Figure 1
The flow diagram is arranged from top to bottom with four main horizontal rectangular boxes connected by downward arrows. At the top, a wide rectangle labeled “External Pressures” contains “S D G s, Talloires Declaration, Global Rankings”. A solid downward arrow runs from “External Pressures” to the next rectangle labeled “Formal Organization”, which contains “Sustainability Reports, Strategic E S G Policies, Digitalization Portals”. A solid downward arrow runs from “Formal Organization” to a rectangle labeled “Decoupling Gap”, which contains “Budgetary Constraints, Departmental Silos, Cultural Resistance, Governance Deficits”. A solid downward arrow runs from “Decoupling Gap” to a large rectangle labeled “Operational Reality (Organizational Practices)”. Inside this bottom rectangle, three dashed boundary boxes are arranged horizontally. The left dashed box is labeled “Environmental Dimension” and contains “Lack of Environmental Education”, “Digitalization Inefficiencies”, and “Infrastructure Misalignment”. The middle dashed box is labeled “Social Dimension” and contains “Unfavorable Communication and Work Conditions”, “Gender Inequality”, and “Inadequate Spaces”. The right dashed box is labeled “Governance Dimension” and contains “Lack of Coordination”, “Transparency Limitations”, “Budgetary Short-Termism”, and “Training Deficiencies”.Institutional decoupling in higher education. Note. The figure illustrates the flow from external pressures to the decoupling gap. It highlights the specific organizational buffers that prevent formal sustainability policies from translating into substantive operational practices across the environmental, social, and governance dimensions. Source: Author’s own work