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Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

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: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 8300

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jay Rajasekera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of International Strategy, Tokyo International University, Higashi Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: digital business; digital entrepreneurship; digital business strategies; algorithm design for AI; big data and analytics; IT for development and sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Shinji Ayuha

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Sustainable Finance and Disclosure, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan
Interests: green/climate finance; climate-related risk analysis and disclosure; SMEs; business development; entrepreneurship; start-ups; and financial analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The deployment of digital technologies, such as big-data, AI, and deep learning, to complement sustainability has proven to be a winning combination in innovation that has resulted in some of the most well-established entities around the world.  Exploring further, one can find numerous highly advanced digital applications for entrepreneurial innovations in areas such as economic sustainability, social sustainability, energy sustainability, financial sustainability, agriculture sustainability, etc. The objective of this Special Issue is to present articles that provide a comprehensive overview of existing research, as well as case studies on the management aspects of such innovations and applications by examining specific companies and policies in both advanced and emerging countries, in order to see what the key drivers and challenges are in value creation.

Prof. Dr. Jay Rajasekera
Dr. Shinji Ayuha
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

  • sustainability
  • green tech
  • agri-tech
  • health tech
  • fintech
  • renewables
  • inclusive business
  • digital technologies
  • AI
  • big-data

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 359 KB  
Article
Exploring New Green Frontiers? How CEO Green and Technological Experience Shapes Firm Ambidextrous Green Innovation
by Jianbang Xu and Yimin Wang
Sustainability 2025, 17(18), 8350; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17188350 - 17 Sep 2025
Viewed by 262
Abstract
Green innovation has gained prominence in managerial practice and academic discourse. We build on recent findings that CEO green experience promotes firm green innovation by examining how it affects the balance between exploratory and exploitative green innovation. Recognizing that the extent to which [...] Read more.
Green innovation has gained prominence in managerial practice and academic discourse. We build on recent findings that CEO green experience promotes firm green innovation by examining how it affects the balance between exploratory and exploitative green innovation. Recognizing that the extent to which executive attributes translate into firm-level actions and results is contingent on contextual factors, we further test the moderating roles of firm ownership, industry environmental sensitivity, and regional economic development. Utilizing a panel dataset of Chinese non-financial A-share listed companies spanning 2007 to 2023, the empirical results provide compelling evidence that CEO green experience is positively associated with exploratory green innovation. This positive association is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises, firms operating in environmentally nonsensitive industries, and those located in more developed regions. Our theory and findings contribute to the scholarship on CEO characteristics and green innovation. This study also delivers managerial guidance for enterprises aiming to achieve sustainable growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management)
27 pages, 1014 KB  
Article
Evaluation of Digital Transformation and Upgrading in Emerging Industry Innovation Ecosystems: A Hybrid Model Approach
by Li Tian, Long Sun and Xueyuan Wang
Sustainability 2025, 17(17), 7969; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17177969 - 4 Sep 2025
Viewed by 786
Abstract
In order to scientifically and reasonably evaluate the digital transformation and upgrading level of “emerging industry” innovation ecosystems, this paper firstly uses the grounded theory to extract the factors influencing the digital transformation and upgrading of the emerging industry innovation ecosystems. Secondly, a [...] Read more.
In order to scientifically and reasonably evaluate the digital transformation and upgrading level of “emerging industry” innovation ecosystems, this paper firstly uses the grounded theory to extract the factors influencing the digital transformation and upgrading of the emerging industry innovation ecosystems. Secondly, a cloud model is introduced to evaluate the importance of the influencing factors, select the important factors, and construct an evaluation index system. Thirdly, the projection pursuit model based on the quantum genetic algorithm is used to search for the optimal projection direction and determine the weight and comprehensive evaluation value of each index. Finally, the digital transformation and upgrading levels of 506 innovation subjects are divided into a budding level (I), growth level (II), and mature level (III) based on K-means and the SVM—most of which are at a medium–low level. Therefore, countermeasures and suggestions for promoting the digital transformation and upgrading of the emerging industry innovation ecosystems are put forward. This paper provides a systematic and complete method for the evaluation of digital transformation and upgrading of the emerging industry innovation ecosystems. Further, this paper promotes the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis and realizes the effective integration of the overall logic chain of theoretical demonstrations, method design, and data analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management)
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27 pages, 851 KB  
Article
How Does Digital Trade Affect a Firm’s Green Total Factor Productivity? A Life Cycle Perspective
by Jianbo Hu, Wenxin Cai, Yu Shen and Faustino Dinis
Sustainability 2025, 17(14), 6435; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146435 - 14 Jul 2025
Viewed by 832
Abstract
It is increasingly recognized that the twin transitions of digitalization and green transformation are pivotal to achieving sustainable development. This study examines how digital trade affects corporate green total factor productivity (GTFP), using panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms and 287 prefecture-level [...] Read more.
