechnology (1)
- business creation (1)
- business services (1)
- calluna vulgaris (1)
- capital requirements (1)
- career (1)
- career preparation (1)
- challenge (1)
- climate change (1)
- conceptual vagueness (1)
- cultural landscapes (1)
- democratic theory (1)
- disability (1)
- dstributive justice (1)
- ecosystem functioning (1)
- emerging pollutants (1)
- employment quota (1)
- energy efficiency (1)
- energy transition (1)
- environmental management (1)
- environmental manager (1)
- environmental risk (1)
- environmental strategy (1)
- farmland birds (1)
- fishery (1)
- forest ecology (1)
- genotoxicity (1)
- global tourism (1)
- governance (1)
- health care market (1)
- heathland ecosystems (1)
- information management (1)
- insurance value (1)
- justice (1)
- knowledge management (1)
- land-use change (1)
- leadership (1)
- lobbyism (1)
- management control (1)
- nitrogen deposition (1)
- nutrient limitation (1)
- nutrient removal (1)
- ozonation products (1)
- parasitoids (1)
- pesticides (1)
- rangelands (1)
- resilience (1)
- responsibility (1)
- seawater (1)
- seed predation (1)
- self-protection (1)
- self-regulation (1)
- spatial distribution (1)
- species diversity (1)
- startup (1)
- sustainability accounting (1)
- sustainibility (1)
- temporal trends (1)
- terrorism (1)
- textile supply chain (1)
- tourism future (1)
- training (1)
- transformation (1)
- transformation products (1)
- travel behavior (1)
- venture capital (1)
- wages (1)
- wastewater tracers (1)
- wastewater treatment (1)
- water resources management (1)
- wetlands (1)
- whole mixture toxicity (1)
- wind energy (1)
- work engagement (1)
- Ägypten (1)
- Älterer Arbeitnehmer (1)
- Ökosystemmanagement (1)
- Überschwemmung (1)
- Überzeugung (1)
Institut
- Fakultät Nachhaltigkeit (92)
- Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften (60)
- Institut für Ökologie (IE) (27)
- Nachhaltigkeitsmgmt./-ökologie (18)
- Institut für Nachhaltigkeitssteuerung (INSUGO) (12)
- BWL (11)
- Institut für Nachhaltige Chemie und Umweltchemie (INUC) (11)
- Chemie (10)
- Fakultät Kulturwissenschaften (10)
- Fakultät Management und Technologie (9)
Undertaking local actions, such as implementing public (sustainability) policy, plays a crucial role in achieving sustainable development (SD) at the municipal level. In this regard, indicator-based assessment supports effective implementation by measuring the SD process, based upon evidence-based outcomes that indicators produce. Over the last decade, using subjective indicators, which rely on an individual's self-perception to measure subjects, has gained its significance in sustainability assessment, in line with the increasing importance of signifying individual's and community's well-being (WB) in the context of SD. This study aims to discuss and clarify the scope and functions of subjective sustainable development indicators (SDIs) conceptually and theoretically while examining the usability of such indicators employed in the practice of assessing sustainability policy and action process in a Japanese municipality. Furthermore, the potential usability of using subjective SDIs in monitoring a municipal initiative of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is also explanatorily examined. The present paper consists of a framework paper and three individual studies. In the framework paper, Section 1 introduces the global transition of SD discourse and the role that local authorities and implementing public policy play in achieving SD while outlining how WB positions in the SD context. Section 2 provides a brief overview of the major scope of overall SDIs at the conceptual and theoretical levels. Section 3 defines WB in the study's own right while exploring the scope of indicators measuring WB. In addition, this study strives to further clarify the peculiar scope of SDIs, measuring WB by synthesising the findings. Section 4 overviews how SD at the municipal level in Japan is practiced while acknowledging the extent to which residents perceive WB and SDGs in policymaking. Section 5 provides a brief yet extensive summary of the three individual studies. Section 6 discusses the findings while presenting implications for further study and practices of subjective SDIs. Furthermore, the three individual studies provide a thorough and in-depth discussion of the study subject. Study 1 illustrates the SD trend at the municipal level in Japan and the growing recognition of using subjective SDIs in public (sustainability) policy assessment in exploring comparative SDI systems to municipality groups. The findings, in turn, raise the need for a further study on subjective SDIs. Study 2 extensively discusses the concept of WB as the overarching subject to be measured while examining varying approaches and scopes of SDIs. It identifies three differentiated WB (i.e., material and social objective WB as well as subjective WB) and distinctive approaches of subjective SDIs (i.e., expert-led and citizen-based approaches) alongside objective SDIs. The findings suggest that these SDIs identified are, conceptually, most capable of measuring associated WB; for instance, citizen-based subjective SDIs can most optimally measure subjective WB. Finally, Study 3 examines the usability of (citizen-based) subjective SDIs in a practice of assessing public policy, aiming at municipal SD, and the potential usability of using such indicators in monitoring a municipal SDG initiative. The findings highlight the determinants and obstacles of using subjective SDIs as well as signifying WB in measuring progress of a municipal SD practice.
