IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i3p1260-d1583543.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Educational Economic Factors on Institutional Sustainability Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Management Practices

Author

Listed:
  • Houcine Benlaria

    (Business Administration Department, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia)

  • Naeimah Fahad S. Almawishir

    (Business Administration Department, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between educational economic factors and institutional sustainability performance in Saudi public universities, examining the mediating role of green management practices. Using data from 168 respondents across three Saudi public universities, we employed a quantitative approach through structured questionnaires measuring educational economic factors, green management practices, and institutional sustainability performance. PLS-SEM analysis revealed significant direct effects of educational economic factors on sustainability performance, with economic incentive programs demonstrating the strongest influence (β = 0.465, p < 0.001). Green management practices exhibited significant mediating effects, notably between financial resource allocation and sustainability performance (β = 0.191, p < 0.001). The model explains 61.6% of the variance in sustainability performance. The findings provide insights into the dynamics of sustainability implementation in Saudi higher education institutions, particularly highlighting the crucial mediating role of green management practices in translating economic initiatives into sustainability outcomes. While the study’s focus on three Saudi public universities may limit generalizability, it contributes to understanding sustainability implementation within Saudi Vision 2030’s environmental framework. Future research opportunities include expanding to private institutions, incorporating additional geographical regions, and implementing longitudinal studies to track sustainability performance evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Houcine Benlaria & Naeimah Fahad S. Almawishir, 2025. "The Impact of Educational Economic Factors on Institutional Sustainability Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Management Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-20, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1260-:d:1583543
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1260/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1260/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tauseef Jamal & Muhammad Zahid & José Moleiro Martins & Mário Nuno Mata & Haseeb Ur Rahman & Pedro Neves Mata, 2021. "Perceived Green Human Resource Management Practices and Corporate Sustainability: Multigroup Analysis and Major Industries Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Amna Farrukh & Sanjay Mathrani & Aymen Sajjad, 2022. "A natural resource and institutional theory‐based view of green‐lean‐six sigma drivers for environmental management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1074-1090, March.
    3. Branislav Sančanin & Aleksandra Penjišević & Dušan J. Simjanović & Branislav M. Ranđelović & Nenad O. Vesić & Maja Mladenović, 2024. "A Fuzzy AHP and PCA Approach to the Role of Media in Improving Education and the Labor Market in the 21st Century," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Irfan Hameed & Umer Zaman & Idrees Waris & Owais Shafique, 2021. "A Serial-Mediation Model to Link Entrepreneurship Education and Green Entrepreneurial Behavior: Application of Resource-Based View and Flow Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Song, Malin & Peng, Licheng & Shang, Yuping & Zhao, Xin, 2022. "Green technology progress and total factor productivity of resource-based enterprises: A perspective of technical compensation of environmental regulation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    6. Nowotny, Janusz & Dodson, John & Fiechter, Sebastian & Gür, Turgut M. & Kennedy, Brendan & Macyk, Wojciech & Bak, Tadeusz & Sigmund, Wolfgang & Yamawaki, Michio & Rahman, Kazi A., 2018. "Towards global sustainability: Education on environmentally clean energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2541-2551.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gkargkavouzi, Anastasia & Halkos, George, 2025. "“Greening” Education for Climate Resilience: Strategies, Implementation, and Curriculum Integration," MPRA Paper 125668, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Mazen Mohammed Farea & Abdullah A. Aljofi, 2025. "The Influence of External Market Drivers on Global Value Chain Participation in Saudi Arabia: The Mediating Role of Technological Advancements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-21, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Weili Li, 2025. "Optimizing Enterprise Productivity in the Digital Economy: A Genetic Algorithm and Multi-Objective Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(1), pages 2670-2688, March.
    2. Dagnu Haile Tessema, 2025. "The impact of green human resource management practices on corporate sustainability: the case of public hospitals," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Arkadiusz Adamczyk, 2020. "Sizing and Control Algorithms of a Hybrid Energy Storage System Based on Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Xu He & Qin-Lei Jing, 2022. "The Impact of Environmental Tax Reform on Total Factor Productivity of Heavy-Polluting Firms Based on a Dual Perspective of Technological Innovation and Capital Allocation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Segantin, Stefano & Testoni, Raffaella & Zucchetti, Massimo, 2019. "The lifetime determination of ARC reactor as a load-following plant in the energy framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 66-75.
    6. Talan, Amogh & Rao, Amar & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Apostu, Simona-Andreea & Abbas, Shujaat, 2023. "Transition towards clean energy consumption in G7: Can financial sector, ICT and democracy help?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Du, Juntao & Shen, Zhiyang & Song, Malin & Zhang, Linda, 2023. "Nexus between digital transformation and energy technology innovation: An empirical test of A-share listed enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Cai Li & Majid Murad & Sheikh Farhan Ashraf, 2023. "The Influence of Women’s Green Entrepreneurial Intention on Green Entrepreneurial Behavior through University and Social Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-17, June.
    9. Tianshun Ruan & Ying Gu & Xinhao Li & Rong Qu, 2022. "Research on the Practical Path of Resource-Based Enterprises to Improve Environmental Efficiency in Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    10. Pankaj Goel & Sandhya Mehta & Raman Kumar & Fernando Castaño, 2022. "Sustainable Green Human Resource Management Practices in Educational Institutions: An Interpretive Structural Modelling and Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, October.
    11. Yang, Siying & Liu, Fengshuo, 2024. "Impact of industrial intelligence on green total factor productivity: The indispensability of the environmental system," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    12. Yessica García Hernández & María Dolores Martínez García & María de Lourdes Amador Martínez, 2025. "Structural Equation Model for Assessing Relationship Between Green Skills and Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-24, October.
    13. Zhonghua Cheng & Lele Han, 2025. "Environmental and social governance performance and enterprise total factor productivity," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1411-1428, April.
    14. Huang, Chenchen & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Promoting decarbonization in the power sector: How important is digital transformation?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    15. Lu, Shan & Peng, Sihan & Shi, Jiaxin & Zhang, Ci & Feng, Yanchao, 2024. "How does digital transformation affect the total factor productivity of China's A-share listed enterprises in the mineral resource-based sector?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Hou, Guanchong & Shi, Guifen, 2024. "Green finance and innovative cities: Dual-pilot policies and collaborative green innovation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    17. Nomeda Dobrovolskienė & Anastasija Pozniak & Manuela Tvaronavičienė, 2021. "Assessment of the Sustainability of a Real Estate Project Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    18. Zhao, Qi & Guo, Ming & Feng, Fangfang & Li, Junjun & Guan, Hangtian, 2024. "Path analysis of digital development on the green industrial transformation of Chinese resource-based enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    19. Muhammad Zahid & José Moleiro Martins & Haseeb Ur Rahman & Mário Nuno Mata & Syed Asim Shah & Pedro Neves Mata, 2021. "The Interconnection between Decent Workplace and Firm Financial Performance through the Mediation of Environmental Sustainability: Lessons from an Emerging Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-14, April.
    20. Naimoğlu, Mustafa & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2025. "Managing green growth: A new and comprehensive perspective on productivity, institutions, energy, and policy in emerging countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1260-:d:1583543. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.