Bibliometric review maps sustainability education research and proposes a motivation–management–leadership framework

A bibliometric and thematic review of 1,616 academic works found that sustainability education in higher education has shifted from foundational environmental literacy toward transformative, competency-based agency and institutional leadership. The review also identified a global core–periphery structure in the research, with China, Spain and the United Kingdom dominating the field, and traced its development through institutional consolidation, agenda expansion and pedagogical deepening.

The analysis covered academic works published from 2016 to 2026 and indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index and Science Citation Index Expanded on Web of Science. According to the article abstract, the review assessed the intellectual landscape of sustainability education through bibliometric and thematic methods. It also describes a continuing implementation gap between sustainability concepts on one side and student engagement or behavioural change on the other, with much existing activity remaining closer to passive content delivery.

To address the fragmentation between psychosocial factors and organisational governance, the authors propose a Motivation–Management–Leadership framework. The framework integrates Self-Determination Theory with systemic leadership paradigms and is presented as an evaluative lens for university transformation. Its intended emphasis is a holistic, human-centred approach to durable pro-environmental behaviour beyond traditional sustainability instruction. The abstract reports the framework as a research proposal rather than a tested intervention, and it does not provide evidence that the framework has already improved student or institutional outcomes.

The review’s available evidence is limited to the article abstract, which does not set out the detailed search strategy, inclusion criteria, thematic coding procedures or sensitivity analyses. The authors state that the shared article version is an early peer-reviewed record that may undergo further editorial revision. Consequently, the reported bibliometric patterns and the proposed Motivation–Management–Leadership model provide a structured research map, but the summary alone does not establish the framework’s effectiveness, implementation requirements or comparative performance against other models.

Subject of Research: Bibliometric review of sustainability education in higher education and a proposed motivation–management–leadership framework.

Article Title: Embedding sustainability in higher education through a Motivation–Management–Leadership framework based on bibliometric analysis

Article References: Li, Y., Mat Jusoh, A. M., & Omar, I. M. (2026). Embedding sustainability in higher education through a Motivation–Management–Leadership framework based on bibliometric analysis. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04902-2

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DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04902-2

Keywords: sustainability education, higher education, bibliometric analysis, thematic review, student engagement, environmental literacy, institutional leadership, self-determination theory, pro-environmental behaviour, Embedding, sustainability, higher