Abstract:

In recent years, higher education institutions (HEIs) are being called to intervene as social agents endowed with a unique capacity to act upon its stakeholders in the transition towards sustainability. Some have effectively become pioneering institutions in this endeavour, but despite this effort, the literature has reported the enormous lack of knowledge shown by students regarding the concept of sustainability and a general lack of awareness among the entire academic community regarding the sustainability practices developed by their HEIs. Further research is suggested to explore the integration of sustainability and communication in HEIs. A number of authors have highlighted the critical role of choosing more open and transparent communication channels that enable engagement with stakeholders, in order to raise their awareness of sustainability, and call for further research about the possibilities of digital communication in promoting cultures of participation that stimulate interaction with the academic community, which could contribute to bridging the knowledge gaps of HEI stakeholders regarding sustainability.

Hence, this research aims at exploring the perceptions of stakeholders regarding:
1) their HEIs’ sustainability approach, and
2) the sustainable message communicated through digital platforms in three channels (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn).

To this end, a quantitative approach was used through a questionnaire to 243 stakeholders of an academic group, where 3 types of stakeholders were consulted: students (69,5%), faculty members (19,8%) and staff (10,7%). Results revealed that of the 3 types of stakeholders, students are the ones who least perceive the sustainability actions of their HEI. However, it seems correct to say that there is no strategic, planned and stakeholder-oriented communication, not only in the sense of sharing HEI’s actions with stakeholders, but also in the sense of involving them in their initiatives. Moreover, the majority of respondents revealed that they had never seen or heard any communication about sustainability in their HEIs, which is a clear sign of a lack of strategic orientation towards the HEI’s communication of sustainability aligned with the preferences of their stakeholders.

Keywords:

Sustainability, Digital Communication, Stakeholder Perceptions, Higher Education Institutions, Social Media Platforms.