IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i13p7201-d583231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability Challenges in the Global South

Author

Listed:
  • Javier Sierra

    (Department of Applied Economics, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Ángela Suárez-Collado

    (Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

In an increasingly complex world, students of economics, business, and management must learn how to combine financial objectives with social and environmental aims. To that end, institutions, teachers, and curricula have a growing need for multidisciplinary approaches to reinforce education for sustainable development. This study presents a pilot project consisting of an innovative online simulation designed to help students understand the challenges that countries and companies from the Global South are facing to balance economic, social, and environmental objectives under sustainability criteria. This research uses quantitative and qualitative data provided by the students to assess the effectiveness of the methodology. The results indicate the usefulness of the methodology in helping students comprehend economic complexities in the Global South, as well as to assist them in acquiring key cognitive, skill-based, and affective educational outcomes. The combination of three active-learning methodologies (role-play, collaborative-learning, and inquiry-based learning) proved to be of high value to address sustainability-related issues in higher education and help students develop 21st-century skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Javier Sierra & Ángela Suárez-Collado, 2021. "Understanding Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability Challenges in the Global South," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7201-:d:583231
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7201/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7201/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philip Golub, 2013. "From the New International Economic Order to the G20: how the ‘global South’ is restructuring world capitalism from within," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6), pages 1000-1015.
    2. Gisela Cebrián & Mercè Junyent & Ingrid Mulà, 2020. "Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development: Emerging Teaching and Research Developments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-9, January.
    3. Melissa Edwards & Paul Brown & Suzanne Benn & Christopher Bajada & Robert Perry & Deborah Cotton & Walter Jarvis & Gordon Menzies & Ian McGregor & Katrina Waite, 2020. "Developing sustainability learning in business school curricula – productive boundary objects and participatory processes," Published Paper Series 2020-1, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    4. Correa, Manuel & García-Quero, Fernando & Ortega-Ortega, Marta, 2016. "A role-play to explain cartel behavior: Discussing the oligopolistic market," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 8-15.
    5. Winans, K. & Kendall, A. & Deng, H., 2017. "The history and current applications of the circular economy concept," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 825-833.
    6. Ben Tirone Nunes & Simon J. T. Pollard & Paul J. Burgess & Gareth Ellis & Irel Carolina De los Rios & Fiona Charnley, 2018. "University Contributions to the Circular Economy: Professing the Hidden Curriculum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-24, August.
    7. Carl Death, 2015. "Four discourses of the green economy in the global South," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(12), pages 2207-2224, December.
    8. Daniel W. O’Neill & Andrew L. Fanning & William F. Lamb & Julia K. Steinberger, 2018. "A good life for all within planetary boundaries," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(2), pages 88-95, February.
    9. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    10. Odile Blanchard & Arnaud Buchs, 2015. "Clarifying Sustainable Development Concepts Through Role playing," Post-Print hal-01103915, HAL.
    11. Pilar Buil & Olga Roger-Loppacher & Rejina M. Selvam & Vanessa Prieto-Sandoval, 2017. "The Involvement of Future Generations in the Circular Economy Paradigm: An Empirical Analysis on Aluminium Packaging Recycling in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Omar Alhawari & Usama Awan & M. Khurrum S. Bhutta & M. Ali Ülkü, 2021. "Insights from Circular Economy Literature: A Review of Extant Definitions and Unravelling Paths to Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Jing Meng & Zhifu Mi & Dabo Guan & Jiashuo Li & Shu Tao & Yuan Li & Kuishuang Feng & Junfeng Liu & Zhu Liu & Xuejun Wang & Qiang Zhang & Steven J. Davis, 2018. "The rise of South–South trade and its effect on global CO2 emissions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    14. Ivanov, Dmitry, 2020. "Predicting the impacts of epidemic outbreaks on global supply chains: A simulation-based analysis on the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) case," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    15. Ajishnu Roy & Aman Basu & Xuhui Dong, 2021. "Achieving Socioeconomic Development Fuelled by Globalization: An Analysis of 146 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Edward Cartwright & Anna Stepanova, 2012. "What do Students Learn from a Classroom Experiment: Not much, Unless they Write a Report on it," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 48-57, January.
    17. Lea Fortmann & Justin Beaudoin & Isha Rajbhandari & Aedin Wright & Steven Neshyba & Penny Rowe, 2020. "Teaching modules for estimating climate change impacts in economics courses using computational guided inquiry," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 143-158, April.
    18. Usama Awan & Andrzej Kraslawski & Janne Huiskonen, 2018. "Governing Interfirm Relationships for Social Sustainability: The Relationship between Governance Mechanisms, Sustainable Collaboration, and Cultural Intelligence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-20, November.
    19. Sandra Waddock, 2020. "Reframing and Transforming Economics around Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-16, September.
    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. Prisca Ugomma Uwaoma & Tobechukwu Francisa Eleogu & Franciscamary Okonkwo & Oluwatoyin Ajoke Farayola & Simon Kaggwa & Abiodun Akinoso, 2024. "AI’s Role in Sustainable Business Practices and Environmental Management," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 10(12), pages 359-379, January.

