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Digital Divides and Sustainability: How to Overcome Technological Inequality to Secure Sustainability in the Post-pandemic Future?

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 8913

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Huda Khan

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Chief Guest Editor

Business School & Africa-Asia Centre of Sustainability Research, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
Interests: technology consumption; global marketing strategy

Dr. Seunghyun Kim

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Guest Editor

Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Sejong 30147, Korea
Interests: science and technology policy; innovation ecosystems; industrial organizations; innovation and technology management

Dr. Dominic Chai

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Guest Editor

Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, 00120 Vatican City Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK
Interests: corporate governance; law and finance; common good

Dr. Byungchul Choi

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Guest Editor

HUFS Business School, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul 21450, Korea
Interests: corporate entrepreneurship; strategic management of technological innovation; digitalization in manufacturing industries; institutionalizing breakthrough innovation through human capital

Prof. Dr. Yong Kyu Lew

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Guest Editor

HUFS Business School, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02450, Republic of Korea
Interests: global strategy and internationalization; strategic alliance governance; institutions, innovation & economic and social consequences; regional innovation and sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We strive to fight against the virus, which has claimed millions of lives. One of the biggest challenges to humanity and our society is curbing the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, thus better preparing for the post-pandemic era. The world is experiencing unprecedented changes from many aspects since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the continuous spread of the variants of COVID-19. Until now, humanity’s various responses to the changes, such as the notable development of mRNA vaccines, are converging into a new normal, dubbed as the times of living with COVID-19 (Livingston, 2021; Brammer et al., 2020). In the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid contraction of the global economy and a decline in economic growth rates have been observed (Contractor, 2021), which causes the restriction of economic transactions, thus worsening economic divide and inequality within societies and even between nations (Galea and Abdalla, 2020; Vatican COVID-19 Commission, 2020). Related to this, the pandemic restricts social interactions between people and devastates human dignity and well-being (Shek, 2021), indicating a fundamental threat to the ways of life that mankind has developed.

Although having negative impacts around the globe, the pandemic accelerated the spread of digital transformation and connectivity (Soto-Acosta, 2020; Adly et al., 2020). As such, digital transformation indicates technologies and methods that enable activities without distinction between online and offline by linking the existing physical environment and the virtual online environment autonomously and seamlessly (Kim et al., 2021). Such digital transformation can offer opportunities to overcome socio-economic–ecological challenges to humanity by using digital, online/mobile, and virtual, technological solutions for video conferencing, autonomous mobility, smart factory, service platform, remote medical service, and so forth. On the one hand, the evolution, adoption, and diffusion of information and communications technologies (ICT) can help us to reduce the technological gap between individuals, firms, and nations affected by COVID-19 (Misha et al., 2020; Akpan et al. 2020; Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2021). On the other hand, however, rapid digital transformation through ICT innovation may seriously threaten technologically vulnerable individuals, societies, and nations. Indeed, there is a double-edged sword of technologies. Digital technologies can have some negative impacts on our society as well (Beaunoyer et al., 2020; Magis‐Weinberg et al., 2021; Lai and Widmar, 2021); namely, data/information asymmetry and digital literacy, a swift convergence of goods and services, monopolization of the market by the lead firms and thus winner-takes-all phenomenon and, most importantly, the ‘digital divide’ at the individual, societal, and national levels.

We believe it is timely to conduct multidisciplinary research exploring how we can overcome the digital and technological divides in the era of COVID-19, in the hopes of improving the well-being of all to make a better sustainable society in the post-pandemic era. We believe this Special Issue provides novel insights to opinion leaders, scholars, business decision makers, and policymakers in terms of the sustainability implications of technologies and crises at various levels (individual, societal, national, and transnational). The following are some of the tentative topics that guest editors seek conceptual, qualitative, and quantitative papers on:

To resolve the digital divide, how do private enterprises integrate online activities with offline-centric activities?
How do multinational corporation achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) through digital technologies?
In the era of Covid-19, what are non-market strategies a firm can plan, utilize, and implement to resolve the digital divide issue for their business or society?
In the post covid-19 world, how can we reduce digital divide between advanced and emerging economies?
How digital transformation can contribute to improving the welfare of disadvantaged?
How does digital transformation influence information competency between individuals, societies, and countries? Will it attenuates or exacerbate inequality in information competency?
How does digital transformation influence educational environments and systems? Will it attenuates or exacerbate inequality in educational opportunity? Do changes contribute to sustainable development of society?
In the era of Covid-19, what kind of policy instruments or firm strategies reduce digital divide at individual level and between generations?
Will digital transformation shape the competitive landscape in various markets? Will it foster fair trade or enhance winner-takes-all system?

