Technological interventions in social business: Mapping current research and establishing future research agenda

Gunjan Soni, Sachin Kumar Mangla, Pallavi Singh, Bidit L. Dey and Manoj Dora

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2021, vol. 169, issue C

Abstract: Social businesses, despite having a huge potential to generate substantial and sustainable value, are often structurally and financially fragile. Technological interventions, such as social media analytics, big data, Internet of Things, and blockchain can help social businesses by leveraging the practices towards financial and operational sustainability. This study is the first of its kind in that it analyses existing scholarly works on social businesses using bibliometric analysis. In so doing, this paper presents an in-depth statistical analysis of the literature on technological interventions in sustainable social business, showcasing the development of the scholarship, major themes, and possible future research trajectories. The SCOPUS database is used to identify a large section of articles. The study shows that most of the work in social business has been done by scholars based in developed countries, with limited contributions emanating from developing countries. The study proposes a framework for the use of technology in sustainable social businesses with focus areas of research such as social innovation, digital technology, information systems, and decision making for sustainability. The results show that digital technologies are increasingly being accepted as tools for the sustainability and scalability of social businesses. The paper offers useful recommendations for future research in relevant fields.

Keywords: Technological intervention; Sustainable social business; Industry 4.0; Big data; Sustainability; Bibliometric analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:169:y:2021:i:c:s004016252100250x

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120818

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