IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceps/v88y2023ics0038012123001842.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of the impact of university policies on society's environmental perception

Author

Listed:
  • Puertas, Rosa
  • Guaita-Martinez, José M.
  • Marti, Luisa

Abstract

Today's society is showing great interest in achieving sustainable development in all socio-economic facets, and higher education institutions stand out as being proactive in this regard. University campuses are successfully implementing policies to curb climate change, energy and water conservation, waste recycling and green transport. In this struggle, education plays an essential role in shaping a population that is aware of the situation and willing to stop —and if possible undo— the damage caused. This study is aimed at evaluating universities' capacity to foster society's environmental perception and commitment. The analysis, which focuses on the Spanish and Italian campuses assessed by GreenMetric during the period 2018–2022, has a twofold objective: to identify the sustainable actions that have a direct impact on students' and researchers' awareness; and to analyse the efficiency of the environmental policies implemented by those responsible for these educational centres, as well as the differences between the two countries' universities. To that end, a panel data model is estimated on a sample composed of the pillars of GreenMetric, with DEA-bootstrap and the sequential Malmquist index then used to assess the efficiency of the actions undertaken. The results reveal the importance of the waste and transport policies implemented on campuses when it comes to the arduous task of kindling society's interest in the environment. Furthermore, both countries show increasing engagement, with productivity improvements of over 36% in the case of Italy.

