Digital Transformation and Environmental Sustainability: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Digital transformation refers to the unprecedented disruptions in society, industry, and organizations stimulated by advances in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Presently, there is a lack of studies to map digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain. This paper identifies the disruptions driven by digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain through a systematic literature review. The results present a framework that outlines the transformations in four key areas: pollution control, waste management, sustainable production, and urban sustainability. The transformations in each key area are divided into further sub-categories. This study proposes an agenda for future research in terms of organizational capabilities, performance, and digital transformation strategy regarding environmental sustainability.

The Effect of CSR Attributes on CSR Authenticity: Focusing on Mediating Effects of Digital Transformation

“…Today's relationship between business (or economic value) and moral (or social value) takes on CSR principles-based corporate activity forms, and the Internet and mobile devices have become efficient CSR communication and upgrading tools for enterprise organizations in the digital age. For example, DT has already greatly contributed to reducing pollutant emissions and increasing environmental protection, allowing people to solve existing problems in a more environmentally friendly way [18,58]. In addition, there seems to be little disagreement that digital transformation such as big data, the IoT, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, and robots will profoundly impact the labor sector.…”

Digital Transformation in the Context of the European Union and the Use of Digital Technologies as a Tool for Business Sustainability

“…Digital transformation is a profound change and accelerates business activities, process, competencies, models in order to take full advantage of changes and opportunities in digital technology and its impact on society in a strategic and priority way [4]. Digital transformation refers to unprecedented disruptions to society, industry, organizations stimulated by advances in digital technologies such as: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing and The Internet of Things [7]. The digital transformation of business models is transforming consumer preferences and consumption as industries introduce digital technologies to increase their competitiveness in order to change customer relationships, internal processes and value prepositions [3].…”

“…The first prerequisite for digital transformation is digital technologies that transform the way environmental sustainability issues are measured and managed [7]. Digital technologies are the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, also called Technologies Industry 4.0.…”

“…Digital technology under Bican and Brem [4] is the basis for innovation in platforms and digital environments, and these technologies are highly interconnected, enabling and increasing information processing capacity. Feroz, Zo & Chiravuri [7] further state that digital technologies offer organizations unique opportunities to develop new environmental business models or to adopt digital technologies to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into existing business models. Digital technologies are forcing companies to reimagine their customer value offerings as new social and mobile applications, analytics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, biometrics, blockchain, cloud and edge computing, and many other advances allow them to deliver value in ways that simply were not possible [8].…”

“…Without the transformation of existing businesses, the economic and environmental challenges of the future cannot be addressed in a sustainable way, and therefore resource optimization for more sustainable businesses is driven by digital technologies that form the basis of digital innovation in platforms and digital environments [4]. Digital technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things, Social Media Analytics, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Technologies) are increasingly used to improve environmental sustainability, transform various aspects of environmental sustainability and enable transformations in various areas of environmental sustainability such as: pollution control, waste management, sustainable production and urban sustainability [7]. Digital technologies support the development of value proposals that combine environmental, social and economic value and can make a significant contribution to the goals of sustainable development [16].…”