    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. D. D’Amato, 2021. "Sustainability Narratives as Transformative Solution Pathways: Zooming in on the Circular Economy," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 231-242, June.
    2. Daniel A. Salas & Paulina Criollo & Angel D. Ramirez, 2021. "The Role of Higher Education Institutions in the Implementation of Circular Economy in Latin America," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-27, August.
    3. Rocio de la Torre & Bhakti S. Onggo & Canan G. Corlu & Maria Nogal & Angel A. Juan, 2021. "The Role of Simulation and Serious Games in Teaching Concepts on Circular Economy and Sustainable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Saleh Md. Arman & Cecilia Mark-Herbert, 2021. "Re-Commerce to Ensure Circular Economy from Consumer Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-18, September.
    5. D'Amato, D. & Korhonen, J., 2021. "Integrating the green economy, circular economy and bioeconomy in a strategic sustainability framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. Margarita Ignatyeva & Vera Yurak & Alexey Dushin & Vladimir Strovsky & Sergey Zavyalov & Alexander Malyshev & Polina Karimova, 2021. "How Far Away Are World Economies from Circularity: Assessing the Capacity of Circular Economy Policy Packages in the Operation of Raw Materials and Industrial Wastes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    7. D'Adamo, Idiano & Mammetti, Marco & Ottaviani, Dario & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2023. "Photovoltaic systems and sustainable communities: New social models for ecological transition. The impact of incentive policies in profitability analyses," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1291-1304.
    8. Castro-Lopez, Adrian & Iglesias, Victor & Santos-Vijande, María Leticia, 2023. "Organizational capabilities and institutional pressures in the adoption of circular economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Gilbert Silvius & Aydan Ismayilova & Vicente Sales-Vivó & Micol Costi, 2021. "Exploring Barriers for Circularity in the EU Furniture Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-25, October.
    10. Kai Xue & Md. Uzzal Hossain & Meng Liu & Mingjun Ma & Yizhi Zhang & Mengqiang Hu & XiaoYi Chen & Guangyu Cao, 2021. "BIM Integrated LCA for Promoting Circular Economy towards Sustainable Construction: An Analytical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, January.
    11. Hervé Corvellec & Alison F. Stowell & Nils Johansson, 2022. "Critiques of the circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(2), pages 421-432, April.
    12. Florian Hofmann & Melanie Jaeger‐Erben, 2020. "Organizational transition management of circular business model innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2770-2788, September.
    13. Julian Kirchherr & Andrea Urbinati & Kris Hartley, 2023. "Circular economy: A new research field?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(5), pages 1239-1251, October.
    14. Erik Roos Lindgreen & Roberta Salomone & Tatiana Reyes, 2020. "A Critical Review of Academic Approaches, Methods and Tools to Assess Circular Economy at the Micro Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-27, June.
    15. John Rincón-Moreno & Marta Ormazabal & Maria J. Álvarez & Carmen Jaca, 2020. "Shortcomings of Transforming a Local Circular Economy System through Industrial Symbiosis: A Case Study in Spanish SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-18, October.
    16. Aila-Leena Matthies & Ingo Stamm & Tuuli Hirvilammi & Kati Närhi, 2019. "Ecosocial Innovations and Their Capacity to Integrate Ecological, Economic and Social Sustainability Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    17. Hermann, Roberto Rivas & Pansera, Mario & Nogueira, Leticia Antunes & Monteiro, Marko, 2022. "Socio-technical imaginaries of a circular economy in governmental discourse and among science, technology, and innovation actors: A Norwegian case study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    18. Thomas Tsalis & Alexandros I. Stefanakis & Ioannis Nikolaou, 2022. "A Framework to Evaluate the Social Life Cycle Impact of Products under the Circular Economy Thinking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Raphaëlle Stewart & Monia Niero, 2018. "Circular economy in corporate sustainability strategies: A review of corporate sustainability reports in the fast‐moving consumer goods sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1005-1022, November.
    20. Giampietro, Mario, 2019. "On the Circular Bioeconomy and Decoupling: Implications for Sustainable Growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 143-156.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7201-:d:583231. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.