Key competences for sustainability professionals

: An empirical study of the strategic, political and implementation competence of sustainability professionals

Abstract

This thesis contains the results of a study into the strategic competence, political competence, and implementation competence of sustainability professionals in Belgium. The research attempts to answer the question to what extent these intervention competences consist of a separate strategic, political and
implementation competence and whether a separate substructure can be distinguished within these key competences. A survey was conducted among experienced and successful sustainability professionals, in which members of the French-speaking institute Eco-Conseil completed a questionnaire. To assess strategic, political and implementation competence, 60 questions were asked based on an extensive literature study. The various substructures were determined using an exploratory factor analysis.

A total of 200 sustainability professionals completed the questionnaire. Of these, 62% are women. The mean age is 47 years (SD = 10). Of the respondents, 71% have a Master of Science degree, 22% a bachelor's degree and 6% a PhD. The organisations where they work are diverse, with a focus on local
governments (31%). The average work experience is 21 years, of which 13 years of sustainability experience. The sustainability professionals work with an average of 24 different stakeholders. 30% of respondents manage 1 to 200 employees, with an average of 15 employees. The sustainability professionals work on
average on 5 projects per year. More than half consider themselves successful (59%) or very successful (16%). Only 7% indicate that they do not consider their work as a sustainability professional to be very successful.

The results of this study show that the strategic, political, and implementation competences are three intervention competences that are strongly positively correlated with each other, but a confirmatory factor analysis cannot convincingly demonstrate that they are three separate competences.
The second research question can be answered affirmatively. The strategic, political and implementation competence each have a separate substructure consisting of four dimensions. The strategic competence consists of the ability to formulate a strategy, have a strategic vision, act strategically and adapt a strategy. Political competence consists of the ability to anticipate politics, to be
apparently sincere, to network and to perceive power. The implementation competence consists of the ability to implement, resolve conflicts, act and gain support.

These results contribute to the knowledge of three intervention competences required for the implementation of complex sustainability projects. This knowledge can be useful for employers, for current and future
sustainability professionals and for sustainability education institutions.

To confirm strategic, political, and implementation competences as separate intervention competences, additional research is needed using a structural equation model. This is a method that combines factor analysis with multiple regression analysis to analyse the relationships between the dimensions and
competences in context. The intervention competences also consist of three other competences, namely an interpersonal collaboration competence, an intrapreneurial competence, and a capacity building competence, which were not examined in this study. It is recommended that a similar study be conducted for these intervention competences to examine the interrelationships and interaction effects using a structural equation model.

Date of Award	5 Feb 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Paquita Perez Salgado (Examiner), Jean Hugé (Co-assessor) & Ronald Venn (Co-assessor)