Bridging gaps in campus sustainability: a student-led evaluation framework grounded in socio-technical systems theory

Overview

This study develops and validates a student-led measurement instrument for evaluating sustainability in higher education institutions through a socio-technical systems (STS) theory framework. The research addresses gaps in context-sensitive, normative evaluation tools for sustainable campuses, with particular emphasis on Malaysian and South-East Asian institutional contexts. The instrument conceptualises campus sustainability as integrating social and technical subsystems, departing from conventional top-down assessment approaches.

Methods and approach

The research employs a three-phase mixed-methods design. Initial concept mapping produced 40 statements that were refined to 25 items through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) validated the instrument structure across two Malaysian urban higher education institutions. The analytical framework incorporated normative-descriptive typology comparison to assess alignment between institutional performance and stakeholder expectations. STS theory provided the theoretical scaffolding for integrating social and technical dimensions within the sustainability assessment model.

Key Findings

The validated instrument comprises four dimensions: campus services and facilities, resource policy and usage, sustainable built environment, and sustainability and technology. These factors operationalise the socio-technical conceptualisation of campus sustainability. Analysis revealed substantial discrepancies between student expectations and their observations of institutional sustainability efforts, indicating gaps in both substantive sustainability performance and institutional communication regarding existing initiatives. The comparative analysis across the two institutions demonstrated variation in how sustainability dimensions manifested in different institutional contexts.

Implications

The instrument provides higher education institutions with a mechanism for tracking sustainability initiatives and aligning organisational efforts with student stakeholder expectations. Implementation enables iterative improvement cycles and supports participatory governance models that incorporate student perspectives into institutional decision-making processes. The tool's student-centric design facilitates identification of communication gaps and performance deficiencies across specific sustainability dimensions.

The study extends socio-technical systems theory into the higher education sustainability domain and advances methodological approaches through its bottom-up, stakeholder-inclusive evaluation design. By addressing the underrepresentation of Asian institutional contexts in global sustainability research, the work responds to calls for contextualised assessment frameworks that account for regional and institutional specificities. The validated instrument offers transferable methodology for developing context-responsive sustainability evaluation tools across diverse higher education systems.

Scope and limitations

This summary is based on the study abstract and available metadata. It does not include a full analysis of the complete paper, supplementary materials, or underlying datasets unless explicitly stated. Findings should be interpreted in the context of the original publication.