Metodologie ed indicatori per la valutazione degli impatti della social responsibility degli enti locali: un’applicazione sui dati CPT dei comuni lucani

The growing urgency of addressing sustainability challenges, as defined by the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has placed local government at the center of the transition, elevating Municipal Social Responsibility (MSR) to a strategic imperative. Despite the theoretical recognition of this responsibility, the literature highlights a significant empirical and methodological gap, particularly the difficulty of effectively connecting sustainability performance (often based on non-financial indicators) with public reporting and accounting systems. This thesis aims to address this gap by developing and validating an innovative framework for measuring MSR. The proposed methodology relies on the use of data from the Sistema dei Conti Pubblici Territoriali (CPT) as an official and authoritative source for mapping municipal spending flows in relation to the pillars of sustainability. The distinctive feature lies in the development of a complex Reconciliation Matrix that disaggregates CPT expenditures, initially classified by sector, through the Budget Programs (Legislative Decree 118/2011) of each municipality, allowing the construction of key MSR indicators. The empirical application was conducted on the 131 municipalities of the Basilicata Region using advanced multivariate statistical techniques (Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis). These techniques allowed the construction of synthetic MSR indicators by synthesizing the information into principal components and segmenting the Basilicata municipalities into distinct clusters, differentiated based on their performance and propensity to invest in key sustainability areas. The results obtained demonstrate that the CPT data-based framework can represent an objective and replicable tool for measuring MSR and assessing municipal commitment to the SDGs, although it requires caution in its interpretation, as the lack of statistical outcome data complicates the empirical validation of the link between spending and sustainability results. It is also important to consider that actual impacts arise from a multitude of non-interceptable variables and that, since the application is rooted in the Basilicata region, the framework reflects the structural limitations and financial capacity of the context. This suggests that extension to other regions could lead to greater granularity of indicators and more detailed analyses. Despite these limitations, the thesis provides a significant theoretical contribution, proposing a solution based on public financial flows for the accounting integration of sustainability, and offers practical implications for public management and the strategic management of local governance in line with global commitments.