Examining the socio-technical foundations of digital transformation in sustainable finance: global bibliometric evidence with insights from Indonesia’s Bank 5.0 transition

Digital transformation is reshaping financial ecosystems, yet organizations and regulators continue to face challenges in aligning rapid technological innovation with institutional change, sustainability, and resilience objectives. This study presents a systematic bibliometric review examining the intellectual, conceptual, and thematic foundations of research at the intersection of socio-technical systems, digital transformation, and sustainable finance, with particular attention to institutional resilience in digital financial systems. A dataset of 284 peer-reviewed publications (2015–2025) indexed in Scopus and Web of Science was screened using PRISMA procedures. Bibliometric and science-mapping techniques were applied to identify publication trends, thematic structures, and patterns of conceptual evolution. The results reveal a pronounced increase in scholarly output after 2019, reflecting the growing convergence of digital banking, fintech, sustainability, and resilience agendas. Three dominant thematic clusters structure the literature, focusing on digital transformation, sustainability transitions, and socio-technical adaptation encompassing governance, institutional learning, and adaptive capability. Temporal analysis indicates a shift from efficiency-oriented digitization toward resilience-oriented approaches that emphasize ethical governance, inclusivity, and institutional robustness in digital financial systems. By synthesizing fragmented research streams, this review reconceptualizes digital finance as a socio-technical institutional system in which resilience emerges from the co-evolution of digital innovation, governance arrangements, and organizational adaptation. Illustrative insights from Indonesia’s Bank 5.0 framework and the Financial Services Authority’s Digital Resilience Guidelines demonstrate how these principles are being operationalized in regulatory practice, offering pathways toward responsible and resilient digital finance.