The Role of Digital Servitization in driving Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This study aims to examine the role of digital servitization in driving sustainability by integrating insights from the existing literature. Notably, the study seeks to identify how digital servitization enables sustainability through its antecedents, processes, and outcomes. This systematic literature review forms the core methodology, analysing 52 peer-reviewed articles selected from Elsevier’s Scopus database using well-defined criteria. This process ensures a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between digitally-enabled servitization and sustainability. The study develops an integrative framework that categorizes the findings into three key components: antecedents, the sustainable digital servitization process, and outcomes. Antecedents include technological, organizational, strategic, customer-centric, and market and environmental elements, all driving digital servitization. The process is structured into key elements such as Business Model Innovation and Value Creation, Technology Integration and Digital Transformation, Service Design and Customer-Centric Innovation, Digital Ecosystem Collaboration and Supply Chain Transformation, Sustainability and Circular Economy Integration. These processes result in diverse outcomes, including operational efficiency and financial performance, enhanced collaboration and ecosystem synergies, social sustainability and human development, and environmental sustainability and circular economy outcomes. A linkage-exploration review matrix is created to visualize and analyse the relationships among these components. This matrix maps the connections and emphasizes gaps in the literature, like limited focus on social sustainability and the need for industry-specific exploration. Findings reveal that digital servitization significantly contributes to sustainability by leveraging digital technologies to optimize resource use, reduce waste, and foster collaboration across ecosystems. Theoretical contributions include the development of a framework that provides a holistic understanding of the sustainable digital servitization process. From the managerial perspective, the study offers actionable insights for leveraging digital tools to achieve sustainability goals, improve ecosystem synergies, and foster innovation. Limitations include reliance on a specific database and the challenges of synthesizing diverse research methodologies. Nonetheless, the findings cover the way for future research opportunities, including AI integration for sustainable supply chains, customer involvement in driving sustainability and circular practices, the impact of real-time customer feedback on sustainable business models, the influence of external markets and regulatory pressures on business model innovation, and technological integration in sustainable business models. This study serves as a foundational resource for academics and practitioners, advancing understanding of how digital servitization can enable sustainability and addressing critical gaps in the literature.