Sustainability, net-zero, and the green economy

Forest full of green trees

Description

At Leeds University Business School we have a broad portfolio of research that contributes to developing a better understanding of the barriers for businesses and individuals to adopt practices that are environmentally friendly, sustainable and carbon neutral.

Across the Business School, researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds - psychologists, sociologists, economists, mathematicians, political scientists, consultants – are working collaboratively on solutions for businesses and organisations to respond to the environmental crisis we are facing.

Our research on sustainability and the environment includes:

  • Green behaviours – including: risk and climate communications; food choices; consumer perceptions; organisation and employee behaviours; health and well-being
  • Green supply chains – including: logistics, procurement and manufacturing; fashion; the circular economy
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – including: eco-innovations; institutional systems; governance; marketing strategies; business ethics
  • Work and labour – including: just transition; reducing working hours; work and climate change.

Below you can find out more about individuals working in these areas and their research.

Green behaviours

Dr Maximilian Gerrath, Associate Professor, Marketing

Dr Maximilian Gerrath is an Associate Professor in Marketing. His main research interests are in consumer psychology, branding and communications, and digital marketing. 

Related project: 

Related publication:

Dr Shahla Ghobadi, Associate Professor, Management

Dr Shahla Ghobadi researches digital activism in the tech industry.

Her latest research examines the online campaigns of a large, international, social movement organisation and how these campaigns influenced three global businesses to alter their environmental practices and industry standards. 
 

Dr Constantinos Hadjichristidis, Lecturer, Management

Dr Constantinos Hadjichristidis is a member of the Centre for Decision Research. His research focuses on how people reason, judge and decide.

His main area of research in sustainability is:

  • The impact of foreign language on sustainability

Recent related publication:

  • Geipel, J., Hadjichristidis, C. & Klesse, A. Barriers to sustainable consumption attenuated by foreign language use. Nature Sustainability, 131–33 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41893-017-0005-9

Dr Gulbanu Kaptan, Associate Professor, Management

Dr Gulbanu Kaptan is an Associate Professor in Behavioural Decision Making at the Centre for Decision Research. Gulbanu’s main research interest is on judgment and decision making with particular emphasis on food-related consumer attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours. In relation to sustainability, she is very much interested in developing interventions that help consumers and retailers to reduce food waste. Gulbanu has worked with partners such as Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Her main research interests on sustainability and food waste are in the following areas:

  • Cognitive, affective, and subconscious determinants of food waste behaviour

  • Developing interventions to help consumers and retailers to reduce food waste

  • Interactions between food waste, healthy eating, and food safety-related perceptions, and their effects on behaviour

Related projects:

  • 2020, Leeds University Business School Challenge Fund (role: Principal investigator). Subconscious and affective determinants of food waste behaviour.

  • 2019-2022, University of Leeds Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives (role: Co-investigator). Mapping the Leeds urban food system and exploring the implications for social justice, and environmental and dietary health.

  • 2014-2017, UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research Seminar Series Grant (role: Co-investigator and Co-director). Food options, opinions and decisions (FOOD): Integrating perspectives on consumer perceptions of food safety, nutrition and waste.

Recent research outputs include invited talks, peer-reviewed conference presentations, and publications on consumer behaviour, sustainability and food waste:

  • Sproesser G, Ruby MB, Arbit N, Akotia CS, Alvarenga dos Santos M, Bhangaokar R, Furumitsu I, Hu X, Imada S, Kaptan G, Kaufer-Horwitz M, Menon U, Fischler C, Rozin P, Schupp HT, Renner B. 2019. Understanding traditional and modern eating: The TEP10 framework. BMC Public Health.

  • Kaptan G. (June 2017). Invited talk on changing consumer behaviour. N8 Agrifood International Conference, Liverpool (UK).

  • Kaptan G., Piper, N., Bown, N., and Bruine de Bruin, W. (July 2016). Eliciting expert opinion on consumers’ understanding of the interactions between nutrition, food safety, and food waste: implications for communications. Society for Risk Analysis Europe, Bath (UK).

  • Kaptan G., Bruine de Bruin, W., Bown, N., Quested, T. & Piper, N. Promoting healthy and safe eating with less waste: Qualitative expert elicitations. Manuscript in preparation for submission.

Dr Rebecca Pieniazek, Lecturer, Management

Dr Rebecca Pieniazek is an early career lecturer in organisational behaviour and a member of the Workplace Behaviour Research Centre and the Socio-technical Centre. She works from a psychological perspective to study how people’s time at work can be improved, as well as how work can better serve society. 
Her main research interests are: 

  • Motivation and managing multiple goals

  • How different social and eco-entrepreneurs interpret different realities of goal conflict (including no conflict) between their social/eco and financial aspects of their work; and how different forms of goal conflict resolution are entwined with these realities. 