It is increasingly recognized that the twin transitions of digitalization and green transformation are pivotal to achieving sustainable development. This study examines how digital trade affects corporate green total factor productivity (GTFP), using panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms and 287 prefecture-level cities in Mainland China from 2012 to 2022. The results demonstrate that digital trade exerts a significant positive impact on GTFP, primarily through improvements in technical efficiency, with heterogeneous effects across different stages of the corporate life cycle. Endogeneity concerns are carefully addressed through instrumental variable estimation and quasi-experimental designs, and robustness checks confirm the reliability of the findings. Mechanism analyses further reveal that digital trade enhances GTFP by stimulating green technological innovation and optimizing supply chain management. Importantly, threshold regression reveals non-linear effects. Both the level of digital trade and institutional factors, such as environmental regulation, intellectual property protection, and market integration, moderate the relationship between digital trade and GTFP in U-shaped, N-shaped, and other positive non-linear patterns. These insights enhance the understanding of how digitalization interacts with institutional contexts to drive sustainable productivity growth, providing practical implications for policymakers seeking to optimize digital trade strategies and complementary regulatory frameworks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management)
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23 pages, 262 KB  
Article
Ambidextrous Innovation, Organizational Resilience, and the High-Quality Development of Enterprises: A Dynamic Analysis Based on the Enterprise Life Cycle
by Meiqun Chai, Jin Chen, Pingping Liu and Wanda Foster
Sustainability 2025, 17(8), 3325; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083325 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 2205
Abstract
Ambidextrous innovation, defined as an organization’s capacity to simultaneously pursue exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation, serves as the core driving force for the high-quality development of enterprises. Based on existing studies, this paper explores the mechanisms among ambidextrous innovation, organizational resilience, and the [...] Read more.
Ambidextrous innovation, defined as an organization’s capacity to simultaneously pursue exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation, serves as the core driving force for the high-quality development of enterprises. Based on existing studies, this paper explores the mechanisms among ambidextrous innovation, organizational resilience, and the high-quality development of enterprises from the dynamic perspective of the enterprise life cycle. The findings indicate that both exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation positively influence the high-quality development of enterprises. Moreover, at different stages of the enterprise life cycle, the effects of exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation on the high-quality development of enterprises are different. Organizational resilience partially mediates the relationship between the two dimensions of ambidextrous innovation and the high-quality development of enterprises. This study can help enterprises enhance the scientific and effective implementation of ambidextrous innovation activities in the context of coexisting crises, while also providing theoretical guidance and practical implications for their high-quality development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management)
17 pages, 800 KB  
Article
A Study of the Impact of Manufacturing Input Digitization on Firms’ Organizational Resilience: Evidence from China
by Keyong Zhang, Jie Wang and Yunxia Wu
Sustainability 2025, 17(3), 897; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17030897 - 23 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1553
Abstract
In the era of digital economy, boosting investment in digitalization serves as a crucial approach for the manufacturing sector to bolster its robustness and forge competitive edges. Utilizing data from listed manufacturing firms spanning 2007–2022, this paper investigates how the digital transformation of [...] Read more.
In the era of digital economy, boosting investment in digitalization serves as a crucial approach for the manufacturing sector to bolster its robustness and forge competitive edges. Utilizing data from listed manufacturing firms spanning 2007–2022, this paper investigates how the digital transformation of manufacturing inputs influences the organizational resilience of businesses and the underlying mechanism. The findings indicate that investment in digital technologies significantly enhances organizational resilience. The mechanism analysis suggests that investing in digitization will enhance organizational resilience by increasing the firm’s technological innovation capacity, and thus financial redundancy positively moderates the positive impact of digitization on organizational resilience. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there is heterogeneity among different enterprise sizes and industry intensities; enterprises should adjust their digitalization investment strategies in a timely manner according to their industries and enterprise sizes to strengthen and consolidate their organizational resilience. The results of this research provide practical proof and guidance for the development of the manufacturing sector, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the strengthening of organizational resilience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management)
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16 pages, 435 KB  
Article
Investigating the Impact of Innovation Policies and Innovation Environment on Regional Innovation Capacity in China
by Chengzhao Li and Zongjun Wang
Sustainability 2024, 16(23), 10264; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310264 - 23 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1648
Abstract
Regional technological innovation serves as a key pillar for achieving high-level self-reliance and self-strengthening, a fundamental requirement for promoting balanced regional development, and a vital aspect of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy. We examine the impact of innovation policies on corporate innovation activities [...] Read more.
Regional technological innovation serves as a key pillar for achieving high-level self-reliance and self-strengthening, a fundamental requirement for promoting balanced regional development, and a vital aspect of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy. We examine the impact of innovation policies on corporate innovation activities and the importance of the innovation environment in enhancing innovation capacity. By analyzing the implementation of innovation policies in three provinces in Central China from 2018 to 2022, this study introduces two indicators—policy intensity and policy volume—to assess the level of government policy support. The findings are as follows: First, local government innovation policies exert a significant positive impact on corporate innovation activities, with particularly strong effects observed in the implementation of R&D subsidies. Second, the implementation of regional innovation policies enhances regional innovation capacity by promoting increased R&D investment by firms. Third, the innovation environment moderates the influence of regional innovation policies on corporate R&D investment, amplifying the effect of R&D investment on regional innovation capacity. In summary, when formulating innovation policies, governments should consider the unique needs of different industries, regions, and enterprises, adopting flexible and diverse policy measures to optimize the innovation environment and accelerate the nation’s technological innovation development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced, Digital, Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management)
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