Companies increasingly use social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) to measure, manage, and report their influence on ecological and social issues, i.e., climate change and human rights violations. Nowadays, there are many different tools, frameworks, and standards for SEAR that companies can use. Beyond the content presented in the tool itself, e.g., social and/or ecological information, these tools differ, among others, by the language used and the type of data collected (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, or monetary data). This dissertation aims to expand previous literature by clarifying the effects of SEAR on corporate decision-making and its influencing factors. Additionally, antecedents for implementation and use of SEAR in regard to supporting sustainability decision-making are discussed. For this purpose, the given dissertation investigates public sustainability reports by companies with different environmental orientation, conducts two survey-based case studies on the effects of different types of SEAR and one qualitative case study on the antecedents of institutionalizing management accounting change through SEAR. The results lead to seven criteria that practitioners and researchers should recognize for supporting successful SEAR regarding a company's environmental orientation, the role of employees and leadership as well as the specific SEAR tool itself.
The global coffee market is connected to many sustainability issues like the persisting poverty of coffee farmers, and degrading ecosystems. Many interventions, from state-led regulation to industry-led certification processes, exist, that try to change global value chains to shift societies back on more sustainable trajectories. To this date, it is still under debate if these interventions are an effective means to change global value chains. With climate change and persisting issues of social justice as strong accelerators, calls are increasingly made for a radical transformation of global production and consumption patterns. Many frameworks try to inform research and real-world policies for a transformation of global value chains. In this dissertation, the author uses the framework of the practical, political and personal sphere proposed by O'Brien and Sygna (2013) highlighting that the interactions between these three spheres bare the greatest potential for a transformation towards sustainability. However, in this dissertation, the author argues that it is exactly at the nexus between the three spheres of transformation where barriers towards a fundamental shift of systems occur. He, therefore, uses three perspectives to bring empirical nuance to the problems that arise on the interplay between the different spheres of transformation. (1) The scientific perspective: using a systematic review of alternative trade arrangements; (2) the producer perspective: facilitating a participatory network analysis of social-ecological challenges of Ugandan coffee farmers and their adaptive management practices; (3) the consumer perspective: through the use of a German consumer survey and a structural equation model to investigate into the Knowledge-Doing-Gap end-consumers are facing. Through the results from the scientific perspective, the author is able to show that most of the research is investigating the certified market and that the effectiveness of labels rarely exceeding the practical sphere. His empirical research on the producer perspective highlights that Ugandan coffee farmers facilitate a variety of on-farm crop management (practical sphere) but their support structures rarely exceed informal exchange with neighboring communities (political sphere). Exchange with governmental actors and global traders is happening but has been assessed as not sufficient to cope with the social-ecological challenges the producers are facing. Through the results of the consumer perspective, the author is able to highlight that even though end-consumers have pro-sustainable attitudes (personal sphere) they are facing situational constraints (political sphere) that create a gap between their attitudes and the respective behavior. Using these empirical insights about drivers and barriers for a transformation he proposes that frameworks, aiming to inform research and policies, need to include two aspects: (1) the notion of a forced transformation; and (2) the translational capacity of the frameworks to create meaningful interdisciplinary discourses in different contexts. The author, therefore, propose two approaches:(1) a fourth sphere, called the "planetary force" to include the notion of a forced transformation that is already happening in different contexts, highlighted by the producer perspective in this dissertation; and (2) the consequent use of methods that create interdisciplinary exchange and rigorous testing.
