IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1192-d485843.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information Technology for Business Sustainability: A Literature Review with Automated Content Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Doroteja Vidmar

    (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

  • Marjeta Marolt

    (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

  • Andreja Pucihar

    (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

Abstract

An extremely dynamic and fast-moving environment is pushing enterprises to continuous innovation and change. Managing sustainability in a digitalized environment seems to be of central importance for policy makers, as information technologies (IT), in combination with sustainability objectives, offer a wide range of opportunities for positive change. Through a systematic literature review and the application of automated content analysis, this study aims to provide insights into the latest research in the interdisciplinary field of sustainable business models and information systems. The results of the analysis, combined with a researcher’s perspective, suggest that IT, which can be used to achieve sustainability objectives, are already in place and have an infinite number of potential implications in the future. The results suggest that positive economic, social, and environmental changes can be achieved by using IT as long as they are used to identify unsustainable actions and enable positive change. The analysis of research trends revealed a discrepancy between the research in the European Union and the rest of the world and pointed to several avenues for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1192-:d:485843
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1192/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1192/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Björn Hildebrandt & Andre Hanelt & Sebastian Firk, 2018. "Sharing Yet Caring," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 60(3), pages 227-241, June.
    2. Nancy Bocken & Lisa Smeke Morales & Matthias Lehner, 2020. "Sufficiency Business Strategies in the Food Industry—The Case of Oatly," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Saeed Nosratabadi & Amir Mosavi & Shahaboddin Shamshirband & Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas & Andry Rakotonirainy & Kwok Wing Chau, 2019. "Sustainable Business Models: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-30, March.
    4. Steve Evans & Doroteya Vladimirova & Maria Holgado & Kirsten Van Fossen & Miying Yang & Elisabete A. Silva & Claire Y. Barlow, 2017. "Business Model Innovation for Sustainability: Towards a Unified Perspective for Creation of Sustainable Business Models," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 597-608, July.
    5. Vinit Parida & Joakim Wincent, 2019. "Why and how to compete through sustainability: a review and outline of trends influencing firm and network-level transformation," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Faucheux, S. & Nicolaï, I., 2011. "IT for green and green IT: A proposed typology of eco-innovation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 2020-2027, September.
    7. Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappetta & Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa & Sarkis, Joseph & Filho, Moacir Godinho, 2019. "Unlocking the circular economy through new business models based on large-scale data: An integrative framework and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 546-552.
    8. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    9. Dan Dumitriu & Gheorghe Militaru & Dana Corina Deselnicu & Andrei Niculescu & Mirona Ana-Maria Popescu, 2019. "A Perspective Over Modern SMEs: Managing Brand Equity, Growth and Sustainability Through Digital Marketing Tools and Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, April.
    10. Andreja Pucihar, 2020. "The digital transformation journey: content analysis of Electronic Markets articles and Bled eConference proceedings from 2012 to 2019," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(1), pages 29-37, March.
    11. Barbara Brenner, 2018. "Transformative Sustainable Business Models in the Light of the Digital Imperative—A Global Business Economics Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-25, November.
    12. Rainer Alt, 2020. "Electronic Markets on sustainability," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(4), pages 667-674, December.
    13. Juana Camacho-Otero & Casper Boks & Ida Nilstad Pettersen, 2018. "Consumption in the Circular Economy: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-25, August.
    14. 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.
    15. Gianmarco Bressanelli & Federico Adrodegari & Marco Perona & Nicola Saccani, 2018. "Exploring How Usage-Focused Business Models Enable Circular Economy through Digital Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, February.
