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Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research

Author

Listed:
  • David Ockwell

    (Department of Geography and ESRC STEPS Centre, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SJ, UK)

  • Joanes Atela

    (African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), ICIPE Duduville Campus, Kasarani, P.O. Box 45917–00100, Nairobi, Kenya)

  • Kennedy Mbeva

    (African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), ICIPE Duduville Campus, Kasarani, P.O. Box 45917–00100, Nairobi, Kenya)

  • Victoria Chengo

    (African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), ICIPE Duduville Campus, Kasarani, P.O. Box 45917–00100, Nairobi, Kenya)

  • Rob Byrne

    (SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK)

  • Rachael Durrant

    (SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK)

  • Victoria Kasprowicz

    (SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK)

  • Adrian Ely

    (SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK)

Abstract

This paper examines the rapidly emerging and rapidly changing phenomenon of pay-as-you-go (PAYG), digitally enabled business models, which have had significant early success in providing poor people with access to technologies relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (e.g., for electricity access, water and sanitation, and agricultural irrigation). Data are analysed based on literature review, two stakeholder workshops (or “transformation labs”), and stakeholder interviews (engaging 41 stakeholders in total). This demonstrates the existing literature on PAYG is patchy at best, with no comprehensive or longitudinal, and very little theoretically grounded, research to date. The paper contributes to existing research on PAYG, and sustainability transformations more broadly, in two key ways. Firstly, it articulates a range of questions that remain to be answered in order to understand and deliver against the current and potential contribution of PAYG in affecting sustainability transformations (the latter we define as achieving environmental sustainability and social justice). These questions focus at three levels: national contexts for fostering innovation and technology uptake, the daily lives of poor and marginalised women and men, and global political economies and value accumulation. Secondly, the paper articulates three areas of theory (based on emerging critical social science research on sustainable energy access) that have potential to support future research that might answer these questions, namely: socio-technical innovation system-building, social practice, and global political economy and value chain analysis. Whilst recognising existing tensions between these three areas of theory, we argue that rapid sustainability transformations demand a level of epistemic pragmatism. Such pragmatism, we argue, can be achieved by situating research using any of the above areas of theory within the broader context of Leach et al.’s (2010) Pathways Approach. This allows for exactly the kind of interdisciplinary approach, based on a commitment to pluralism and the co-production of knowledge, and firmly rooted commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice that the SDGs demand.

Suggested Citation

  • David Ockwell & Joanes Atela & Kennedy Mbeva & Victoria Chengo & Rob Byrne & Rachael Durrant & Victoria Kasprowicz & Adrian Ely, 2019. "Can Pay-As-You-Go, Digitally Enabled Business Models Support Sustainability Transformations in Developing Countries? Outstanding Questions and a Theoretical Basis for Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-21, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2105-:d:221115
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Houda Elmustapha & Thomas Hoppe, 2020. "Challenges and Opportunities of Business Models in Sustainable Transitions: Evidence from Solar Energy Niche Development in Lebanon," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Ogundiran Soumonni & Kalu Ojah, 2022. "Innovative and mission‐oriented financing of renewable energy in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A review and conceptual framework," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), January.
    4. Paul G. Munro & Shanil Samarakoon & Ulrich E. Hansen & Matthew Kearnes & Anna Bruce & Jamie Cross & Sarah Walker & Collen Zalengera, 2023. "Towards a repair research agenda for off-grid solar e-waste in the Global South," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(2), pages 123-128, February.
    5. Alessandra Santini & Antonella Di Fonzo & Elisa Giampietri & Andrea Martelli & Orlando Cimino & Anna Dalla Marta & Maria Carmela Annosi & Francisco José Blanco-Velázquez & Teresa Del Giudice & Filiber, 2023. "A Step toward Water Use Sustainability: Implementing a Business Model Canvas for Irrigation Advisory Services," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, May.
    6. Montoya-Duque, Laura & Arango-Aramburo, Santiago & Arias-Gaviria, Jessica, 2022. "Simulating the effect of the Pay-as-you-go scheme for solar energy diffusion in Colombian off-grid regions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PB).
    7. Doroteja Vidmar & Marjeta Marolt & Andreja Pucihar, 2021. "Information Technology for Business Sustainability: A Literature Review with Automated Content Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    8. Natalia R. Potoczek, 2021. "The use of process benchmarking in the water industry to introduce changes in the digitization of the company’s value chain," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 17(4), pages 51-89.
    9. Heinemann, G. & Banzer, F. & Dumitrescu, R. & Hirschhausen, C.v. & Neuhoff, M.E. & Ogechi Nwadiaru, V., 2022. "Transforming electricity access by replacing back-up generators with solar systems: Recent trends and evidence from Nigeria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    10. Adrian Ely & Anabel Marin & Lakshmi Charli-Joseph & Dinesh Abrol & Marina Apgar & Joanes Atela & Becky Ayre & Robert Byrne & Bikramaditya K. Choudhary & Victoria Chengo & Almendra Cremaschi & Rowan Da, 2020. "Structured Collaboration Across a Transformative Knowledge Network—Learning Across Disciplines, Cultures and Contexts?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-20, March.

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