Teaching digital natives to acquire competences for sustainable development

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to analyse how to adapt teaching and learning methodologies to new generations of digital natives to promote their commitment to sustainable development. The research explores the existence of a relationship between digital natives’ characteristics, individual dynamic capabilities and their commitment to innovation and therefore to sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: A structural equation model is used to test the proposed hypothesis by a survey conducted with 532 digital-native higher education students. Findings: The results show the existence of a significant relationship between digital natives’ competences, individual dynamic capabilities and a better approach to managing situations with regard to relationships with key stakeholders and the fostering of innovation and commitment to the social and environmental issues demanded by society. Research limitations/implications: The limitations of this study are that it is based on a sample from a specific Spanish university that cannot be representative of all digital natives from all universities and different cultural contexts. The variables measuring the characteristics of digital natives have only recently been used in the academic literature. Practical implications: The research proposes including individual dynamic capabilities and innovation courses in sustainable development education to accelerate the implementation of sustainable development goals. These research findings can be used as insights into the development of university programmes and courses. Originality/value: This research is one of the first attempts at understanding how to promote education for sustainable development among digital natives and at identifying them as future change makers for sustainable development.