Social Sustainability Initiatives (SSI) among Malaysian City Council: A Content Analysis of the Annual Report

Abstract

Social sustainability is one aspect that contributes to the balance of sustainability goals, and its activities could impact and affect the subjects’ matters, including people, organisations, and communities. However, despite the rising social issues, research on the social dimension of sustainability is limited and needs more analysis, especially the efforts taken by the local authorities. Thus, this triggers the discovery of local authorities’ social sustainability initiatives (SSI) practices, mainly city council. This study aims to provide a benchmark on Social Sustainability Initiatives (SSI) currently practised by Malaysian City Councils. This study’s objectives are to identify the city councils’ SSI practices from the annual report; the SSI disclosed in annual report by determining the most prominent SSI practices among local authorities. Thus, this research adopted a qualitative method using the content analysis technique. The annual reports for the years 2018, 2019 and 2022 were used for this study for the respective City Councils. As a result, it was discovered that only ten (10) SSI themes through 39 initiatives were practised, with 14 most prominent SSIs determined. Hence, the Malaysia Local Authority has shown a commitment to preserving and protecting social sustainability and demands more promotion on what Malaysia City Councils have done in promoting sustainability.