    16. Vinit Parida & David Sjödin & Wiebke Reim, 2019. "Reviewing Literature on Digitalization, Business Model Innovation, and Sustainable Industry: Past Achievements and Future Promises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    17. Rayna, Thierry & Striukova, Ludmila, 2016. "From rapid prototyping to home fabrication: How 3D printing is changing business model innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 214-224.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qing (Ray) Cao & Andrew N. K. Chen & Bradley T. Ewing & Mark A. Thompson, 2021. "Evaluating Information System Success and Impact on Sustainability Practices: A Survey and a Case Study of Regional Mesonet Information Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-23, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Broccardo, Laura & Zicari, Adrián & Jabeen, Fauzia & Bhatti, Zeeshan A., 2023. "How digitalization supports a sustainable business model: A literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    2. Marcos Ferasso & Tatiana Beliaeva & Sascha Kraus & Thomas Clauss & Domingo Ribeiro‐Soriano, 2020. "Circular economy business models: The state of research and avenues ahead," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3006-3024, December.
    3. Bencsik, Barbara & Palmié, Maximilian & Parida, Vinit & Wincent, Joakim & Gassmann, Oliver, 2023. "Business models for digital sustainability: Framework, microfoundations of value capture, and empirical evidence from 130 smart city services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Sehrish Atif & Shehzad Ahmed & Muhammad Wasim & Bassam Zeb & Zeeshan Pervez & Lorraine Quinn, 2021. "Towards a Conceptual Development of Industry 4.0, Servitisation, and Circular Economy: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, June.
    5. Chauhan, Chetna & Parida, Vinit & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "Linking circular economy and digitalisation technologies: A systematic literature review of past achievements and future promises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    6. Lena Ries & Markus Beckmann & Peter Wehnert, 2023. "Sustainable smart product-service systems: a causal logic framework for impact design," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(4), pages 667-706, May.
    7. Fernando E. García-Muiña & María Sonia Medina-Salgado & Anna Maria Ferrari & Marco Cucchi, 2020. "Sustainability Transition in Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing with the Triple-Layered Business Model Canvas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, March.
    8. Noemi Sinkovics & Denanjalee Gunaratne & Rudolf R. Sinkovics & Francisco-Jose Molina-Castillo, 2021. "Sustainable Business Model Innovation: An Umbrella Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    9. Paiola, Marco & Schiavone, Francesco & Grandinetti, Roberto & Chen, Junsong, 2021. "Digital servitization and sustainability through networking: Some evidences from IoT-based business models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 507-516.
    10. Sophie I. Hallstedt & Ola Isaksson & Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck, 2020. "The Need for New Product Development Capabilities from Digitalization, Sustainability, and Servitization Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Mercedes Grijalvo Martín & Antonia Pacios Álvarez & Joaquín Ordieres-Meré & Javier Villalba-Díez & Gustavo Morales-Alonso, 2020. "New Business Models from Prescriptive Maintenance Strategies Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-26, December.
    12. Tim Gruchmann & Nadine Pratt & Jan Eiten & Ani Melkonyan, 2020. "4PL Digital Business Models in Sea Freight Logistics: The Case of FreightHub," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-14, May.
    13. Wiebke Reim & David Sjödin & Vinit Parida, 2021. "Circular business model implementation: A capability development case study from the manufacturing industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 2745-2757, September.
    14. Sebastian Schroedel, 2023. "The Sustainable Business Model Database: 92 Patterns That Enable Sustainability in Business Model Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-27, May.
    15. Maria Rosa De Giacomo & Raimund Bleischwitz, 2020. "Business models for environmental sustainability: Contemporary shortcomings and some perspectives," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3352-3369, December.
    16. Nadia Preghenella & Cinzia Battistella, 2021. "Exploring business models for sustainability: A bibliographic investigation of the literature and future research directions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2505-2522, July.
    17. Gianmarco Bressanelli & Federico Adrodegari & Daniela C. A. Pigosso & Vinit Parida, 2022. "Towards the Smart Circular Economy Paradigm: A Definition, Conceptualization, and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    18. Kajikawa, Yuya & Mejia, Cristian & Wu, Mengjia & Zhang, Yi, 2022. "Academic landscape of Technological Forecasting and Social Change through citation network and topic analyses," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    19. Roberto Hernández-Chea & Akriti Jain & Nancy M. P. Bocken & Anjula Gurtoo, 2021. "The Business Model in Sustainability Transitions: A Conceptualization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, May.
    20. Sehrish Atif, 2023. "Mapping circular economy principles and servitisation approach in business model canvas: an integrated literature review," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1192-:d:485843. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.