This dissertation presents an analysis of the relations to self and technology that emerge from and in the use of self-tracking technologies. The ethnographical study, combined with the Grounded Theory approach and a media analysis, demonstrates the complex intertwining or duality of control and care towards oneself that emerge or become possible in and through the application of ST technologies. ST devices assist in strengthening one's health and well-being in a playful way, building and maintaining a positive self-feeling, self-image and agency, and discovering unknown abilities and potentials within oneself. The ST technologies used provide orientation through complexity-reducing visualizations, highlighting patterns, and trend progression. They challenge through self-overload, dissatisfaction when not achieving goals, self-deception and distraction, narcissism and even loss of control - internally through compulsion to control as well as externally through loss of data otection and exploitation of private data by third parties, as well as handing over responsibility (in the form of decisions) to technology (algorithms) instead of self-responsibility. These two seemingly opposed yet concurrently existing self-relations reflect the dynamic between today's demands for self-responsibility (in health and performance terms) and the need for self-care and guidance for the many relevant, sometimes daily, decisions. They balance possibly existing tensions and ambiguities between the modes of self-relations that at first glance seem to be opposed and yet ultimately are jointly oriented towards the same goal, namely to master one's life (life maintenance) and to be in balance. The self-relations described in this thesis are supported, reinforced, or enabled by ST technology (and practice). Three different roles that ST technology can take in self-care and self-control were elaborated: technology as a means, a counterpart, and a promise. In relation to technology, another dialectic is visible, which shows the apparent contrast between its conception as a tool and means to achieve something and the approach to technology as an intimate counterpart (partner, nanny, coach) and a promise of salvation. The relationship with technology seems to intensify in and through the ST experience and takes on or is assigned a partner-like role by the users. Finally, the results indicate that the concept of (self-)optimization, contrary to its etymological meaning of a logic of increase, can also be understood differently, namely balancing. In this context, optimization does not necessarily mean the fastest, the highest, the strongest, but something that is achievable and satisfactory for the self - within the framework of the given and the desired. At the same time, the optimization understood as harmonizing and balancing in self-tracking becomes a lifelong task that, in principle, can never be completed because with the addition of new vital areas in life and throughout a lifetime also the individually understood and conceived balance often shifts.
Assessment of forest functionality and the effectiveness of forest management and certification
(2021)
Forest ecosystems are complex systems that develop inherent structures and processes relevant for their functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services that contribute to human wellbeing. With increasing climate change impacts, especially regulating ecosystem services such as microclimate regulation are ever more relevant to maintain forest functions and services. A key question is how forest management supports or undermines the ecosystems’ capacity to maintain those functions and services. The main objective of this thesis is the development of a concept to assess the functionality of forests and to evaluate the effectiveness of forest ecosystem management including certification. An ecosystem-based and participatory methodology, named ECOSEFFECT, was developed. The method comprises a theoretical and an empirical plausibility analysis. It was applied to the Russian National FSC Standard in the Arkhangelsk Region of the Russian Federation - where boreal forests are exploited to meet Europe's demand for timber. In addition, the influence of forestry interventions on temperature regulation in Scots pine and European beech forests in Germany was assessed during two extreme hot and dry years in 2018 and 2019. Microclimate regulation is a suitable proxy for forest functionality and can be applied easily to evaluate the effectiveness of forest management in safeguarding regulating forest functions relevant under climate change. Thus, the assessment of forest microclimate regulation serves as convenient tool to illustrate forest functionality. In the boreal and temperate forests studied in the frame of this thesis, timber harvesting reduced the capacity to self-regulate forests’ microclimate and thus impair a crucial