  • How aligned (or not) SMEs’, and particularly manufacturing SMEs’, non-environmental organisational goals and organisational goals are

  • How embedded an organisation’s environmental sustainability goals with each other, and their other non-environmental goals are, and what is a helpful method for understanding this

  • Personal and organisational resilience

  • How resilience capability is impacted by context.

Her scholarly work relating specifically to green behaviour and Net Zero include:

  • Unsworth, K., & Pieniazek, R. (2022). Examining both organisational environmental sustainability & organisational resilience: sketching an initial framework. In S. Russell, R. Padfield (Eds), A Research Agenda for Business and Sustainability. United Kingdom. (Equal contribution).

  • Unsworth, K. (PI), Pieniazek, R. (Co-I), Davis, M.C. (Co-I), Song, L. (Co-I), McKay, A. (Co-I). Sustainable and Productive?! Helping Manufacturing SMEs to Manage Multiple Goals. ESRC, Productivity Insights Network, University of Sheffield. Six-month project, £70,370.

  • Pieniazek, R. (PI) & Unsworth, K. (Co-I). Co-designing a goal interdependency method for incorporating sustainability into company goals to enable transformation. EPSRC, Transforming foundations industry network. Six-month project, £68,259.81. 

Dr Andrea Taylor, Associate Professor, Management

Dr Andrea Taylor is an Associate Professor, holds joint posts at Leeds University Business School and the School of Earth and Environment. Her research interests include risk perception and communication, climate and weather risk preparedness, and expert judgement. Much of her work focusses on applying insights and methodologies from the behavioural sciences to address communication challenges in the provision of climate and weather information services, and support decision making under uncertainty.

Related projects

  • 2019-2021 Newton Fund/Met Office (Co-Investigator) Sector-based climate services for water resources (£320,000)

  • 2017-2022 Global Challenges Research Fund (Co-investigator/Work Package Leader) African Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (African-SWIFT) (WP1 User Needs Co-production and Communication) (£7.8m)

  • 2019-2020 Met Office (Co-Investgator) Improving visualisations for climate projections (£32,712)

Recent publications:

  • Grainger S, Dessai S, Daron J, Taylor A, Siu YL. 2021. Using expert elicitation to strengthen future regional climate information for climate services. Climate Services.

  • Msemo HE, Taylor AL, Birch CE, Dougill AJ, Hartley A. 2021. The value of weather and climate information to the Tanzanian disaster risk reduction sector using non-monetary approaches. Weather, Climate and Society. 1055-1068 13.4 

  • Bojke L, Soares MO, Claxton K, Colson A, Fox A, Jackson C, Jankovic D, Morton A, Sharples LD, Taylor A. 2021. Reference Case Methods for Expert Elicitation in Health Care Decision Making. Medical Decision Making (MDM). 

  • Daron J, Lorenz S, Taylor A, Dessai S. 2021. Correction to: Communicating future climate projections of precipitation change. Climatic Change. 167.1-2

  • Harcourt R, Bruine de Bruin W, Dessai S, Taylor A. 2021. Envisioning Climate Change Adaptation Futures Using Storytelling Workshops. Sustainability. 13.12 

Dr Karen Tejedor Bowen, Lecturer, Marketing

Dr Karen Tejedor Bowen is an Assistant Professor in the Marketing Department at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on (a) well-being and virtuous behaviours, both from a consumer and an employee perspective, and (b) brand and marketing strategies in a changing consumer landscape, with particular reference to sustainability and social issues. Her main area of research in sustainability investigates how to nudge consumers to consume less and consume responsibly.

Research areas:

  • Health and well-being, including environmental behaviours, physical activity, healthy and sustainable food choices
  • Product reuse
  • Circular fashion

Recent related publication:

  • Bowen, K.T., Musarra, G. and Ou, Y.C., 2022. How and when Narcissism and faith in humanity drive sustainable consumption. Psychology & Marketing, 39(9), pp.1706-1724.

Professor Kerrie Unsworth, Professor, Management

Professor Kerrie Unsworth is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Director of the Workplace Behaviour Research Centre, a research group dedicated to improving the world through better understanding of people at work. Kerrie is particularly interested in helping people juggle their different values, goals and identities and the effect this has on their behaviours and well-being.

Her main research areas at the moment include:

  • How social and eco-entrepreneurs manage the tension between social value and financial sustainability

  • How SMEs, and particularly manufacturing SMEs, perceive their organisational goals (such as productivity, safety etc) with relation to the environment

  • How employees are best supported to be environmentally and socially responsible while still working on their core job tasks (without loss of meaning or well-being)

  • How inclusive cultures and diversity affects environmentally and socially responsible behaviour.

Recent related publications:

  • Unsworth, K.L., & Tian, A. (2018). Motivation and green HRM: Overcoming the paradox. In D. Renwick (Ed), Contemporary Developments in Green Human Resource Management Research: Towards Sustainability in Action? Oxford: Routledge Publishing.

