A sustainability indicator framework for the funeral sector: Identification, interrelationship analysis, and performance assessment

Abstract

The sustainable transformation of the funeral industry has become an increasingly urgent issue due to growing environmental concerns, demographic aging, land scarcity, and the surge in service demand after the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its cultural importance, funeral practices impose substantial environmental burdens through land consumption, resource use, and pollutant emissions. However, systematic sustainability indicator frameworks tailored to this sector remain underdeveloped. This study proposes a comprehensive sustainability indicator framework specifically for the funeral industry. We first identified 14 key indicators across four dimensions—environmental, economic, social, and institutional—through expert consultation and literature synthesis. To capture the interrelationships among these indicators, we applied the Heterogeneous Influence and Strength Attenuation (HISA) method, which accounts for both positive and negative interactions and influence attenuation. A Modified VIKOR (modified Visekriterijumska Optimizacija i Kompromisno Resenje) approach was then utilized to assess performance gaps relative to aspiration levels. A case study of a leading Taiwanese funeral service provider demonstrates the framework's applicability and robustness. The results highlight that environmental diversity, eco-friendly products, and land use planning are the most influential but underperforming indicators. Sensitivity analysis and method comparison validate the reliability of the proposed approach. This research contributes a transferable, decision-support tool for advancing sustainability planning and performance evaluation within service-oriented sectors.