Reconceptualizing Training and Development for Sustainability Competency Formation

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-678-4_44How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Training and Development; Sustainability Competencies; Organizational Learning; Organizations

Abstract

The increasing complexity of environmental, social, and economic challenges requires organizations to rethink how sustainability competencies are developed within the workforce. Traditional training and development (T&D) approaches, which primarily focus on short-term performance and technical skills, are insufficient for addressing sustainability-related demands. This conceptual paper reconceptualizes training and development as a strategic and transformative process for sustainability competency formation. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from human resource development, sustainability studies, and organizational learning, the paper argues that sustain-ability competencies encompass not only knowledge and skills but also values, systems thinking, ethical reasoning, and change-oriented mindsets. It proposes a shift from episodic, compliance-driven training toward continuous, experiential, and reflective learning embedded in everyday work practices. The paper further emphasizes the role of organizational culture, leader-ship support, and inclusive learning environments in enabling sustainability-oriented capability building. By integrating training and development with sustainability objectives, the paper contributes to theory and practice by positioning workforce learning as a critical driver of long-term organizational resilience and sustainable value creation.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Vikram Deshmukh
AU  - Geetha Manoharan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
TI  - Reconceptualizing Training and Development for Sustainability Competency Formation
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Recent Advancement and Modernization in Sustainable Intelligent Technologies & Applications (RAMSITA-2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 554
EP  - 564
SN  - 1951-6851
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-678-4_44
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-678-4_44
ID  - Deshmukh2026
ER  -