Credit Points 10

Coordinator Heath Spong Opens in new window

Description What does it mean to live and work sustainably? There are many ways to ensure that businesses, communities and individuals continue to thrive into the future. This subject explores the evolving concept of sustainability in practice. Students will learn how to view complex policy, business, consumer, and individual performance problems and opportunities through the various lenses of sustainability. Through the application of psychological knowledge on individual values, collective power and impacts on human behaviour, student will develop the skills to implement new practices while also reconciling different aspects of sustainability in their own work or personal context.

School Business

Discipline Economics

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Level Postgraduate Coursework Level 5 subject

Restrictions

Students must be enrolled in a postgraduate program

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this Subject, students will be able to: 

1. Critically engage with the concept of sustainability in a range of business and social contexts, Including from Indigenous perspectives.
2. Analyse the key role played by both government and consumers in driving sustainable practices.
3. Reconcile different aspects of sustainability, and the perspectives of different agents, in work and personal contexts.
4. Propose strategies that respond to the demands of consumers motivated by sustainable practices.
5. Develop sustainability goals, measures, and strategies, for a business or personal enterprise

Subject Content

The big picture

• Sustainability: multiple contested meanings
• Government to the rescue? Sustainable development priorities and policies

Sustainability in business

• The sustainability imperative for modern business
• Creating a sustainable business strategy

Sustainable consumption

• The rise of ethical consumption
• Collaborative consumption

Doing good: psychological drivers 

• Organisational and personal responsibility – value conflicts and values
• Power shifts and the sustainability movement

Social responsibility and consumer psychology 

• Environmental anxiety: Individual and organisational levels 
• Cognitive style, interactions and human behaviour

Challenges and opportunities in application:

• Intergenerational deficit in health and supporting services 
• Individual competency building for workforce sustainability - Case study: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce leadership in health

Special Requirements

Essential equipment

Computer and internet access