Institutional Capacity of Municipal Governments in Urban Sustainability in Ecuador
Keywords:
local government, sustainable development, sport, public administration, citizen participation.Abstract
The research analyzed the influence of the institutional capacity of municipal governments on urban and sports sustainability in the canton of La Libertad, Ecuador, during 2026. The study adopted a quantitative, basic approach with a non-experimental, cross-sectional design and a correlational-causal scope. Two Likert-type questionnaires were applied to 949 citizens, validated through expert judgment (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.983 and 0.978). Data were processed using ordinal logistic regression. The findings revealed that institutional capacity significantly influenced urban sustainability (χ² = 691.764; p < 0.001; Nagelkerke = 0.616), with functional capacity having the greatest explanatory power (Nagelkerke = 0.619), followed by governance capacity (0.592) and structural capacity (0.504). It was concluded that urban and sports sustainability depended on the municipality’s ability to manage its functions and engage with citizens rather than on the mere endowment of resources, recommending prioritizing planning, citizen participation, and inter-institutional articulation.
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