Abstract
A seven-domain university well-being model was evaluated using r,s,t-Spherical Fuzzy DEMATEL to identify the most influential domains perceived as exerting upstream influence at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH). Judgments were obtained from a 20-member expert panel comprising academic staff, administrators, and senior lecturers, allowing domain interactions to be assessed under linguistic uncertainty. The analysis showed that physical health, mental–emotional balance, and especially financial security act as core drivers, while social relationships, environmental quality, career conditions, and self-fulfilment operate primarily as receivers. The most influential sub-criteria were income sufficiency, future financial security, growth mindset, balanced nutrition, and clear development pathways. These results suggest that financial support mechanisms, mindset-development initiatives, and foundational health programs may yield the broadest well-being gains. The study demonstrates the applicability of r,s,t-spherical fuzzy causal modelling within a Vietnamese higher-education context and highlights the need for longitudinal and multi-campus studies to confirm the causal hierarchy observed.
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This study is funded by the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
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TAT: Data curation; Supervision; Validation; Funding acquisition; Project administration; Writing – review & editing. N-LN: Conceptualization; Methodology; Formal analysis; Investigation; Validation; Visualization; Software; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the institutional research guidelines, the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its subsequent amendments, or comparable ethical standards. All procedures involving human participants adhered to the institutional and national ethical standards for research. The research received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the College of Technology and Design, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (Approval No. 71/CTD) on March 20th, 2024. Furthermore, all the experts interviewed were at least 18 years of age and fully informed about the purpose of the interview. All collected information was strictly confidential, anonymous, and used solely for research purposes.
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Trinh, T.A., Nhieu, NL. A r,s,t-spherical fuzzy decision-making model of university happiness: case study of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City. Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06959-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06959-w


