Conceptual Development in Higher Education Sustainability Initiatives: Insights from a Change Laboratory Research Intervention

An international debate is taking place about embedding sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs). Separate strands of literature address the importance of sustainability concepts and strategic change approaches. This paper explores conceptual development as an unfolding process within sustainability change initiatives. Data are derived from nine Change Laboratory workshops, conducted over 6 months, in which 20 stakeholders of varying backgrounds worked to create “a sustainable campus” in an HEI in Ireland. Transcribed video recordings and artefacts produced in workshops are analysed using activity theory principles to examine conceptual development, identifying four novel concepts created by stakeholders. The development of the Campus Sustainability Statement (CSS) concept is analysed in depth. It was produced in four stages of development—pursuing, in turn, a purposeful definition of “sustainability”, a shared framework to contextualise different actions, a mission statement for the campus, and the CSS proper. Each stage arose from a conflict of motives expressed within the coalition of participants, which was addressed by suggesting an abstract idea and considering its implications, with the latter stages also including attempts to embed and objectify the concept. Successive ideas were challenged, refined, and/or abandoned by participants on the grounds of ethics, fit with the institution, and relevance to subsequent action, with the eventual CSS judged to be an acceptable basis for institutional work. This paper emphasises the processual importance of developing sustainability concepts within institutions, including the creative potential for addressing value tensions and the possibility for nurturing new forms of collective agency.