Strategic Sequencing for Sustainable Development: An Expert‐Elicited Influence Network Perspective on SDG Sub‐Target Interdependencies

ABSTRACT Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires actionable understanding of interdependencies across policy domains. This study elicited a directional influence structure among 119 SDG sub‐targets from structured pairwise judgments by 15 experts in Malaysia ( n = 10) and Taiwan ( n = 5), analyzed using DEMATEL and an Influence Network Relation Map. Prominence and net influence were used to classify sub‐targets as drivers, near‐neutral intermediaries, or receivers. The elicited structure was asymmetric. Reductions in urban PM2.5 exposure (11–2), elderly poverty (10–4), and non‐recycled municipal solid waste (12–10), together with higher satisfaction with public transport (11–4) and the electronic‐waste indicator (12–2), were among the high‐positive‐net‐influence nodes. These positions identify potential entry points for cross‐sector policy‐coherence deliberation, not intervention‐specific causal effects. Several statistical‐capacity, public‐expenditure, agricultural, and education indicators were receiver‐oriented, indicating relatively greater net receipt of influence within the model. The proposed Activation–Transmission–Consolidation framework provides a context‐dependent diagnostic for structuring policy discussion, coordination, and monitoring. Country‐specific evidence, institutional feasibility, and distributional effects remain necessary before the findings inform policy choices.