The Role of Digital Technologies in Supporting Sustainable Business Model Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

The introduction of digital technologies and, more generally, the digitalization process has revolutionized the way business is conducted, allowing companies to revise or extend their portfolio of products and services and inevitably influencing the way they manage relationships with stakeholders [1]. In fact, with regard to stakeholder relations, a new concept has recently begun to emerge, namely that of sustainability, in particular declined in its three fundamental pillars: economic, social and environmental. As a result, now the focus is no longer solely on economic performance but also on the social and environmental aspects. Increasingly, in fact, organizations should create value for themselves, for their customers, and for the whole community, without impacting negatively on the environment.

Since 2016, the United Nations has been developing an agenda aimed at sustainable progress with the aim of transforming our world by 2030. In this ambitious project, digital technologies play a key role allowing a faster achievement of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals [2], as well as the development of social innovative solutions able to tackle major social issues [3]. Specifically, although the digital revolution is accelerating the pace of this transition towards more social and sustainable models, new digital technologies are not able to completely disrupt industries through the process of digital transformation. In fact, for this to happen, new business models that combine digital technologies with new market needs must be introduced and adopted. Even though there are multiple definitions of business model, it generally describes how a company creates and captures value by allocating and deploying the resources at its disposal as efficiently as possible [4]. Within a given industry, a company's business model emerges over time and consolidates as the industry matures. It changes dramatically only if a major disruption occurs within that industry, such as the advent of a new radical technology. In an increasingly turbulent environment, companies must combine the digital transformation process with the trend towards social and environmental sustainability, changing their business model accordingly [5]. The authors in [6, p. 6] state, in fact, that "appropriate business models are crucial to derive the benefits from digital technology economically, environmentally, and socially". As a result, the interest in sustainable business models by both the scientific community and practitioners has surged. However, research on how companies are changing their business models to integrate the new digital reality and the need for a more sustainable use of resources is still in its infancy, calling for further investigation.

For this reason, our Special Issue aims to fill this gap by providing theoretical, conceptual and empirical studies on the role of digital technologies in supporting social and sustainable innovations. In particular, the scope of this Special Issue is related to investigating those strategies, approaches and methods employed to properly identify sustainable business model innovations in different industries and contexts.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Identification of strategies, methods and approaches able to support organizations in such social and environmental transitions;
• Role of stakeholders in triggering sustainable business model innovations;
• Definition of sustainable business model innovations for different industries and contexts;
• Development of indicators to measure social and environmental impacts of sustainable business model innovations;
• Identification of mechanisms for the development of social innovation;
• Analysis of the synergy between digital technologies and social and sustainable business model innovations;

Identification of the main factors (organizational, social, economic, contextual etc.) able to affect the development of social and sustainable business model innovations.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

1. Brenner, B. (2018). Transformative sustainable business models in the light of the digital imperative—A global business economics perspective. Sustainability, 10(12), 4428.
2. Colglazier, W. (2015). Sustainable development agenda: 2030. Science, 349(6252), 1048-1050.
3. Maiolini, R., Marra, A., Baldassarri, C., & Carlei, V. (2016). Digital technologies for social innovation: an empirical recognition on the new enablers. Journal of technology management & innovation, 11(4), 22-28.
4. Mont, O., Whalen, K., & Nussholz, J. (2019). Sustainable innovation in business models: celebrated but not interrogated. In Handbook of Sustainable Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
5. Acciarini, C., Borelli, F., Capo, F., Cappa, F., & Sarrocco, C. (2021). Can digitalization favour the emergence of innovative and sustainable business models? A qualitative exploration in the automotive sector. Journal of Strategy and Management.
6. Parida, V., Sjödin, D., & Reim, W. (2019). Reviewing literature on digitalization, business model innovation, and sustainable industry: Past achievements and future promises.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Bigliardi
Dr. Serena Filippelli
Dr. Giovanna Ferraro
Prof. Dr. Renato Passaro
Dr. Ivana Quinto
Dr. Leonardo Tagliente
Guest Editors

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• sustainable business model
• digitalization
• digital transformation
• social innovation
• sustainable business model innovation