part of ecosystem functionality. Changes in structural forest characteristics influenced by forest management and silviculture significantly affect microclimatic conditions and therefore forest ecosystems' vulnerability to climate change. Canopy coverage and the number of cut trees were most relevant for cooling maximum summer temperature in pine and beech forests in northern Germany. The Russian FSC standard has the potential to improve forest management and ecological outcomes, but there are shortcomings in the precision of targeting actual problems and ecological commitment. It is theoretically plausible that FSC prevents logging in high conservation value forests and intact forest landscapes, reduces the size and number of clearcuts, and prevents hydrological changes in the landscape. However, the standard was not sufficiently explicit and compulsory to generate a strong and positive influence on the identified problems and their drivers. Moreover, spatial data revealed, that the typical regular clearcut patterns of conventional timber harvesting continue to progress into the FSC-certified boreal forests, also if declared as "Intact Forest Landscape". This results in the need to verify the assumptions and postulates on the ground as it remains unclear and questionable if functions and services of boreal forests are maintained when FSC-certified clearcutting continues.The analysis of satellite-based data on tree cover loss showed that clearcutting causes secondary dieback in the surrounding of the cleared area. FSC-certification does not prevent the various negative impacts of clearcutting and thus fails to safeguard ecosystem functions. The postulated success in reducing identified environmental threats and stresses, e. g. through a smaller size of clearcuts, could not be verified on site. The empirical assessment does not support the hypothesis of effective improvements in the ecosystem. In practice, FSC-certification did not contribute to change clearcutting practices sufficiently to effectively improve the ecological performance. Sustainability standards that are unable to translate principles into effective outcomes fail in meeting the intended objectives of safeguarding ecosystem functioning. Clearcuts that carry sustainability labels are ecologically problematic and ineffective for the intended purpose of ecological sustainability.The overexploitation of provisioning services, i.e. timber extraction, diminishes the ecosystems' capacity to maintain other services of global significance. It also impairs ecosystem functions relevant to cope with and adapt to other stresses and disturbances that are rapidly increasing under climate change.
Maximizing the value from data has become a key challenge for companies as it helps improve operations and decision making, enhances products and services, and, ultimately, leads to new business models. While enterprise architecture (EA) management and modeling have proven their value for IT-related projects, the support of enterprise architecture for data-driven business models (DDBMs) is a rather new and unexplored field. The research group argues that the current understanding of the intersection of data-driven business model innovation and enterprise architecture is incomplete because of five challenges that have not been addressed in existing research: (1) lack of knowledge of how companies design and realize data-driven business models from a process perspective, (2) lack of knowledge on the implementation phase of data-driven business models, (3) lack of knowledge on the potential support enterprise architecture modeling and management can provide to data-driven business model endeavors, (4) lack of knowledge on how enterprise architecture modeling and management support data-driven business model design and realization in practice, (5) lack of knowledge on how to deploy data-driven business models. The researchers address these challenges by examining how enterprise architecture modeling and management can benefit data-driven business model innovation. The mixed-method approach of this thesis draws on a systematic literature review, qualitative empirical research as well as the design science research paradigm. The investigators conducted a systematic literature search on data-driven business models and enterprise architecture. Considering the novelty of data-driven business models for academia and practice, they conducted explorative qualitative research to explain "why" and "how" companies embark on realizing data-driven business models. Throughout these studies, the primary data source was semi-structured interviews. In order to provide an artifact for DDBM innovation, the researchers developed a theory for design and action. The data-driven business model innovation artifact was inductively developed in two design iterations based on the design science paradigm and the design science research framework.
