HOW TO ACHIEVE A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY BY MINIMIZING THE GAP BETWEEN YOUTH AND THE GOVERNMENT? - SLR & CASE STUDIES WITH THEMATIC ANALYSIS APPROACH

This doctoral study was ignited by a media report documenting 600 youth casualties in the Mediterranean Sea, prompting a core research inquiry: how can sovereign nations mitigate unauthorized youth talent flight from the Global South to the Global North? Desk research reveals that volatile National Economic Development (NED) conditions drive disconnects between state authorities and young citizens or vice versa. Alongside compounding external pressures, it is prompting high-risk migration decisions that destroy youths’ personal and national reputational values. It is because economic stability and state-youth are mutually reinforcing; achieving resilient NED systematically narrows this operational divide. For this reason, this thesis presents an integrated, realistic framework to drive sustainable NED growth by bridging the strategic gap between governing bodies and the youth demographic. Utilizing an inductive, qualitative, multi-method design grounded in interpretivism and Adele Clarke’s Situational Analysis, the study sidesteps abstract Grounded Theory in favor of a Pragmatic Theoretical Triangulation incorporating Stakeholder, Strategic Management, Organizational Management, and Knowledge Management theories. This design progresses across four logically aligned research projects: Study 1 deploys a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) meta-synthesis of 247 papers (2015-2025) to empirically confirm youth and national governments as the codependent primary macro-stakeholders of NED; Study 2 analyzes 39 global case studies to propose an institutional Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that eliminates administrative barriers to cross-border youth entrepreneurship expansion, directly driving Gross National Income (GNI); Study 3 evaluates 141 youth groups (majority university students) direct interviews by 101 (61 open-ended and 40 close-ended) questions indicators to demonstrate how economic knowledge (economic terms and national economic conditions) transforms youth mindsets from benefit takers to national contributor (proactive economic participation); and Study 4 investigates 545 multi-regional youth fast-food (McDonalds and KFC) consumers to share and get the feedback of the fact that unhygienic consumption foods inflate Gross National Expenditure (GNEx). Understanding the role of citizens (increasing GNI as an active agent) is a key factor in NED growth. By synthesizing these outcomes into a fournode operational model through a strategic management approach (for the government only), this research provides a realistic roadmap for achieving sustainable NED growth. By achieving a strong national economy will prevent illegal talent flight (as refugees) from the Global South to the Global North