Stakeholder-Centric Governance for Sustainable Universities: An Integrative Framework
Keywords:
Sustainability Governance, Higher Education, Stakeholder Engagement, Systematic Review, Institutional Transformation, Green UniversityAbstract
Background: Higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide are under increasing pressure to operationalize sustainability commitments. However, existing governance approaches remain fragmented, often separating stakeholder engagement, performance measurement, and strategic implementation into isolated institutional domains. This fragmentation limits the effectiveness of sustainability transformation efforts.
Objective: This study develops an Integrated Stakeholder-Centric Governance (ISCG) framework for green university transformation through a systematic synthesis of recent literature (2024–2025). The study aims to identify dominant governance architectures, critical success factors, and implementation pathways that support integrated sustainability governance in higher education.
Methods: The study adopts a systematic evidence synthesis and integrative literature review approach based on a structured search of peer-reviewed literature published between 2024 and 2025. Searches were conducted across Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, SciSpace, and arXiv using predefined keyword clusters related to sustainability governance, stakeholder engagement, sustainability indicators, digital transformation, and circular economy in higher education. Following duplicate removal and title/abstract and full-text screening, the eligible literature was analyzed through thematic, comparative, and conceptual synthesis.
Results: The analysis identifies six recurring governance configurations in recent literature: (1) KPI-driven administrative systems with PDCA cycles; (2) networked multi-institutional collaborations; (3) digitalized sustainability governance platforms; (4) bottom-up participatory green committees; (5) whole-institution sustainability approaches; and (6) hybrid sustainability office models. Across these configurations, effective sustainability governance is consistently associated with several critical enabling factors, including strong leadership commitment, structured KPI systems, multi-stakeholder engagement, continuous monitoring mechanisms, and the use of digital infrastructure for coordination and reporting. At the same time, key barriers include weak institutional integration, limited cross-departmental coordination, insufficient data availability, and resource constraints.
Conclusions: This study proposes the Integrated Stakeholder-Centric Governance (ISCG) framework as an evidence-informed conceptual model for understanding and organizing sustainability governance in higher education institutions. The framework integrates five interdependent governance layers: strategic leadership, operational management, academic integration, community engagement, and performance assessment. Rather than presenting a prescriptive solution, ISCG offers an analytical lens for understanding how governance components interact within complex institutional systems. The findings suggest that effective sustainability transformation depends not on isolated governance tools, but on the integration and alignment of structural, operational, and participatory dimensions. Future research should focus on empirical validation of the ISCG framework through case studies and quantitative or mixed-method approaches to assess its applicability across diverse institutional contexts.
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