Studies on the Interaction between Digital Technology and Sustainable Business Processes from a Decision-Making Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility are increasingly relevant themes in the current economic context. The uncertainties and variability characterizing competition in this area, and the changes in social dynamics and in sustainable regulations have directed attention towards social and environmental issues. The call for new products and processes to focus on sustainability requires strategic changes in operational processes, governance practices, supply chains, and organizational structures. Firms are also progressively adopting socio-environmentally techniques, technologies, and production processes to improve their sustainability.

In the development of (more) sustainable patterns, managers need to understand how to adopt and implement proactive practices and approaches, and firms need to develop useful decision-making processes for selecting the best strategies among those available. Thus, managers need revised actions, models, and tools to support, first, strategic decision-making in issues of sustainability; after, the implementation of their socio-environmental aims; and finally, the results achieved.

Indeed, combining different technologies, the digital era and the Industry 4.0 paradigm open up unforeseen possibilities and offer the potential not only to create radically new environmentally friendly products and processes and to share “green knowledge” between different actors in the technology ecosystem but also to generate sustainable business models (SBMs). These aspects, in fact, have led organizations to make considerable investments into exploring how they can use digital technologies to build or improve their sustainable business models. Consistent with the concept of corporate sustainability—such as the integration of social, ethical, and ecological aspects into business operations and decision-making—the development of adequate digital technologies—such as the Internet of Things, big data analytics, blockchain, and artificial intelligence—could have an important positive impact on sustainable business processes.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic—and subsequent related economic consequences—has underlined the crucial role of digitalization in the composition of anti-crisis measures. In this sense, digital technologies can be considered tools for building and development resilience.

Despite the world's largest economies having moved toward more equitable and sustainable development, many questions about how to pursue future developments remain, e.g., how can the Agenda 2030 containing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) be used as an unprecedented global guide to navigating future challenges, especially regarding issues of sustainability.

In this scenario, recent studies in the field of management argue that digitalization can be considered a promising process to support the process of sustainable transformation.

You are invited to submit your paper to this Special Issue, which is devoted to a wide range of questions related to digitalization that inevitably affect the sustainable business processes practiced by firms. 

Indeed, companies that are progressively becoming digitalized and more sustainable are changing by transforming their products, services, and operations. Despite the growing attention on these issues in the literature, the amount of research conducted on the relationship between digitalization processes and sustainable paths is still limited; thus far, very little attention has been paid to understanding the role of digital technologies in shaping, building, and controlling the decisions made by firms about their business process from a sustainable perspective.

In line with these considerations, this Special Issue aims to address the opportunities, criticalities, and future perspectives in studies on the interactions between digital technology and sustainable business processes from a decision-making perspective.

This Special Issue intends to support firms in improving their sustainable business processes using digital technologies to maintain their competitive advantages. Specifically, our aim is to enrich the literature in different but related fields such as innovation and digital technologies, business processes and operations management, sustainability, and strategic management studies.

Various perspectives from different fields are welcome, and both theoretical and empirical studies are encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Raffaele Fiorentino
Dr. Rosita Capurro
Dr. Barbara Iannone
Dr. Federica Ricci
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.

• sustainability
• SDGs
• digitalization
• resilience
• business process
• decision-making