Understanding sustainable development concept in Malaysia

Purpose The purpose of this research paper is to explore the understanding of sustainable development and sustainability reporting concepts among Malaysian local authorities' personnel. Design/methodology/approach The research involved interviews with 23 respondents from 16 selected councils in Malaysia. Interview results were analysed by using the interpretive textual analysis. Findings The meaning of the sustainable development concept is quite broad from the local authority's perspective in Malaysia. Local authorities' personnel view sustainable development as: societalist, ecologist and individualist. Only staff directly involved in the sustainable development activity implementation understood the meaning of the sustainable development concept. The respondents indicated the importance of educating people on the awareness of sustainable development in their understanding on this concept. Consistent with the western values, 13 councils (81 per cent) agreed with the definition by GRI. Research limitations/implications The research is restricted to Malaysian local authorities and is descriptive in nature. The findings are limited to case studies in several states, thus generalizing the results is not possible at this stage. Practical implications There is a deeper appreciation of where local authority personnel gain their understanding of sustainable development issues, and how they participate in the discourse around sustainable development. Originality/value Very little research has been undertaken into how local authority personnel gain their knowledge, either about sustainable development and sustainability reporting or about their views on the subject. The research attempts to fill this gap and the way for similar work to be undertaken overseas. Accordingly, this paper calls for further discussion on local authorities' role in achieving sustainable development and on the public sector interpretation of sustainable development in general.