GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF THE INTEGRATED INDEX OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC TRUST
Abstract
In the face of socio-ecological and economic challenges, the concept of sustainable development has become a top priority for strategic management at various levels. The fundamental challenge remains not only the quantitative measurement of progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, but also taking into account the “human factor” – the level of public trust in public administration institutions. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a mathematical model of an integrated sustainable development index which, unlike existing models, organically incorporates public trust as a significant component. The object of the study is the process of quantitatively assessing a region’s sustainable development. The subject of the study is the mathematical and statistical methods for constructing an integrated index that takes public trust into account. This paper proposes an original mathematical model of the Integrated Index of Sustainable Development and Public Trust (IISDPT). Testing of the model based on regions in western Ukraine demonstrated that the dynamics of the IISDPT adequately reflect key events of the study period (the onset of full-scale war, business relocation, increased volunteerism, and “war fatigue”). The inclusion of the public trust component made it possible for the first time to identify patterns that remained invisible to traditional economy-centric models. In particular, the dynamics of the IISDPT exhibit certain trends, specifically: 2021–2023: rapid growth (+6.2) – the “rallying around values” effect, increased volunteerism, business relocation, and international support; 2023–2024: slowdown in growth (+0.4) – adaptation to the “new normal,” resource depletion of civic initiatives; 2024–2025: stabilization with a slight decline (–0.3) – “war fatigue,” economic difficulties, migration of active citizens. The scientific novelty of the results lies in the fact that, for the first time, a mathematical framework is proposed in which public trust acts not as a passive indicator but as an active multiplier, altering the weight of classical sustainable development indicators.
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