  • Unsworth, K.L. (2015). Green me up Scotty: Psychological interventions to increase pro-environmental behaviours. In J. Barling and J. Robertson (Eds.), The Psychology of Green Organizations. NY: Oxford University Press.

  • Davis, M.C., Unsworth, K.L., Russell, S.V., & Galvan, J.J. (in press). Can green behaviors really be increased for all employees? Trade-offs for “Deep Greens” in a goal-oriented green HRM intervention. Business Strategy and the Environment.

  • ABS 3-ranked journal; ABDC B-ranked journal; Impact Factor: 2.877.

  • Chen, L., & Unsworth, K.L. (in press). Cognitive complexity increases climate change belief. Journal of Environmental Psychology.

  • Russell, S.V., Young, C.W., Unsworth, K.L., & Robinson, C. (2017). Bringing habits and emotions into food waste behaviour. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 125, 107-114.

  • Impact Factor: 4.14.

  • Unsworth, K.L. & McNeill, I. (2017). Increasing pro-environmental behaviors by increasing self-concordance: Testing an intervention. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102, 88-103.

  • ABS 4*-ranked journal; ABDC A*-ranked journal; Impact Factor: 6.82.

  • Unsworth, K.L., Russell, S.V., & Davis, M.C. (2016). Is dealing with climate change a corporation’s responsibility? A social contract perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 7: 1212. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01212

  • Seivwright, A.N., & Unsworth, K.L. (2016). Making sense of corporate social responsibility and work. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00443. Impact Factor: 2.89

  • Young, W., Davis, M., McNeill, I., Malhotra, B., Russell, S., Unsworth, K.L., & Clegg, C.W. (2015). Changing behaviour: Successful environmental programmes in the workplace.  Business Strategy and the Environment. doi: 10.1002/bse.1836

  • Unsworth, K.L., & Fielding, K. (2014). It's political: How the salience of one's political identity affects climate change beliefs and support for government policies. Global Environmental Change, 27, 131-137. ABDC A*-ranked journal; Impact Factor: 8.897

  • Griffin, M.A., Hodkiewicz, M., Dunster, J., Kanse, L., Finnerty, D., Cordery, J. & Unsworth, K.L. (2014). A conceptual framework and practical tool for assessing fitness-to-operate in the offshore oil and gas industry. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 68, 156-171.

  • Unsworth, K.L., Dmitrieva, A., & Adriasola, E. (2013). Changing behavior: Increasing the effectiveness of workplace interventions in creating pro-environmental behavior change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(2), 211-229. ABS 4-ranked journal; ABDC A*-ranked journal; Impact Factor: 4.229.

Professor Yingqi (Annie) Wei, Professor, International Business

Professor Yingqi (Annie) Wei is a Professor of International Business at Leeds University Business School and Deputy Pro Dean Research and Innovation. Her research focuses on the determinants and impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and her research outputs have appeared in leading journals including Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Research Policy, British Journal of Management, Business History and Regional Studies. Related to the research project of Sustainability, Net-zero and the Green economy, her research investigates the environmental performance of FDI.

More specifically, her research attempts to answer the following questions:

  • Does FDI lead to better or worse environmental performance?
  • How does FDI impact on environmental innovation?
  • To what extent do stakeholder perspectives matter to environmental management? 

Related recent publication 

  • Wei Y, Ding S, Konwar Z. 2021. The Two Faces of FDI in Environmental Performance A Meta-analysis of Empirical Evidence in China. Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14765284.2021.1943735

Dr Xingjie Wei, Lecturer, Management

Dr Xingjie Wei is a Lecturer in Business Analytics and Machine Learning in the Centre for Decision Research (CDR). Her research focuses on the interaction between computational techniques and social science approaches to understand human behaviour. She is especially interested in understanding and identifying human traits from unstructured multi-media data such as texts and images, and how to use this to improve management practise in contexts such as sustainability and green economy.

Related recent projects:

  • 02/2022-06/2023, PI, "LINK: Climate change, social inequality & psychosocial wellbeing with emerging digital data - a multidisciplinary network between UK and South Korea", £45,758, ESRC

  • 01/2022-08/2023, PI, "Predicting inequality from digital textual data", £21,467, LUBS Challenge Fund

Recent publications:

  • W. Huang, S. Vismara and X. Wei, "Confidence and Capital Raising", Journal of Corporate Finance

  • Y. Liu, M. Hultman, A. B. Eisingerich, X. Wei. "How Does Brand Loyalty Interact with Tourism Destination? Exploring the Effect of Brand Loyalty on Place Attachment", Annals of Tourism Research 

  • A. Doukani, X. Wei, B. Kader, F. Soazandry, & B. Inkser (2018). "Views From the Street Pilot Study: Constraints and Difficulties of Using Photographs in Research of a Complex Nature Such as Homelessness", Biomedical Informatics Insights.

