Antonello Cammarano

This study investigates how advanced technologies support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within supply chain management (SCM) through a structured analysis of 4448 sustainable practices. By integrating perspectives from sustainability‐oriented innovation (SOI) and contingent dynamic capabilities, the research conceptualizes technology adoption as a context‐dependent driver of environmental, economic, and social performance. Eleven advanced technologies are mapped across 25 supply chain (SC) processes and 169 SDG targets using association indices and Pearson correlations, revealing hidden linkages and recurrent technological configurations. The results highlight the central role of AI, IoT, blockchain, and computing in accelerating sustainability transitions, while exposing a persistent underrepresentation of social‐oriented practices. An integrated mapping synthesizes patterns of technological implementation across SC processes, offering a holistic understanding of SOI alignment. Building on these insights, the study proposes a framework for guiding digital transformation in SCs, providing actionable managerial and policy implications to strengthen strategic coherence and support SDG‐oriented decision‐making.

The interest of companies in social technologies is growing, since case studies are suggesting positive effects on business performance. However, a systematic literature review (SLR) for synthesizing the huge number of individual cases presented is lacking, with negative implications for both theory and practice. It is difficult to theorize the concrete impact of social technologies in all their facets, understand the state of the art and propose future directions, as well as there is a lack of awareness of where social technologies can help business growth, and which emerging practices can be implemented. The purpose of this article is to narrow these gaps by performing an SLR on a sample of 777 scientific papers, proposing a methodology to classify business case studies. The following social technologies are considered: social media & networks, mobile applications, crowdsourcing platforms, crowdfunding platforms, open innovation platforms, open access platforms, open data platforms, open science platforms, and open-source. After the presentation of a comprehensive state of the art of social technologies implementation, by employing a decision tree algorithm 12 relevant models are identified, so that companies could rely on a few models that can drive towards the effective use of social technologies for business.

A theoretical framework for defining sustainable emerging practices (SEPs) is suggested and results are presented with regard to the use of digital technologies in the business context for achieving better business performance and sustainable development advances. The application of 11 Industry 4.0 technologies in different business functions is analysed in terms of their positive effects on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as market and organizational impacts, the former related to enhancements in relationships with different stakeholders, the latter related to internal efficiency gains. Sustainable emerging practices are captured through the manual content analysis of scientific papers and classified according to standardized terms. Findings show that (1) the technologies most contributing to sustainable development are artificial intelligence (AI), geo-spatial technologies, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT); (2) the context of application is mostly within the operations functions; (3) organizational impacts are more pursued than market ones; and (4) the social dimension of sustainable development is under-investigated compared to the environmental dimension. The study of the state of the art of the contribution of digital innovation to the achievement of sustainable development provides valuable insights for both researchers and practitioners in order to understand which digital technologies should be used within business contexts to achieve specific business performances while respecting the SDGs.

Digital technologies have the potential to support achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Existing scientific literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of the triple link: “digital technologies – different industry sectors – SDGs”. By systematically analyzing extant literature, 1098 sustainable business practices have been collected from 578 papers, using 11 digital technologies in 17 industries to achieve the 17 SDGs. For instance, find that artificial intelligence can be used to achieve affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) as well as to address climate change (SDG 13). Further, geospatial technologies may be applied in the agricultural industry to reduce hunger in various domains (SDG 2), to foster good health and well‐being (SDG 3), to improve the availability of clean water and sanitation facilities (SDG 6), raise awareness on responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and to safeguard life on land (SDG 15), among other insights.