Dr. Huda Khan
Dr. Seunghyun Kim
Dr. Dominic Chai
Dr. Byungchul Choi
Prof. Dr. Yong Kyu Lew
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic
digital divide
digital transformation
sustainability
well-being

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evenly Is Even Better? Digital Competitiveness and the Quality of Medical Research

by Whan Shin

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 11048; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141711048 - 5 Sep 2022

Viewed by 1177

Abstract

The combination of rapid advances in digital technology and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the importance of knowledge sharing and balanced advances in medical research. This study explored how digital competitiveness influences the diverse quality of medical research in vital areas. Based on our synthesized framework of research quality, we found that digital competitiveness benefits medical research broadly but not evenly. While digital competitiveness was positively associated with impactful research across all four fields in vital areas, the relationship between digital competitiveness and science-based and explorative research varied depending on the field. By focusing on the quality of medical research rather than a specific medical service, our study offers meaningful implications for knowledge sharing and collaborative research, which are key conditions for the sustainable development of medicine. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Divides and Sustainability: How to Overcome Technological Inequality to Secure Sustainability in the Post-pandemic Future?)

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20 pages, 1088 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do an Organization’s Digital Transformation and Employees’ Digital Competence Catalyze the Use of Telepresence?

by Inho Hwang, Hoshik Shim and Woo Jin Lee

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8604; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148604 - 14 Jul 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2670

Abstract

Rapid changes in the external environment are increasing interest in digital transformation. In particular, the recent breakout of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 has required certain companies to restrict physical exchanges among their members. As a result, companies must strive to maintain productivity and performance by supporting business exchange activities through online platforms. A metaverse technology that supports individuals’ exchange activities in a virtual space based on 3D technology has recently attracted attention from companies. However, as previous studies related to the metaverse have focused on strengthening personalized content and services, additional research is needed in order to understand the metaverse’s effects at the organizational level. This study aims to present the conditions for strengthening the motivation to use the metaverse from the perspective of organizations and members who have applied the metaverse in the workplace on a trial basis. In this study, an online questionnaire was conducted targeting workers of organizations with a history of using the metaverse for business, and the hypotheses were tested using 304 valid samples. As a result of the analysis, it was found that telepresence, a characteristic of the metaverse, influences the intention to continue using the metaverse through informativeness, interactivity, and enjoyment. In addition, the shared goal of the organization’s digital transformation moderated the influence relationship between telepresence and an individual’s motivations, and an individual’s digital competence moderated the influence relationship between motivation and the intention of continuous use. This study suggests a digital transformation strategy for an organization in terms of suggesting ways to strengthen the motivations for the use of the metaverse of employees in the organization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Divides and Sustainability: How to Overcome Technological Inequality to Secure Sustainability in the Post-pandemic Future?)

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14 pages, 626 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Are Material Values and Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyle Related to Attitudes and Intentions toward Commercial Sharing during the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Japan

by Kyung-Tae Lee

Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7812; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137812 - 27 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1967

Abstract

This paper attempts to elucidate how material values (MV) and voluntary simplicity lifestyle (VSL) are related to Japanese consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward commercial sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides the following findings by employing the two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to analyze the data (n = 750) collected in Japan during the pandemic from people with no experience in commercial sharing. (1) MV has a positive effect on attitudes. (2) VSL is divided into “simplicity,” “long-term usage,” and “planned buying.” (3) Simplicity and planned buying are negatively related to MV, but long-term usage is not significantly related to MV. (4) Simplicity and long-term usage significantly affect attitudes, whereas planned buying does not. (5) Attitudes and subjective norms have positive effects on intentions. Consequently, two conflicting consumption orientations, MV and VSL, positively affect consumers’ responses toward commercial sharing in a pandemic context. The author suggests that although the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic exists now, the sharing economy can still contribute to enhancing sustainability and alleviating technological inequality by attracting people with different values and lifestyles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Divides and Sustainability: How to Overcome Technological Inequality to Secure Sustainability in the Post-pandemic Future?)

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16 pages, 1606 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability of Digital Capital and Social Support during COVID-19: Indonesian Muslim Diaspora’s Case in South Korea

by Jiwon Shin, Myengkyo Seo and Yong Kyu Lew

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7457; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127457 - 18 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1744

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital capital and online activities have played significant roles as a tool for enhancing social support. Considering the increased role of information communication technology (ICT), in this study, we investigated the following research questions by focusing on the Indonesian Muslim diaspora in South Korea. To what extent do digital capital and online communities affect the formation of social support in the pandemic situation? How does the Indonesian Muslim diaspora pursue social support in South Korea, which has a high capacity for ICT infrastructure? We used the technology acceptance model (TAM) for the conceptual model and conducted semi-structured interviews and surveys for data collection. Structural equation modeling demonstrates that TAM can be applied in the case of South Korea’s Indonesian Muslim diaspora, especially during the pandemic. Findings suggest that digital capital and the perceived usefulness/perceived ease of use (PU/PEOU) of online communities reinforced the Indonesian Muslim diaspora’s participation in online communities after COVID-19. It also demonstrates the ways in which the Indonesian Muslim diaspora pursues social support through online communities under restricted situations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Divides and Sustainability: How to Overcome Technological Inequality to Secure Sustainability in the Post-pandemic Future?)

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