Green supply chains

Dr Marta Bell, Lecturer, Management

Dr Marta Bell is a Lecturer in Operations & Supply Chain Management at Leeds University Business School. Her current research interests are within socially responsible practices along the supply chain, with a specific focus on emerging economies and global versus local supply chains. Marta has worked collaboratively with Scapa Group Plc., James Cropper Plc., Pentland, The Paper Cup Company, Indesit and other differing sized companies in both the UK and Italy, as well as emerging country businesses within the fashion industry globally, examining all aspects of environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Her main research interests are in the following areas:

  • Sustainable supply chain management

  • Sustainability within fashion supply chains

  • Sustainability in emerging economies

  • Supply chain resilience

  • Offshoring, reshoring and local sourcing.

Related projects:

  • 2019-20, Leeds University Business School Challenge Fund: Influencing the influencers: Accelerating the diffusion of sustainable high fashion clothing.

  • 2012-13, British Academy: Implementing social sustainability practices in developing country suppliers: A multi-stakeholder perspective.

Recent related publications:

  • Sayed, M., Hendry, L.C., and Zorzini Bell, M., 2020, Sustainable Procurement: Comparing In-House and Outsourcing Implementation Modes, Production Planning & Control, Forthcoming.

  • Tan, X., Zorzini Bell, M., and Brown, D., 2018, The Adoption and Implementation of Sustainable Supply Chain Practices in Chinese Private Enterprises: A Combined Institutional and Contingency Perspective in a Policy setting, European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) Conference, Budapest, Hungary, June 2018.

  • Sayed, M., Hendry, L., and Zorzini Bell, 2017, Institutional Complexity and Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 542-563.

  • Jyoti, D., Zorzini (Bell), M., Arora, B., and Bell, D., 2016, A developing country supplier’s perspective on social sustainability: an exploratory study in the textile and apparel sector in India, 3rd International EurOMA Sustainable Operations & Supply Chains Forum, Lancaster, UK, April 2016.

  • Zorzini (Bell), M., Hendry, L., Huq, F., and Stevenson, M., 2015, Socially responsible sourcing: reviewing the literature and its use of theory, Int. Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 35, No. 1.

  • Huq, F., Stevenson, M., and Zorzini (Bell), M., 2014, Social sustainability in developing country suppliers: an exploratory study in the readymade garments industry of Bangladesh, Int. Journal of Operations and Production Management, Special Issue on Sustainable Operations Management, Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 610-638.

  • Huq, F., Stevenson, M., and Zorzini (Bell), M., 2014, Diffusion of social sustainability in the Bangladeshi apparel industry: isomorphism, decoupling and change in institutional logics due to environmental shocks, EurOMA Sustainability Forum, Groningen, Netherlands, March 2014.

  • Perotti, S., Zorzini (Bell), M., Cagno, E., and Micheli, G.J.L., 2012, Green supply chain practices and company performance: the case of 3PLs in Italy, Int. Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 42, No. 7, pp. 640-672.

Dr Gary Graham, Associate Professor, Management

Dr Gary Graham is Associate Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management and is a member of the Centre for Operations and Supply Chain Research. He is the coordinator of Future Transport and Smart Cities Network (a membership of 40 international scholars and business practitioners, community workers). His work to date focuses on the impact of the internet and digital technologies on supply chains, logistics and distribution operations.

Related projects:

  • Downstream Product Innovation and Upstream Supply Chain Implications in the Mobility Sector

Dr Jyoti Mishra, Associate Professor, Economics

Dr Jyoti Mishra is an Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School. In her previous workplace, Jyoti was involved in teaching and researching in Sustainability in Supply Chain. She has taught modules in the World’s First MBA in Circular Economy designed in partnership with Ellen MacArthur Foundation. She has supervised and was involved in several projects for students working in CE 100 companies such as Philips, Cisco, Unilever, Kingfisher etc.

Jyoti’s research interests are in:

  • Capturing value using circular economy business models

  • Technology use in organisations

  • Sustainability in supply chain

  • Technology as an enabler for circular economy

  • Disaster management.

Related projects:

  • KnoWaste, Smart Waste Tracking System, Innovate UK, £80K, 2018/19 (Co-I) 

  • Sustainable food supply chain in developing countries: Current practices and future opportunities for poverty alleviation, University of Bradford, 2017, £7.5K (PI)

Recent related publications:

  • Hussain Z, Mishra JL, Vanacore E. (2019). Waste to Energy and Circular Economy: The Case of Anaerobic Digestion. Journal of Enterprise Information Management

  • Mishra JL, Chiwenga KD, Ali K. (2019). Collaboration as an enabler for circular economy: a case study of a developing country. Management Decision

  • Mishra JL, Hopkinson PG, Tidridge G. (2018). Value creation from circular economy-led closed loop supply chains: a case study of fast-moving consumer goods. Production Planning & Control. 29(6), pp. 509-521.

Savita Verma, Postgraduate Researcher, Management

Savita Verma is a postgraduate researcher looking at employee green behaviours in a supply-chain context. She has just submitted her PhD titled: “Unravelling employee engagement for environmentally sustainable supply chains.”

Savita researches supply chain employees’ perceptions of their role in integrating sustainability in supply chain practices (logistics, procurement, manufacturing, etc.). To identify supply chain employees’ involvement and conceptualise their environmental behaviours she has conducted an inductive qualitative case study research. She has developed a theoretical framework which delineates the psychological processes of employees' engagement in different types of green behaviours.

Conference publications related to this research:

  • Verma, S., Wong, C. and Unsworth, K. (2016). Unravelling employee engagement for environmentally sustainable supply chain: A stakeholder perspective. In proceedings of 3rd European Operations Management Association Sustainability Forum EurOMA2016. April 10th-12th, 2016. Lancaster.

  • Verma, S., Wong, C. and Unsworth, K. (2016). Unravelling employee engagement for environmentally sustainable supply chain: A stakeholder perspective. In proceedings of 30th British academy of Management Conference BAM 2016, September 6th-8th, 2016, Newcastle.

  • Verma, S., Wong, C. and Unsworth, K. (2017). What makes supply chain employees engage in environmental behaviours? A multi-level theoretic review. In proceedings of 24th European Operations Management Association conference, EurOMA2017. July 1st-5th, 2017. Edinburgh.

  • Verma, S., Wong, C. and Unsworth, K. (2018). Behavioural Drivers of Employee Engagement Towards Environmental Sustainability: A Case of UK Public Sector Organisation. In proceedings of 29th Production and Operations Management Society Conference POMS2018. May 4th-7th, 2018. Texas.

  • Verma, S., Wong, C. and Unsworth, K. (2019). Motivational Orientations of Supply Chain Employees Towards Pro-Environmental Behavioral Engagement. (Accepted) In proceedings of Production and Operations Management Society International Conference POMS2019. December 13th-14th, 2019. Mumbai.

Dr Chee Yew Wong, Professor, Management

Dr Chee Yew Wong is a professor of supply chain management at Leeds University Business School. He researches how firms use information exchange and collaboration to improve environmental, cost and commercial performance. He uses organizational information processing, integration and elaboration theories to explain how firms use information exchange and collaboration to achieve green product and process innovation. He examines whether the adoption multiple green supply chain management practices can lead to multiple performance benefits, and whether the benefits are asymmetric between suppliers and customers.

Related publications: 

  • Wong CWY, Wong CY, Boon-itt S. 2020. Environmental management systems, practices and outcomes: Differences in resource allocation between small and large firms. International Journal of Production Economics. 228 (accepted).

  • Yu W, Chavez R, Feng M, Wong CY, Fynes B. 2020. Green human resource management and environmental cooperation: An ability-motivation-opportunity and contingency perspective. International Journal of Production Economics. 219, 224-235.

  • Murphy E, Guimaraes-Da Costa N, Wong CY. 2019. Decoding human intervention: pathways to successful environmental management. European Management Review. 1740-4762.

  • Ozusaglam S, Robin S, Wong CY. 2018. Early and late adopters of ISO 14001-type standards: revisiting the role of firm characteristics and capabilities. Journal of Technology Transfer. 43(5), pp. 1318-1345.

  • Wong CWY, Wong CY, Boon-itt S. 2018. How does sustainable development of supply chains make firms lean, green and profitable? A resource orchestration perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment. 27(3), 375-388.

  • Ozusaglam S, Kesidou E, Wong CY. 2018. Performance effects of complementarity between environmental management systems and environmental technologies. International Journal of Production Economics. 197, 112-122.

  • Bing X, Bloemhof JM, Ramos TRP, Barbosa-Povoa AP, Wong CY, van der Vorst JGAJ. 2016. Research Challenges in Municipal Solid Waste Logistics Management. Waste Management. 48, 584-592.

  • Tachizawa EM, Wong CY. 2015. The Performance of Green Supply Chain Management Governance Mechanisms: A Supply Network and Complexity Perspective. Journal of Supply Chain Management. 51(3), 18-32.

  • Wong CY, Wong CWY, Boon-itt S. 2015. Integrating environmental management into supply chains: a systematic literature review and theoretical framework. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. 45(1/2), 43-68.

  • Grant DB, Trautrims A, Wong CY. 2017. Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Principles and Practices for Sustainable Operations and Management. Kogan Page Limited.

 

Corporate Social Responsibility

Dr Matthew Davis, Associate Professor, Management

Dr Matthew Davis is an Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School, a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is fascinated by how people interact with their environments, the impact of different office designs and how businesses engage in CSR, particularly to address sustainability and modern slavery. He believes that psychology offers valuable tools to help approach these and many other business problems. Socio-technical systems thinking underpins much of his research. Matthew has worked with partners such as Rolls-Royce, Marks and Spencer, Atkins, Arup Consulting and British Gas.

