Self-Determination Theory: Sustainability and Employment

Education for sustainable development (SD) is actively popularized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2017). The agency promotes knowledge, skills, and values that empower students to contribute to the SD of the world. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are expected to take their part in the dissemination of SD knowledge by addressing the economic, environmental, and social issues. Knowledge of SD has also become a common demand on the labor market for newly graduated students (Wallenius et al., 2020). Additionally, sustainable, ethical, and responsible companies tend to become more attractive employers for young talents (e.g., Presley et al., 2018). Sustainability activities of the organization can be considered as one of the factors influencing job seekers' motivation to seek employment in an organization as commonly accepted norms of SD is assumed to influence students' perception of sustainability in future employment. Adopting self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000), this study
addresses the issues of employer attractiveness and factors influencing students' selection of an employer. SDT allows examining factors influencing human motivation for a particular behavior, personality development as well as environmental (social) factors impacting self-motivation (Vansteenkiste et al., 2006). Therefore, this study aims to determine how SD knowledge and social environment (injunctive norms) influence students' choice of their future workplaces.