Suggested Citation

  • Puertas, Rosa & Guaita-Martinez, José M. & Marti, Luisa, 2023. "Analysis of the impact of university policies on society's environmental perception," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:88:y:2023:i:c:s0038012123001842
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2023.101672
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038012123001842
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.seps.2023.101672?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Léopold Simar & Paul Wilson, 2000. "Statistical Inference in Nonparametric Frontier Models: The State of the Art," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 49-78, January.
    2. J. R. Lamontagne & P. M. Reed & G. Marangoni & K. Keller & G. G. Garner, 2019. "Robust abatement pathways to tolerable climate futures require immediate global action," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(4), pages 290-294, April.
    3. Puertas, Rosa & Marti, Luisa & Guaita-Martinez, José M., 2020. "Innovation, lifestyle, policy and socioeconomic factors: An analysis of European quality of life," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Henry Tulkens & Philippe Eeckaut, 2006. "Nonparametric Efficiency, Progress and Regress Measures For Panel Data: Methodological Aspects," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 395-429, Springer.
    5. Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie & Maruf Yakubu Ahmed & Phebe Asantewaa Owusu, 2022. "Global adaptation readiness and income mitigate sectoral climate change vulnerabilities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    7. Jinyong Hahn & Jerry Hausman & Guido Kuersteiner, 2004. "Estimation with weak instruments: Accuracy of higher-order bias and MSE approximations," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 7(1), pages 272-306, June.
    8. Sulemana Mumuni & Thomas Mwimba, 2023. "Modeling the impact of green energy consumption and natural resources rents on economic growth in Africa: An analysis of dynamic panel ARDL and the feasible generalized least squares estimators," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 2161774-216, December.
    9. Julia Bentz, 2020. "Learning about climate change in, with and through art," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1595-1612, October.
    10. Contreras, I. & Lozano, S., 2022. "Size efficiency, splits and merger gains, and centralized resource reallocation of Spanish public universities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, Jon Mikel & Aparicio, Juan & Ortiz, Lidia & Carayannis, Elias G. & Grigoroudis, Evangelos, 2021. "The productivity of national innovation systems in Europe: Catching up or falling behind?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/61ih2qtadc8g1894enmudd2f09 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Marti, 2019. "Sustainability in Universities: DEA-GreenMetric," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-17, July.
    14. Chen, Xudong & Huang, Bihong & Lin, Chin-Te, 2019. "Environmental awareness and environmental Kuznets curve," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 2-11.
    15. David M. Drukker, 2003. "Testing for serial correlation in linear panel-data models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(2), pages 168-177, June.
    16. Lynn H. Kaack & Priya L. Donti & Emma Strubell & George Kamiya & Felix Creutzig & David Rolnick, 2022. "Aligning artificial intelligence with climate change mitigation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(6), pages 518-527, June.
    17. Luisa Marti & Rosa Puertas, 2021. "European countries’ vulnerability to COVID-19: multicriteria decision-making techniques," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 3309-3320, January.
    18. Lutkepohl, Helmut & Burda, Maike M., 1997. "Modified Wald tests under nonregular conditions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 315-332, June.
    19. J. R. Lamontagne & P. M. Reed & G. Marangoni & K. Keller & G. G. Garner, 2019. "Publisher Correction: Robust abatement pathways to tolerable climate futures require immediate global action," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(6), pages 490-490, June.
    20. Tommaso Agasisti & Guo-liang Yang & Yao-yao Song & Carolyn-Thi Thanh Dung Tran, 2021. "Evaluating the higher education productivity of Chinese and European “elite” universities using a meta-frontier approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5819-5853, July.
    21. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Guido Schmidt-Traub & Mariana Mazzucato & Dirk Messner & Nebojsa Nakicenovic & Johan Rockström, 2019. "Six Transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 805-814, September.
    22. Marta García-Mollá & Rosa Puertas & Carles Sanchis-Ibor, 2021. "Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Evaluate Investments in the Modernization of Collective Management Irrigation Systems in Valencia (Spain)," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(14), pages 5011-5027, November.
    23. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    24. Gabriela Azócar & Marco Billi & Rubén Calvo & Nicolas Huneeus & Marta Lagos & Rodolfo Sapiains & Anahí Urquiza, 2021. "Climate change perception, vulnerability, and readiness: inter-country variability and emerging patterns in Latin America," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 23-36, March.
    25. Bayuo, Blaise Booponoyeng & Chaminade, Cristina & Göransson, Bo, 2020. "Unpacking the role of universities in the emergence, development and impact of social innovations – A systematic review of the literature," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    26. Barbero, Javier & Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, Jon Mikel & Zofío, José L., 2021. "Is more always better? On the relevance of decreasing returns to scale on innovation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mishra, Neelesh Kumar & Chakraborty, Abhishek & Singh, Sanjeet & Ranjan, Prabhat, 2023. "Efficiency analysis of engineering colleges in India: Decomposition into parallel sub-processes systems," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Rella, Angela & Rubino, Michele & Raimo, Nicola & Vitolla, Filippo, 2024. "Does the digitalization of municipalities affect the efficiency of universities? An Italian case study using DEA and Malmquist index approaches," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Badiee, Aghdas & Moshtari, Mohammad & Berenguer, Gemma, 2024. "A systematic review of operations research and management science modeling techniques in the study of higher education institutions," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khatab Alqararah, 2023. "Assessing the robustness of composite indicators: the case of the Global Innovation Index," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Meleddu, Marta & Vecco, Marilena & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2024. "The Role of Voluntary Environmental Policies Towards Achieving Circularity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    3. Finn Førsund & Dag Edvardsen & Sverre Kittelsen, 2015. "Productivity of tax offices in Norway," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 269-279, June.
    4. Angeliki Flokou & Vassilis Aletras & Dimitris Niakas, 2017. "A window-DEA based efficiency evaluation of the public hospital sector in Greece during the 5-year economic crisis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, May.
    5. Lorenzo Castelli & Raffaele Pesenti & Walter Ukovich, 2010. "A classification of DEA models when the internal structure of the Decision Making Units is considered," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 207-235, January.
    6. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Marti, 2023. "Regional analysis of the sustainable development of two Mediterranean countries: Spain and Italy," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 797-811, April.
    7. Franz R. Hahn, 2007. "Determinants of Bank Efficiency in Europe. Assessing Bank Performance Across Markets," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 31499.
    8. Büschken, Joachim, 2009. "When does data envelopment analysis outperform a naïve efficiency measurement model?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(2), pages 647-657, January.
    9. Podinovski, V. V., 2005. "Selective convexity in DEA models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 552-563, March.
    10. Biorn, Erik & Hagen, Terje P. & Iversen, Tor & Magnussen, Jon, 2006. "Heterogeneity in Hospitals' Responses to a Financial Reform: A Random Coefficient Analysis of The Impact of Activity-Based Financing on Efficiency," MPRA Paper 8169, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Alexander Cotte Poveda, 2012. "Estimating Effectiveness of the Control of Violence and Socioeconomic Development in Colombia: An Application of Dynamic Data Envelopment Analysis and Data Panel Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 105(3), pages 343-366, February.
    12. Tarnaud, Albane Christine & Leleu, Hervé, 2018. "Portfolio analysis with DEA: Prior to choosing a model," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 57-76.
    13. Chen, Xiang & Grifell-Tatjé, Emili & Fu, Tsu-Tan, 2023. "A profit difference decomposition model for measuring group performance: an application to Chinese and Taiwanese commercial banks," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    14. Pham, Manh D. & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2019. "Weak disposability in nonparametric production analysis: A new taxonomy of reference technology sets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 186-198.
    15. Kristof De Witte & Rui Marques, 2010. "Designing performance incentives, an international benchmark study in the water sector," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 18(2), pages 189-220, June.
    16. Nadia M. Guerrero & Juan Aparicio & Daniel Valero-Carreras, 2022. "Combining Data Envelopment Analysis and Machine Learning," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, March.
    17. Thanh Ngo & Kan Wai Hong Tsui, 2022. "Estimating the confidence intervals for DEA efficiency scores of Asia-Pacific airlines," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3411-3434, September.
    18. Alonso, José M. & Clifton, Judith & Díaz-Fuentes, Daniel, 2015. "The impact of New Public Management on efficiency: An analysis of Madrid's hospitals," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 333-340.
    19. Kneip, Alois & Simar, Léopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2015. "When Bias Kills The Variance: Central Limit Theorems For Dea And Fdh Efficiency Scores," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(2), pages 394-422, April.
    20. Biorn, Erik & Hagen, Terje P. & Iversen, Tor & Magnussen, Jon, 2002. "The Effect of Activity-Based Financing on Hospital Efficiency: A Panel Data Analysis of DEA Efficiency Scores 1992-2000," MPRA Paper 8099, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:88:y:2023:i:c:s0038012123001842. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/seps .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.