Digital Inability and Social Sustainability in the Face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A Proposal of New Non-Financial Indicators

Alvaro Guitart Martín and Ricardo J. Palomo Zurdo
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Alvaro Guitart Martín: CEINDO-CEU Doctoral Program in Economy & Law, Universidad CEU San Pablo, 28003 Madrid, Spain
Ricardo J. Palomo Zurdo: School of Business and Economics, Universidad CEU San Pablo, 28003 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: In the knowledge economy, financial indicators are not sufficient to predict the evolution of business competitiveness and anticipate risks. This paper proposes new non-financial indicators based on the analysis of eighteen variables representative of the interest of the different stakeholders, which correlate the organization’s commitment to socially sustainable digital transformation and the enhancement of business capabilities. This study, based on a specific adaptation of the IMPACT methodology and carried out in forty countries, obtains as main findings that there are significant differences in the perception of the business impact generated by the improvement of the digital capabilities of the workforce according to variables, such as job level, area of work, cultural area of the interviewee, type of company, or the number of years that digital training programs have been implemented among the workforce, while factors, such as gender or generation of the interviewee, company size, or productive sector, are not determinant. The proposed analysis methodology provides useful indicators for corporate governance bodies to analyze and improve human performance and labor engagement in the face of digitalization, applicable to any type of organization, sector, or country, facilitating the deployment of more economically efficient and socially sustainable transformation programs.

Keywords: sustainability strategy; sustainability business; resource management; sustainability indicators; inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability studies; SDGs 2030; non-financial reporting; social sustainability; digital transformation; social taxonomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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