IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i20p9171-d1772766.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital Leadership, AI Integration, and Cyberloafing: Pathways to Sustainable Innovation in SMEs Within Resource-Constrained Economies

Author

Listed:
  • Pshdar Hamza

    (Department Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administration Science, Cyprus International University, Mersin 52750, Turkey
    Department of Business Administration, Kurdistan Technical Institute, Sulaymaniyah 46001, Kurdistan Region, Iraq)

  • Georgiana Karadas

    (Department Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administration Science, Cyprus International University, Mersin 52750, Turkey)

Abstract

Sustainable innovation represents both a strategic priority and survival imperative for small- and medium-sized enterprises in resource-constrained economies. While digital transformation offers potential solutions, the synergistic effects of digital leadership, employee behaviors, and emerging technologies remain poorly understood. This study bridges this gap by developing and testing a behavioral-tech leadership framework grounded in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and Technology Acceptance Model. Analyzing survey data from 400 Iraqi SME employees using partial least squares structural equation modeling, we demonstrate that digital leadership directly enhances sustainable innovation while reducing counterproductive cyberloafing. Crucially, social cyberloafing, when properly managed, emerges as a positive mediator, improving employee well-being and creativity, particularly among mid-career and educated workers. Artificial Intelligence’s integration further amplifies these effects by optimizing operational efficiency and reducing human-resource strain. These findings challenge conventional perspectives by repositioning cyberloafing as a conditional resource within the JD-R framework and provide actionable insights for achieving sustainable innovation even in challenging environments. Practical implications include gender-inclusive digital leadership programs, ethical AI implementation guidelines and restorative cyberloafing policies. The study contributes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 8 (decent work), 9 (industry innovation) and 12 (responsible consumption) while highlighting the transformative potential of human-centric digital strategies in resource-constrained contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Pshdar Hamza & Georgiana Karadas, 2025. "Digital Leadership, AI Integration, and Cyberloafing: Pathways to Sustainable Innovation in SMEs Within Resource-Constrained Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9171-:d:1772766
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9171/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9171/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik G. Hansen & Friedrich Grosse-Dunker & Ralf Reichwald, 2009. "Sustainability Innovation Cube — A Framework To Evaluate Sustainability-Oriented Innovations," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 683-713.
    2. Kamble, Sachin S & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Parekh, Harsh & Mani, Venkatesh & Belhadi, Amine & Sharma, Rohit, 2022. "Digital twin for sustainable manufacturing supply chains: Current trends, future perspectives, and an implementation framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    3. Chrisovalantis Malesios & Prasanta K. Dey & Fuad Ben Abdelaziz, 2020. "Supply chain sustainability performance measurement of small and medium sized enterprises using structural equation modeling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 294(1), pages 623-653, November.
    4. Linhua Xia & Zhen Cao & Muhammad Bilawal Khaskheli, 2025. "How Digital Technology and Business Innovation Enhance Economic–Environmental Sustainability in Legal Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Victoria Akberdina & Wadim Strielkowski & Natalia Linder & Sergey Kashirin & Lyudmila Shmeleva, 2023. "Information Technology and Digital Sufficiency for Building the Sustainable Circular Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Wu, Jinnan & Mei, Wenjuan & Liu, Lin & Ugrin, Joseph C., 2020. "The bright and dark sides of social cyberloafing: Effects on employee mental health in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 56-64.
    7. Aws AlHares, 2025. "Ethical Leadership and Its Impact on Corporate Sustainability and Financial Performance: The Role of Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-26, July.
