Abstract
Sustainability has been placed at the core of higher education in India through the National Education Policy 2020. While global higher education institutions have increasingly integrated sustainability practices, developing countries such as India still face significant research and implementation gaps. The present study examines how institutional efforts shape students’ sustainability values and behaviors, with a focus on the mediating role of students’ understanding and efforts (SUE) and the moderating influence of home culture. With the descriptive design, a survey questionnaire grounded on theories was used to gather primary data for this investigation, collecting responses from 452 University students through Stratified random sampling from the region of Karnataka, India. Following the data collection, statistical techniques, such as measurement model and structural equation modeling, were applied to evaluate the direct and indirect impacts. As per the results, institutional sustainability policies (ISP), sustainability curriculum integration (SCI), sustainability-focused extracurricular activities (SFEC), and institutional commitment to sustainability (ICS) significantly contribute to students’ environmental values (SEV), which further boost students’ pro-sustainability behaviors (SPB). As per the descriptive notion, students strongly feel the responsibility to practice a sustainable lifestyle (M = 3.99). Moreover, SUE mediates the relationship between institutional efforts and SEV and home culture (HC) moderates the relationship between SUE & SEV. This study recommends that educational institutions design effective educational strategies for better implementation of sustainability, as it heightens social responsibility in students’ behavior. Integration of sustainability in curriculum and extracurricular activities must be incorporated to expose students to achieving sustainability goals. The study is useful for developing countries because it provides a framework to deal with the specific problems that hold back these countries from implementing sustainability education. This research contributes to the achievement of the SDGs, especially SDG 4, which advocates for Quality Education, and SDG 13 on Climate Action.
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The data supporting this study's findings are not publicly available due to confidentiality and other ethical considerations. However, data may be available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request, provided permission is obtained from the institution.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge the valuable support and financial assistance provided by Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
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Conceptualisation, Instrument Development & Formal Analysis: Shakira Irfana & Niyaz Panakaje, Review & Theory: Bazigha U M, Babitha Shali Lasrado, Jeevan Raj, Research Methodology: S. M. Riha Parvin, Discussion: Madhura K & Mahammad Shahid, Data Curation: Jeevan Raj, Rashmi H, & Abhinandan Kulal, Writing Original Draft: Shakira Irfana.
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The questionnaire was approved in the meeting of the Scientific Review Board, which scrutinised and deliberated on the application submitted through Approval No. YIASCM/SRB-01/MGT/02/2024 of YIASCM, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, under the said policies and procedures for research work of the said university, on 12th August 2024. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants beginning on 15 August 2024, prior to data collection. All procedures performed in this research complied with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines for research involving human participants.
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Irfana, S., Panakaje, N., Shali Lasrado, B. et al. Sustainability prioritization dynamics: how educational institutions shape student behavior through environmental values. Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-06478-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-06478-0