His main research interests are in the following areas:

  • Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives (e.g., pro-environmental behaviour change)

  • Addressing modern slavery in supply chains

  • Design and evaluation of modern workspace (e.g., agile or flexible spaces)

  • Understanding the interactions between human, buildings and technology (e.g., in terms of energy use, wayfinding, technology design)

  • Applying socio-technical principles and frameworks (e.g., disaster analysis, design, prediction)

Related projects:

  • 2017, Voss, H. (PI), Sumner, M. (Co-I), Davis, M.C. (Co-I), & Waite, L. (Co-I). (2017). Modern Slavery in Fashion Supply Chains. British Academy. £191,903 100% FEC.

  • 2016, Davis, M. C. (PI), Unsworth, K.L. (CO-I), Robinson, M. A. (CO-I). Energy efficient behaviour change in schools. British Gas funded. Six month project, £59,974, 100% FEC.

Recent related publications:

  • Lesic, V., Azevedo, I., Krishnamurti, T., Bruine de Bruin, W., Davis, M., & Glasgo, B. (2019). Comparing consumer perceptions of appliances’ electricity use to appliances’ actual direct-metered consumption. Environmental Research Communications, 1, 111002. doi: 10.1088/2515-7620/ab4a99

  • Davis, M.C., Unsworth, K.L., Russell, S.V., & Galvan, J.J. (2019). Can Green Behaviors Really Be Increased for all Employees? Trade-offs for “Deep Greens” in a Goal-Oriented green HRM Intervention. Business Strategy and the Environment. doi:10.1002/bse.2367

  • Lesic, V., Bruine de Bruin, W., Davis, M.C., Krishnamurti, T., & Azevedo, I. (2018). Consumers’ perceptions of energy use and energy savings: A literature review, Environmental Research Letters, 13(3), 1-13. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaab92/

  • Norton, T.A., Parker, S.L., Davis, M.C., Russell, S.V., & Ashkanasy, N.M. (2018). A virtuous cycle: How green companies grow green employees (and vice versa). In V. Wells, D. Gregory-Smith, & D. Manika (eds), Research Handbook on Employee Pro-Environmental Behaviour (pp. 210-228). Cheltenham, UK: Elgar.

  • Unsworth, K.L., Russell, S.V., & Davis, M.C. (2016). Is Dealing with Climate Change a Corporation’s Responsibility? A Social Contract Perspective. Frontiers in Psychology7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01212

  • Young, W., Davis, M., McNeill, I. M., Malhotra, B., Russell, S., Unsworth, K., & Clegg, C. W. (2015). Changing Behaviour: Successful Environmental Programmes in the Workplace. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(8), 689–703 (ABS3). doi: 10.1002/bse.1836.

  • Davis, M.C., & Coan, P. (2015). Organizational Change. In J. Barling & J. Robertson (Eds.), The Psychology of Green Organizations (pp. 244-274). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Dr Effie Kesidou, Associate Professor, Economics

Dr Effie Kesidou is an Associate Professor in Applied Economics at Leeds University Business School, a Senior Research Fellow at Enterprise Research Centre, Warwick Business School, and a Visiting Scholar at School of Sustainability, Arizona State University. Her research is interdisciplinary and uses applied economic methods to understand how businesses and regions can become more sustainable. Effie has published her work in top-ranked journals such as Research Policy, Ecological Economics, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, World Development, Journal of Environmental Management, Business History, Business Strategy and the Environment etc.

Her main research interests are in the following areas:

  • Assessing the institutional, demand, organisational factors that drive eco-innovations or environmental innovations

  • Examining the impact of international sustainability standards, such as ISO14001, upon firm financial and CSR performance

  • Explaining the role of city-regions and local knowledge spillovers upon firms’ eco-innovation and productivity.

Related projects:

  • 2017-2020, BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund, Valuing Orchard and Integrated Crop Ecosystem Services (602,831).

  • 2013-2015, ESRC Innovating for a Low Carbon Economy (28,106).

Recent related publications:

  • García-Quevedo J, Kesidou E, Martínez-Ros E. 2019. Driving sectoral sustainability via the diffusion of organizational eco-innovations.  Business Strategy and the Environment. Forthcoming.

  • Demirel P, Kesidou E. 2019. Sustainability-oriented Capabilities for Eco-Innovation: Meeting the Regulatory, Technology and Market Demands.  Business Strategy and the Environment.  28(5), pp. 847-857.

  • Iatridis K, Kesidou E. 2018. What Drives Substantive Versus Symbolic Implementation of ISO 14001 in a Time of Economic Crisis? Insights from Greek Manufacturing Companies.  Journal of Business Ethics.  148(4), pp. 859-877.

  • Ozusaglam S, Kesidou E, Wong CY. 2018. Performance effects of complementarity between environmental management systems and environmental technologies. International Journal of Production Economics.  197, pp. 112-122.

  • Demirel P, Iatridis K, Kesidou E. 2018. The Impact of Regulatory Complexity upon Self-regulation: Evidence from the Adoption and Certification of Environmental Management Systems.  Journal of Environmental Management.  207, pp. 80-91.

