Perceived Impacts of Varying Levels of Public Participation in Sustainable Development Programmes: Evidence from Pustaka Negeri Sarawak
Abstract
Public participation is increasingly treated as a substantive component of participatory governance and as an enabling condition for sustainable development. Yet the value of participation cannot be assumed solely from the existence of participatory opportunities; it is also important to understand how participants themselves perceive the consequences of different levels of involvement. This study examines the perceived impact of varying levels of public participation in sustainable development programmes organised by Pustaka Negeri Sarawak (PNS). A cross-sectional quantitative survey was administered in English and Bahasa Malaysia to participants from the Tree Planting Programme, Knowledge Camp 2025, and Sarawak Bookfair 2025, yielding 115 valid responses. Section D initially contained six statements assessed on a five-point Likert scale. For the revised analysis, the two statements with standard deviations greater than 1.00 were excluded, leaving four statements addressing decision effectiveness, observed sustainability outcomes, community acceptance, and long-term success. The four retained item means ranged from 3.80 to 4.08, with an average item mean of 4.00. The strongest agreement concerned the effectiveness of sustainable development decisions supported by strong public input (82.6%; M = 4.08, SD = 0.90), followed by broader community acceptance of decisions developed with public input (81.7%; M = 4.07, SD = 0.92). Direct observation of improved sustainability outcomes received lower agreement (65.2%; M = 3.80, SD = 1.00). The findings indicate that participants associate meaningful public participation particularly with decision effectiveness, community acceptance, and long-term programme success, while being more cautious about directly observable sustainability outcomes. The article contributes to participatory governance scholarship by foregrounding participant perceptions and by distinguishing perceived governance benefits from demonstrated causal effects. For PNS, the findings support institutionalising meaningful participation across programme planning, implementation, feedback, and evaluation while strengthening longitudinal outcome monitoring.