Towards Social Sustainability in the Digital Transformation Era

The global landscape of business and value generation is being reshaped by digital transformation (DT), which has led to a long-lasting research field focused on digitalization's effects. Although some research on DT that interprets the potential for enhancing sustainability has been conducted, most of which targeted the environmental and economic aspects. Social sustainability in the DT era remains a vital but under-explored topic. Accordingly, this study investigates the DT-influenced social sustainability studies published from 2014 to 2024 through bibliometric literature searching, scientific knowledge mapping, and in-depth critical review to contribute to the body of knowledge. After a thorough filtering process, 753 pieces of related works were captured from Scopus. To analyze the significant information in the field, VOSviewer was applied to determine and visualize the most influential researchers, journals, countries/regions, and the tendency for publication. A scientific map was also generated to explore four main research topics further. Moreover, a thorough discussion was provided to clarify the current gaps in research and suggest guidance for future research. This research offers a comprehensive understanding of the prominent information and future research directions in social sustainability development in this DT age, advancing the existing theoretical knowledge and providing practical references for relevant stakeholders.