Governing for the Goals: How Governance Quality Shapes the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

ABSTRACT Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 remains a major global challenge, as progress continues to vary significantly across countries. While governance is widely recognized as a key enabler of sustainable development, few studies have systematically explored how its various dimensions affect SDG performance at the national level. This study addresses this gap by analyzing a balanced panel of 145 countries over the period 2016–2023, using data from the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Drawing on the public interest theory of regulation, this study examines the influence of six governance dimensions—control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law, and voice and accountability—on SDG achievement. The empirical analysis, based on a two‐step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator, shows that all six dimensions exert a significant and positive effect on SDG performance, underscoring the strategic importance of institutional quality in advancing sustainability goals. This research contributes to the literature by offering a global, goal‐independent assessment and by operationalizing governance comprehensively through the WGI framework. The findings provide practical insights for policymakers and public institutions, emphasizing the need for governance‐driven strategies, institutional reforms, and outcome‐oriented interventions to accelerate progress toward the SDGs.