This cumulative dissertation investigates food policy councils (FPCs) as potential levers for sustainability transformation. The four research papers included here on this recent phenomenon in Germany present new insights regarding the process of FPCs' emergence (Emergence paper), the legal conditions which affect their establishment (Legal paper), the different roles of FPCs in policy-making processes (Roles paper) and FPCs' potential to democratise the food system (Food democracy paper). Drawing on and contextualizing the results of the four individual studies, the framework paper uses the leverage points concept originally developed by Meadows (1999) and adopted by Abson et al. (2016) as a lens to discuss FPCs’ potential as levers for sustainability transformation. This conceptual background includes three so-called realms of leverage, which are considered to be of particular importance in transformational, solution-oriented sustainability science: first, the change, stability and learning in institutions (re-structure), second, the interactions between people and nature (re-connect) and third, the ways in which knowledge is produced and used (re-think). Framing the findings of the four research papers in terms of these three realms, the framework paper shows that FPCs could serve as cross realm levers, i.e. as interventions that simultaneously address knowledge production, institutional reform and human-nature interactions.
The dissertation consists of three scientific papers and a synopsis. The synopsis addresses the relevance of the dissertation and lists the key factors for the sustainability transition in the electricity system as a common denominator of the three papers. The relevance of the dissertation results, on the one hand, from the urgency of the sustainability transition in the electricity system and an insufficient transition willingness of the eastern European Member States. On the other hand, the Multi-Level-Perspective as one of the most important scientific frameworks to grasp transitions does not provide a sufficient explanation of its mechanisms. Moreover, Demand Response aggregators as new enterprises on the European electricity market and potential reform initiators are still under researched. The following key factors for the sustainability transition of the electricity system have been identified: supply security concerns, Europeanisation, policy making and the dominance of short-term oriented economic evaluation. Paper#1 sheds light on the roots of this problem in the context of Poland. It suggests that unfavorable regulation is symptomatic of the real, underlying barriers. In Poland, these barriers are coal dependence and political influence on energy enterprises. As main drivers, supply security concerns, EU regulatory pressure, and a positive cost-benefit profile of DR in comparison to alternatives, are revealed. A conceptual model of DR uptake in electricity systems is proposed. Applying a social mechanisms approach to the Multi-Level Perspective, paper#2 conceptualizes mechanisms of socio-technical transitions and of gaining legitimacy for transitions as co-evolutionary drivers and outcomes. Situational, action-formational, and transformational mechanisms that operate as drivers of change in a socio-technical transition require corresponding framing and framing contests to achieve legitimacy for that transition. The study illustrates the conceptual insight with the case of the coal dependent Polish electricity system. Paper #3, a qualitative study reveals Demand Response (DR) aggregators as institutional entrepreneurs that struggle to reform the still largely supply-oriented European electricity market. Unfavourable regulation, low value of flexibility, resource constraints, complexity, and customer acquisition are the key challenges DR aggregators face. To overcome them they apply a combination of strategies: lobbying, market education, technological proficiency, and upscaling the business. The study highlights DR aggregation as an architectural innovation that alters the interplay between key actors of the electricity system and provides policy recommendations including the necessity to assess the real value of DR in comparison to other flexibility sources by taking all externalities into account, a technology-neutral approach to market design and the need for simplification of DR programmes, and common standards to reduce complexity and uncertainty for DR providers.
