University sustainability rankings and sustainability performance: assessing the relationship

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between sustainability performance and sustainability rankings in higher education institutions. It explores the existence of a bidirectional relationship, assessing how sustainability performance influences ranking outcomes and how rankings, in turn, affect institutional behavior and performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected external sustainability data from Italian universities and applied the Granger causality test to examine whether a bidirectional relationship exists with the UI GreenMetric ranking. Subsequently, the authors used dynamic panel models to investigate the determinants of this relationship. Findings The findings reveal a bidirectional relationship between sustainability rankings and sustainability performance: rankings not only reflect institutional outcomes but also actively shape them. On the one hand, rankings effectively capture certain dimensions of performance; on the other, they are associated with improvements in the metrics they measure, while other sustainability dimensions may decline or receive less attention. Practical implications University managers should critically assess how rankings influence strategic decisions to avoid prioritizing short-term ranking gains over long-term sustainability goals. Social implications University rankings are widely used by policymakers as proxies for performance in funding allocation and policy design. However, uncritical reliance on these tools may lead to suboptimal decisions and incentivize strategic manipulation, highlighting the need for greater public oversight, more transparent methodologies, and the development of shared and reliable sustainability metrics. Originality/value Sustainability rankings have emerged alongside traditional rankings to assess institutional quality in this area. Originally created to measure university quality, rankings can also influence institutional priorities. However, while traditional rankings and their effects have been widely studied, sustainability rankings remain relatively unexplored.