Adnan, Ahmad Herzi2015-12-132015-12-130301-4797http://hdl.handle.net/1885/79371Formulation of effective sustainability indicators for national assessment demands a comprehensive understanding of the utilisation, diffusion and dissemination of information in policy processes. To illustrate the dynamic of sustainability assessment within the context of policy processes, this paper uses a case study of national sustainability indicators development in Malaysia. Subsequently, this paper ascribes the limited achievement of national sustainability assessment in Malaysia to four types of constraints: meta-policy issues; technical capacities; communication concerns; and the inherent knowledge gaps within the indicator developer community vis-à-vis their theoretical limitations. It is proposed that such constraints will be encountered in many countries. Drawing from the literature on public policy, this paper outlines a framework for investigating indicator behaviour within policy processes based on well-established concepts such as knowledge utilisation and policy learning. I conclude this paper by elaborating on the corresponding future challenges that must be addressed before effective integration of sustainability indicators within policy systems can occur.Keywords: environmental assessment; environmental policy; sustainability; article; controlled study; environmental management; environmental parameters; environmental planning; environmental sustainability; geographic distribution; information dissemination; interp Information utilisation; Malaysia; Policy learning; Sustainability indicators200410.1016/j.jenvman.2004.07.0102016-02-24