Dr Ziko Konwar, Lecturer, International Business

Dr Ziko Konwar is a Lecturer at Leeds University Business School and a Fellow of the HEA. His current research on sustainability is centred around two key themes: comparing country-level institutional systems and their influences on perceptions of corporate sustainability practices (environmental, social and governance), and exploring drivers of sustainability practices at bottom of the pyramid markets.      

His main research interests are around the following areas

  • Corporate sustainability

  • Bottom of the pyramid

  • Institutional systems and CSR.

Related projects:

  • Konwar, Z. (P-I); Pravinata, L. (C-I); Voss, H. ( C-I) & Murray, B.T. (C-I) “Uncovering Challenges to Innovation Adoption and Sustainability Practices at Bottom-of-the-Pyramid”. Leeds University Challenge Fund-II-2020 FEC (£12,174 GBP)

Professor Constantinos N. Leonidou, Professor, Marketing

Professor Constantinos N. Leonidou is Professor of Marketing and the Head of Marketing Division at Leeds University Business School. His main research and teaching interests focus on sustainability marketing and corporate responsibility. He is particularly interested in corporate sustainability and responsibility strategies and practices, as well as consumer perceptions and responses to sustainability and ethics. His research has appeared in many reputable academic journals, such as the European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, International Business Review, International Marketing Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of World Business, and Tourism Management among others. Constantinos is Associate Editor of the Business Ethics and CSR Section of Journal of Business Research and serves as Editorial Review Board Member for Journal of International Marketing. He regularly presents his work in leading international academic conferences across the globe, while he is an active member of the American Marketing Association (AMA), Academy of Marketing Science (AMS), British Academy of Management (BAM), and European Marketing Academy (EMAC). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the AMA Global Marketing SIG.

His main research interests are in the following areas:

  • Corporate responsibility

  • Sustainability marketing strategies and firm performance

  • Green innovation and product development

  • Civic engagement

  • Green scepticism

  • Sustainable management practices

  • Business and marketing ethics

  • Corporate Social Responsibility and consumer behaviour.

Recent related publications:

  • Skarmeas D, Leonidou CN, Saridakis C, Musarra G. 2019. Pathways to Civic Engagement with Big Social Issues: An Integrated Approach. Journal of Business Ethics.

  • Boso N, Danso A, Leonidou C, Uddin M, Adeola O, Hultman M. 2017. Does financial resource slack drive sustainability expenditure in developing economy small and medium-sized enterprises?. Journal of Business Research. 80, pp. 247-256 

  • Leonidou CN, Skarmeas D. 2017. Gray Shades of Green: Causes and Consequences of Green Skepticism. Journal of Business Ethics. 144(2), pp. 401-415 

  • Katsikeas CS, Leonidou CN, Zeriti A. 2016. Eco-friendly product development strategy: antecedents, outcomes, and contingent effects. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 44(6), pp. 660-684 

  • Leonidou LC, Leonidou CN, Fotiadis TA, Aykol B. 2015. Dynamic capabilities driving an eco-based advantage and performance in global hotel chains: The moderating effect of international strategy. Tourism Management. 50, pp. 268-280 

Dr Serdal Ozusaglam, Teaching Fellow, Economics

Dr Serdal Ozusaglam is a Teaching Fellow in Economics at Leeds University Business School and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Leeds between 2014 and 2019. His research addresses real-world challenges through policy-relevant economic analysis by examining the impact of innovation, in particular Environmental Innovations, on firm growth and competitiveness for manufacturing services and agricultural enterprises.

His research explores the institutional, demand and supply-side factors, and organisational dynamics that drive conventional and environmental innovations, and firm performance including:

  • The impact of international sustainability standards, such as ISO14001 and agro-food standards upon firm business and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance.

  • The links between cooperation for innovation and manufacturing firms` innovation performance.

Related projects:

  • 2017-2020, BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund, Valuing Orchard and Integrated Crop Ecosystem Services. 

Recent related publications:

  • Ozusaglam, S., Kesidou, E. and Wong, C.Y., 2018. Performance effects of complementarity between environmental management systems and environmental technologies. International Journal of Production Economics, 197, pp.112-122. (3/ABS).

  • Ozusaglam, S., Robin, S. and Wong, C.Y., 2018. Early and late adopters of ISO 14001-type standards: revisiting the role of firm characteristics and capabilities. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 43(5), pp.1318-1345.

  • Ozusaglam, S. (2013): “Environmental Innovation: A Concise Review of the Literature”. Vie et Science de l’Enterprise, vol.191-192, pp.15-38.


Professor Bin Xu, Professor, Accounting and Finance 

Bin Xu is a Professor of Finance (Chair in Sustainable Finance) at Leeds University Business School. He is particularly interested in how corporate decisions and outcomes can be shaped by various stakeholders and capital market participants (e.g., customers, employees, competitors, analysts, short sellers) and managerial incentives. 

