The Important of Institutional Dimensions in Sustainability Assessment

Sustainability assessment has developed into an important tool for evaluating progress toward long-term development goals. Institutional dimensions understood as the governance systems, regulatory frameworks, and social norms that shape collective behavior, determine whether sustainability efforts can be successfully implemented and maintained.

Without assessing institutional capacity, sustainability evaluations risk being incomplete and potentially misleading.

Governance frameworks and institutional theory have long guided analysis by highlighting political dynamics, organizational capacity, stakeholder participation, and external pressures such as regulation and norms.

These approaches help explain why some institutions succeed in embedding sustainability while others fall short.

However, recent scholarship has moved toward more integrative tools, particularly multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). MCDA allows institutional indicators to be evaluated alongside environmental, social, and economic dimensions, offering a more balanced and context-sensitive assessment (Linkov & Moberg, 2021).

By combining governance insights with quantitative methods, MCDA reflects the complexity of sustainability and provides policymakers with clearer priorities for action.

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The inclusion of institutional dimensions in sustainability assessment carries several important implications. First, it enables a more comprehensive understanding of sustainability readiness by revealing gaps in governance, leadership, and inter-agency coordination.

Second, it provides policymakers and practitioners with evidence to guide reforms and capacity building. Third, institutional assessment supports accountability and fosters legitimacy, which can strengthen stakeholder trust and long-term commitment to sustainability initiatives.

Despite these benefits, there are ongoing challenges. Collecting reliable institutional data is often difficult, particularly when dealing with informal practices, leadership quality, or cultural norms. There is also a risk of superficial compliance, in which institutions report governance improvements without implementing meaningful change.

In addition, many international or regional tools are limited in their ability to reflect local institutional contexts, reducing their relevance in practice (Lozano et al., 2023).