    8. Sabrina Zeike & Katherine Bradbury & Lara Lindert & Holger Pfaff, 2019. "Digital Leadership Skills and Associations with Psychological Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-12, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    2. Tsega Y. Melesse & Chiara Franciosi & Valentina Di Pasquale & Stefano Riemma, 2023. "Analyzing the Implementation of Digital Twins in the Agri-Food Supply Chain," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-17, June.
    3. German Arana‐Landin & Waleska Sigüenza & Beñat Landeta‐Manzano & Iker Laskurain‐Iturbe, 2024. "Circular economy: On the road to ISO 59000 family of standards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1977-2009, May.
    4. Erik G. Hansen & Stefan Schaltegger, 2018. "Sustainability Balanced Scorecards and their Architectures: Irrelevant or Misunderstood?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 937-952, July.
    5. Emmanuelle Reuter, 2022. "Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 603-618, February.
    6. Ivan Ligardo-Herrera & Tomás Gómez-Navarro & Edurne A. Inigo & Vincent Blok, 2018. "Addressing Climate Change in Responsible Research and Innovation: Recommendations for Its Operationalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Maria Polorecka & Jozef Kubas & Pavel Danihelka & Katarina Petrlova & Katarina Repkova Stofkova & Katarina Buganova, 2021. "Use of Software on Modeling Hazardous Substance Release as a Support Tool for Crisis Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Rajan Varadarajan, 2017. "Innovating for sustainability: a framework for sustainable innovations and a model of sustainable innovations orientation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 14-36, January.
    9. Yiming Zhuang & Meltem Denizel & Frank Montabon, 2023. "Examining Firms’ Sustainability Frontier: Efficiency in Reaching the Triple Bottom Line," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Cholez, Celia & Pauly, Olivier & Mahdad, Maral & Mehrabi, Sepide & Giagnocavo, Cynthia & Bijman, Jos, 2023. "Heterogeneity of inter-organizational collaborations in agrifood chain sustainability-oriented innovations," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    11. Eleonora Annunziata & Francesco Rizzi & Tiberio Daddi & Marco Frey, 2019. "Business models for interfirm energy cooperation in industrial parks: A possible taxonomy," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 133-148.
    12. Haris Aslam & Maimoona Waseem & Dilnaz Muneeb & Zulqurnain Ali & David Roubaud & Oksana Grebinevych, 2025. "Customer integration in the supply chain: the role of market orientation and supply chain strategy in the age of digital revolution," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 348(3), pages 2145-2169, May.
    13. Marija Jović & Edvard Tijan & Doroteja Vidmar & Andreja Pucihar, 2022. "Factors of Digital Transformation in the Maritime Transport Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    14. Majid Azadi & Zohreh Moghaddas & Reza Farzipoor Saen & Angappa Gunasekaran & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Alessio Ishizaka, 2023. "Using network data envelopment analysis to assess the sustainability and resilience of healthcare supply chains in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(1), pages 107-150, September.
    15. Jinkyo Shin & Md Alamgir Mollah & Jaehyeok Choi, 2023. "Sustainability and Organizational Performance in South Korea: The Effect of Digital Leadership on Digital Culture and Employees’ Digital Capabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, January.
    16. Jajang Supriatna & Djumarno Djumarno & Ahmad Badawy Saluy & Deden Kurniawan, 2024. "Sustainability Analysis of Smallholder Oil Palm Plantations in Several Provinces in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-17, May.
    17. Raquel Ferreras-Garcia & Jordi Sales-Zaguirre & Enric Serradell-López, 2021. "Sustainable Innovation in Higher Education: The Impact of Gender on Innovation Competences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-13, April.
    18. Grigorescu Adriana & Maer Matei Monica Mihaela & Mocanu Cristina & Zamfir Ana-Maria, 2019. "Key drivers and skills need for innovative companies focused on sustainability," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 717-727, May.
    19. Francesco Campanella & Maria Rosaria Della Peruta & Stefano Bresciani & Luca Dezi, 2017. "Quadruple Helix and firms’ performance: an empirical verification in Europe," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 267-284, April.
    20. Turgut Karakose & Ibrahim Kocabas & Ramazan Yirci & Stamatios Papadakis & Tuncay Yavuz Ozdemir & Murat Demirkol, 2022. "The Development and Evolution of Digital Leadership: A Bibliometric Mapping Approach-Based Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-26, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9171-:d:1772766. 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.