His research appears in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and the Journal of Corporate Finance, and has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and the Columbia Law School’s Blog. He sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting and is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Finance and Economics. 

Main research interests:

  • Sustainable finance 
  • Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
  • Corporate environmental policies 
  • Corporate misconduct 
  • Stakeholders and corporate decisions.

Recent related publications:

  • Jing C, Keasey K, Lim I, Xu B. 2023. Analyst coverage and corporate environmental policies. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
  • Chen J, Su X, Tian X, Xu B. 2022. Does customer-base structure influence managerial risk-taking incentives?. Journal of Financial Economics. 
  • Tsai H-JS, Wu Y, Xu B. 2021. Does capital market drive corporate investment efficiency? Evidence from equity lending supply. Journal of Corporate Finance. 
  • Chen J, Jing C, Keasey K, Lim I, Xu B. 2023. Gender, workplace preferences, and firm performance: Looking through the Glass Door. European Financial Management.
     

Work and labour

Dr Jo Cutter, Lecturer, Work and Employment Relations

Dr Felix Schulz, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Work and Employment Relations Division

Dr Felix Schulz is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Digital Futures at Work (Digit) research centre, and on an international Hans-Böckler-Stiftung funded project on the role of labour in the “Just Transition”. His research is interdisciplinary, drawing on labour economics, industrial relations, environmental labour studies and social psychology, with justice and inequality as the overarching focus.

Research interests in this area:

  • social-ecological transformation
  • labour unions
  • climate policy support
  • value orientations.

Related projects:

  • 2023-2024, Co-Principal Investigator together with Professor Vera Trappmann for the project “Decarbonisation policy support: An international study on the interaction of value-orientations and policy types”, funded by the Leeds University Business School Climate Change and Environmental Research Fund (CCERF).

Recent related publications:

  • Bretter, C. and Schulz, F. (2023). Why focusing on „climate change denial” is counterproductive. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 120(10), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217716120

Dr Vera Trappmann, Associate Professor, Work and Employment Relations

Dr Vera Trappmann is Associate Professor in Work and Employment Relations and a member of the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation, and Change (CERIC). Her research engages with the comparison of labour relations across Europe. Her main research interests focus on the dynamics of organisational restructuring and its impact on working biographies, and organized labour. Precarious work plays a prominent role here. Further she is interested in trade unions and their role around Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainability, climate change and degrowth. Vera’s work is often comparative in nature and has been funded by the European Commission, the German Research Foundation, Hans-Boeckler Foundation, Otto-Brenner Foundation, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Polish-German Science Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service, German Ministry of Research and Education, Federal states and trade unions.

Research interests in this area:

  • Decarbonising and work: Net-zero working practices

  • Organised labour and greening the economy

  • Just transition, restructuring and precarity

  • CSR and sustainability

  • Circular economy.

Related projects:

  • Circular Economy for Foundational Materials (Interdisciplinary Centre proposal submitted to UKRI)

  • Combating climate change: The role of organised labour (2019-2021)

  • CSR and organised labour (2010-2014)

Recent related publications:

  • Bluhm, Katharina, Vera Trappmann, 2015. Corporate Social Responsibility and Executives’ Attitudes in Germany, Poland and Hungary. Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, 6(12), 7-36. 

  • Bluhm, Katharina; Vera Trappmann. 2014. Varying Concepts of Social Responsibility? – Beliefs and Practises in Central Europe. In: K. Bluhm/B. Martens/V. Trappmann (Eds.): Business Leaders and New Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Europe. London: Routlegde, pp. 148-175.

Marco Veronese Passarella, Associate Professor, Economics

Marco Veronese Passarella is an Associate Professor of economics at Link Campus University of Rome. He is co-investigator, work-package coordinator and leader of the Leeds University Unit for the EU-funded project A JUst Transition to the Circular Economy (JUST2CE). Marco is mainly interested in macroeconomic modelling, monetary economics, theory of value and distribution, and ecological economics (ecological macroeconomic models, just transition, and circular economy).

Related projects:

  • European Commission Grant, EU Project 814247 – Partner of ‘Realising the Transition towards a Circular Economy’ (ReTraCE) project.

  • European Commission Grant, EU Project 101003491 – Co-Investigator, Workpackage Coordinator and Leader of Leeds University Unit for ‘A JUst Transition to the Circular Economy’ (JUST2CE) project.

Related publications:

  • Carnevali, E., Deleidi, M., Pariboni, R. and Veronese Passarella, M. 2021. Cross-Border financial flows and global warming in a two-area ecological SFC model. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 75, 100819.

  • Deleidi, M., Pariboni, R. and Veronese Passarella, M. 2019. Supermultiplier, innovation and the ecosystem: A stock-flow dynamic model. Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose – UCL, WP No. 2019-01.

Outputs

Here is a selection of our sustainability, net-zero, and green economy outputs.

A selection of journal articles