Sustainability Accounting-Based Decision-Making in Integrated Organic Waste Management: An Exploratory Study in Balikpapan, Indonesia

ABSTRACT : Urban waste management in developing countries has increasingly become a governance issue involving economic, social, and environmental dimensions simultaneously. The Manggar Landfill in Balikpapan City, as the only final disposal facility receiving 350 to 400 tons of waste per day, has developed an integrated organic waste management system including methane gas utilization, compost production, black soldier fly maggot cultivation, and co-firing, positioning it as one of Indonesia’s leading landfills. This study explores how sustainability accounting based decision-making operates within this system through the lens of Goal Setting Theory, with specific focus on goal specificity. A qualitative exploratory case study design was employed, involving in-depth interviews, field observations, and analysis of official documents. Data were analyzed using an interactive model consisting of three coding stages. The findings show that goal specificity operates across three complementary levels, namely normative, operational, and quantitative, each integrating the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability accounting into a coherent and mutually reinforcing system. The study concludes that goal specificity supported by structured, measurable, and multidimensional sustainability accounting information serves as an empirical foundation for sustainability-oriented decisionmaking in public sector waste management systems.

KEYWORDS : goal setting theory, goal specificity, integrated organic waste management, decision-making, sustainability accounting, Manggar Landfill