Sustainability behavior at the University of Sharjah: A gender comparison

Universities around the world have an important role in sustainability which encourage them to conduct campus sustainability studies to measure their sustainability performance. This study aims to assess sustainability performance and compare the level of behavior between males and females at the University of Sharjah. We developed and distributed a questionnaire to all the university populations to measure sustainability behavior. We used a Likert scale and hypothesis testing to analyze the questionnaire. By the end of the questionnaire duration, we received 646 responses, where 238 were males, and 408 were females. To analyze the questionnaire, the sign test was applied to determine the level of sustainable behavior of the males’ and females’ respondents. The results of this test showed that both males’ and females’ behavior levels are high. This is a good sign that both males and females are practicing their daily activities in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test was applied to compare the males’ and females’ behavior levels. As a result, it was found that males have better sustainability behavior. It is recommended that the University of Sharjah organizes more events and activities to boost the behavior level of female respondents. Also, the university may define some rules and regulations to monitor the sustainability behavior at the campus by providing rewards, incentives, and penalties in case of violation. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020