Sustainable digital transformation: research landscapes, dynamic capabilities, and key drivers

Abstract

Digital transformation refers to the unprecedented disruptions in society, industries, and organizations stimulated by advances in novel digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and analytics, blockchain, cloud computing, social media and mobile technologies and the internet of things (IoT). Organizations digitally transform in order to survive in the increasingly competitive digital world. Digital transformation related disruptions are occurring in different dimensions of business operations and value chain processes. The nexus between sustainability and digital transformation offers new opportunities for creating and capturing ‘green value’. However, there is a lack of studies to map digital transformation in the sustainability domain and the factors that are driving those trends. Furthermore, sustainability alignment with digital transformation and how it can lead to sustainable digital transformation (SDT) remains unexplored as well. This thesis aims to fill these research gaps in the literature in three different studies. In the first study of the thesis, we identify the disruptions driven by digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain through a systematic literature review (SLR) technique. 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 further divided into sub-categories. The first essay proposes an agenda for future research in terms of organizational capabilities, performance, and digital transformation strategy regarding environmental sustainability. In the second study, by conducting a qualitative meta-synthesis (QMS) and survey, we define sustainable digital transformation (SDT) and identify dynamic capabilities for it. We build a conceptual framework that defines sustainable digital transformation as a “reconfiguration process of an organization’s core strategy to align novel digital technologies with sustainability goals”. A consensus of 52 experts in the field is reached on 19 capabilities using Delphi method. The dynamic capabilities outlined in this essay provide insights for organizations seeking to embark on sustainable digital transformation of their business models. In the third study, we map the sustainability-digitalization convergence using science mapping and investigate how it can lead to sustainable digital transformation. We use case study approach to analyze the sustainability-digitalization convergence in top five performing countries on sustainable development goals (SDGs) index namely, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and, Belgium. We adopt a desk research method to review the secondary data and employ SALSA framework and qualitative content analysis (QCA) techniques to decipher the driving factors of sustainability-digitalization convergence in the case countries and identify factors for the transition toward sustainable digital transformation. Second, we use the data science technique, Social Network Analysis (SNA), to provide a visual picture of the sustainability-digitalization convergence in these countries. We analyze 25,540 relevant records to construct keyword network visualization and network density maps outlining the convergence. This thesis makes contributions to theory and practice by researching the convergence between digital transformation and sustainability. We aim to contribute to the existing theory by developing a framework that shows how and where digital transformations are taking place in environmental sustainability, defining sustainable digital transformation, building dynamic capabilities for SDT, and identifying key drivers of sustainability-digitalization convergence. The results of this thesis can provide researchers with insights in the sustainability and digital transformation domains for more interdisciplinary research ideas in the future. Findings from this thesis will help decision-makers in public and private enterprises to identify and to prioritize areas for investment. It could help firms develop and evolve their sustainable digital strategy, creating a ‘win-win’ situation for all stakeholders. For example, we discovered that digital technologies offer organizations unique opportunities to develop new business models that focus on the environment or adopt digital technologies to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into the current business models. These cases could be a starting point for board room discussions regarding their strategic plans and related execution. Managers could initially focus on incremental changes such as the digitalization of sub-processes and mechanisms that can lead to the creation of better and sustainable business models.