This dissertation addresses the question of how sustainability curricula can be implemented and established in higher education institutions. Universities – as hubs for knowledge generation, innovation, and education – provide a central leverage point for sustainably developing society at large. Therefore, the institutionalization of sustainability curricula is not only socially demanded, but also stipulated in numerous political statements from the international community (e.g., those of the UN and UNESCO) and operationalized via Sustainable Development Goal No. 4: "Quality Education". Previous findings on how such implementation can be successful and what factors support or inhibit the process have come primarily through case studies of individual higher education institutions. These studies have been largely descriptive rather than analytical and leave open questions about the generalizability of their findings. The present dissertation addresses this research gap. Through a meta-study (i.e., an analytical comparison of existing case studies), generalizable findings on the implementation processes of sustainability curricula are explored. In the first step, a case universe was collected in order to provide a database for deeper analyses. In two further analysis steps that built on the case universe from Step 1, certain factors that promote or inhibit the implementation of sustainability curricula (Step 2) and specific implementation patterns (Step 3) were examined. The presented findings add a complementary empirical perspective to the discourse on the establishment of education for sustainable development (ESD) at higher education institutions. First, the case studies that specifically address the implementation processes of sustainability curricula are reviewed and analyzed here for the first time as part of a research landscape. This research landscape reveals where research on such implementation processes has been or is being conducted. On this basis, both researchers and funders can reflect on the status quo and plan further research or funding endeavors. Second, this dissertation offers the opportunity to compare a multitude of individual case studies and thus to develop new and generalizable insights into the implementation of sustainability curricula. The empirical analysis uses 133 case studies to identify key factors that promote or inhibit the implementation of sustainability curricula and to add a complementary perspective to the discourse, which has thus far been dominated by theoretical considerations and individual case studies. The analysis thereby offers a new perspective on generalizable influencing factors that appear to be important across different contexts. Thus far, specific patterns of implementation processes have been infrequently studied, and with few datasets. This dissertation analyzes the complex interplay between over 100 variables and provides one of the first research attempts at better understanding the processes that lead to the deep-rooted and comprehensive implementation of sustainability curricula. Internal and external practitioners of higher education institutions can find examples and evidence that can be useful in planning the next steps of their sustainability curriculum implementation. This dissertation offers generalizable empirical findings on how universities can succeed in recognizing their own responsibility to that end and in realizing this transformation through the implementation of ESD.
TIME for REFL-ACTION: Interpersonal Competence Development in Project-based Sustainability Courses
(2021)
This dissertation investigates interpersonal competence development in project-based sustainability courses. Visions of a sustainable, safe, and just future cannot be reached by one individual alone. Thus, future change agents need to be able to collaborate and engage with stakeholders, to approach the manifold crises, challenges, problems, and conflicts we are facing together, and to promote and push forward sustainability transitions and transformations. Therefore, this research investigates three project-based sustainability graduate courses by comparing and contrasting teaching and learning outcomes, processes, and environments. A comparative case study approach using a Grounded Theory-inspired research design which triangulates several qualitative methods and perspectives is applied to allow for generalizable insights. Thereby, this dissertation provides empirically-informed insights which are further discussed in relation to selected teaching and learning theories. This leads, first, to a discussion of practical implications within (and beyond) sustainability higher education; and second, provides a theoretical foundation for interpersonal competence development in project-based learning settings – so that educating future change agents can gain momentum. Findings of this research show that embracing conflicts when they occur (i.e. before they provoke cascading effects in the form of further conflicts down-the-road) is an effective strategy to help further develop interpersonal competence. This requires a conflict-embracing attitude. Attitude, in general, seems to be key in interpersonal competence and competence development overall. Self-reflection, if not explicitly required by outside influences (such as instructors), arises naturally from a self-reflective attitude, and is shown to provide the basis for developing interpersonal competence. This research introduces the term "Refl-Action" which stresses the importance of pairing "learning by doing" (as is often the focus in project-based learning settings) with conscious moments of "reflecting about the doing". More specifically, the research presented here identified four learning processes for interpersonal competence development: receiving input, experiencing, reflecting, and experimenting. Based on the empirical data, when the four processes are purposefully combined, following a meaningful sequence attitudes, knowledge, and skills in collaborative teamwork and impactful stakeholder engagement, are fostered (two facets of interpersonal competence). Each of the four learning processes is set in motion through various interactions students engage in during project-based sustainability courses: student-student (labeled "peer"), student-instructor (labeled "deliberate"), student-stakeholder (labeled "professional"), and student-mentor (labeled "supportive") interactions. When these interactions are made explicit subjects of inquiry - i.e. the (inter-)action is linked with (self-)reflection – different learning processes complement one another: Interpersonal competence facets (collaborative teamwork and impactful stakeholder engagement) and domains (attitudes, knowledge, skills) are fostered. While, overall, interactions, processes, and conflicts have been identified as supportive for interpersonal competence development, trust has emerged as another variable inviting further investigation.