Fostering Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Development: The Crucial Role of Volitional Reading

ABSTRACT The trajectory into digital transformation, coincided with UNESCO's Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) since 2000s, has permeated into various aspects of the world, including education. This success has propelled UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which envision education as a central catalyst. In these transformations, global citizens are required to have fundamental skills and abilities, primarily including reading, for the knowledge‐based world. Therefore, nurturing a love for reading and voluntary and sustained reading behaviours—termed as volitional reading, becomes crucial. This systematic review analyzes the existing literature to critically identify the current state of volitional reading through its three primary characteristics, namely reading with voluntariness, sustained engagement and purposes. A total of 64 studies from Scopus and Web of Science databases from the Year 2010 to 2023 were scrutinised. The analysis reveals a growing trend in research on volitional reading related topics. Specifically, the United States emerges as a focal point for robust publications in this area. Most papers focused on the higher education contexts and employed quantitative research approach. Among the three aspects, an inclination for investigating reading for purposes, especially reading for pleasure, are exhibited. Whereas there research encompassing the three aspects of volitional reading is of scarcity. This review sheds light on gaps of the underrepresentation in Asian domain and emphasising the need for a deeper understanding of volitional reading through its multifaceted dimensions.