Bridging Digital Gap for Corporate Sustainability Performance of Nigerian Firms: Adoption of Artificial Intelligence-Sustainability Integration Model

Digitalization of firms' operations is a roadmap to industrial success, motivating this research to investigate the capability of the Artificial Intelligence-Sustainability Integration Model (AISIM) in bridging the digital gap to improve corporate sustainability performance in Nigeria. The study utilizes a quantitative survey-based research design and adopts a post-positivist epistemological approach to empirically validate the workability of the proposed AISIM. The study used a convenience sampling approach and employed primary data collated through a questionnaire administered to 300 relevant professionals comprising 100 environmental accountants, 100 sustainability officers, and 100 IT specialists in Nigerian firms. Partial least squares and Cronbach's Alpha test were used for data analysis. Findings reveal that anchoring firms' strategic sensing capability through sustainability prediction analytics; facilitating firms' micro-level sensing and operational optimization using environmental real-time intelligence; implementing seizing and reporting to enhance firms' workflow through stakeholder dynamic intelligence; and reconfiguring firms' capabilities through ESG automation intelligence to match external shifts positively and significantly influence corporate sustainability performance. This study concludes that the adoption of the Artificial Intelligence-Sustainability Integration Model has a positive potential influence on improving corporate sustainability performance of Nigerian firms. The study suggests that Nigerian academic institutions should design certification programs that will close the gap between corporate sustainability accounting and data science.