Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Smart Innovation as a New Economic Engine: Digital Empowerment for Sustainable Growth

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2026 | Viewed by 2958

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. António Cardoso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Fernando Pessoa University, 4249-004 Porto, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; digital transformation; design and innovation; communication; digital engagement; leadership; management; strategic management; digital transformation and innovation; tourism; business communication; entrepreneurship; innovation

Prof. Dr. Manuel Sousa Pereira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, 4930-600 Valença, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; transition economies; communicating effectively; innovation statistics; AI and consumer behavior; digital engagement; leadership; management; strategic management; digital transformation; innovation

Dr. Sílvia Faria

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Porto Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration, Rua Jaime Lopes Amorim, s/n, 4465-004 São Mamede de Infesta, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; leadership; management; digital transformation and innovation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to explore the intersection of sustainability and economic development from multidisciplinary perspectives alongside the critical role of digital technologies in advancing sustainability and fostering responsible economic growth in an era of rapid technological change. We encourage researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to contribute empirical studies, theoretical papers, and real-world applications that discuss how digital tools and data-driven approaches can encourage sustainable consumption, foster consumer trust, support organizations in aligning with ESG principles, and promote digital transformation, consumption pattern analysis, and resource management optimization. This Special Issue also encourages exploration into emerging fields such as AI-driven sustainability analytics, blockchain for transparent supply chains, and smart city solutions for circular economies. Contributions that propose new conceptual frameworks, evaluate digital sustainability initiatives, or offer data-driven insights for guiding future practices are particularly welcome.

Prof. Dr. António Cardoso
Prof. Dr. Manuel Sousa Pereira
Dr. Sílvia Faria
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

sustainable economic development
economic growth
data-driven approaches
sustainable digital transformation
ESG
conscious consumption
digital engagement
ethical AI
greenwashing
circular economy
online communities
data-driven sustainability
digital technologies

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

31 pages, 593 KB

Open AccessArticle

Driving Sustainable Consumption in the Digital Age: Perceived Authenticity in Brand Activism, Consumer Trust, and Behavioral Intentions

by António Cardoso, Manuel Sousa Pereira and Sílvia Faria

Sustainability 2026, 18(8), 3768; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18083768 - 10 Apr 2026

Viewed by 1017

Abstract

In an era of rapid digital transformation, brand activism has emerged as a prominent strategy through which organizations seek to signal social and environmental commitment while engaging increasingly sceptical and digitally empowered consumers. Within this context, perceived authenticity has become a critical evaluative mechanism shaping how digital brand activism is interpreted and whether it contributes to sustainable consumption and trust-based market outcomes. This study examines how perceived authenticity in digital brand activism is associated with consumer trust, attitudes toward socially engaged brands, and behavioral intentions that support sustainable consumption. Grounded in attribution theory and the authentic brand activism framework, the study adopts a quantitative, cross-sectional design based on an online survey of 240 consumers. The findings indicate that perceived authenticity is strongly associated with higher levels of consumer trust and more favorable attitudes toward digitally activist brands, reinforcing authenticity as a key trust-building mechanism in digital environments. Trust and attitudes are, in turn, positively associated with behavioral intentions such as purchasing, recommending, and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable products. However, behavioral intentions are weaker than trust and attitudinal evaluations, providing evidence of a persistent attitude–behavior gap that limits the translation of positive digital evaluations into concrete sustainable consumption outcomes. Exploratory results further suggest that the association between perceived authenticity of brand and behavioral intentions operates primarily through trust and attitudes rather than through a strong direct relationship. By clarifying these indirect pathways, the study advances attribution-based explanations of digital brand activism and contributes to research on smart innovation and digital sustainability by highlighting the role of authenticity in trust-based market outcomes. It also underscores the importance of authentic, data-informed digital strategies for fostering consumer trust, aligning brand activism with ESG principles, and supporting sustainable growth in digitally empowered markets. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Innovation as a New Economic Engine: Digital Empowerment for Sustainable Growth)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

28 pages, 1279 KB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Enterprise Digital Transformation on Green Innovation Dynamics—Empirical Evidence from Growth Enterprise Market-Listed Companies

by Renyan Mu, Dawei Ma, Jingshu Zhang, Shiyuan Liu and Lu Zhang

Sustainability 2026, 18(5), 2539; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18052539 - 5 Mar 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 552

Abstract

Promoting corporate digital transformation is a crucial lever for enhancing green innovation dynamics. This paper takes Growth Enterprise Market (GEM)-listed companies from 2013 to 2023 as the research object, focusing on investigating the direct impact of enterprise digital transformation on green innovation dynamics, its indirect transmission mechanism through R&D intensity, and the non-linear threshold effect from the perspective of external market institutions and internal R&D Intensity synergy. It also examines the differential moderating role of market contextual factors. The research results indicate that enterprise digital transformation overall has a significantly positive promoting effect on green innovation dynamics. However, it exhibits stable empowerment on green innovation output, while its impact on green innovation input shows a dynamic evolutionary characteristic shifting from short-term suppression to long-term promotion. R&D intensity plays a significant mediating role therein. More critically, the promoting effect of digital transformation on green innovation dynamics in output dimension exhibits a significant dual-threshold effect based on the synergy level between external market institution and internal R&D intensity. As the synergy level crosses the critical thresholds sequentially, the empowering effect of digital transformation on green innovation output shows a significant stepwise enhancement feature. Furthermore, the marketization index dynamically moderates the above relationships, while a high market competition environment exacerbates the short-term suppression of input. The conclusions of this study provide empirical reference and theoretical support for optimizing the coordinated development strategy of corporate digital transformation and green innovation dynamics and formulating differentiated context-adapted policies in the digital economy era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Innovation as a New Economic Engine: Digital Empowerment for Sustainable Growth)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Smart Innovation as a New Economic Engine: Digital Empowerment for Sustainable Growth

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI