DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES, VALUE CREATION, AND THE CREDIBILITY GAP IN EMERGING ECONOMIES

Abstract

Digitalisation and sustainability have converged into one of the defining strategic challenges facing contemporary small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While a substantial empirical literature now documents how digital technologies reshape organisational routines, the mechanisms through which this digital capacity is converted into genuine sustainable business model innovation (SBMI), rather than superficial "digital greenwashing", remain theoretically fragmented and geographically skewed. This article systematically reviews the empirical and conceptual literature at the intersection of digital transformation, dynamic capabilities, stakeholder-oriented value creation, and sustainability disclosure in SME contexts. Drawing on quantitative studies with samples ranging from 72 to over 12,000 firms across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, alongside qualitative case studies from Finland, Nigeria, Ghana, and Italy, the review identifies three consistent patterns. First, digital technology adoption predicts sustainability and innovation outcomes only indirectly, mediated by dynamic capabilities, strategy, and governance rather than by technology per se. Second, the dynamic capability constructs proposed across studies, spanning digital leadership, ecosystem orchestration, and relational governance, remain theoretically unconsolidated and have not been tested jointly in a single model. Third, sustainability reporting research reveals systemic barriers and credibility risks that are especially acute in institutionally weak, resource-constrained emerging-market settings, yet Central Asia is entirely absent from the empirical record. The review concludes by specifying a research agenda for primary empirical work on digitally-enabled SBMI among SMEs in Kazakhstan and comparable transition economies.

Keywords: sustainable business model innovation, dynamic capabilities, digital transformation, SMEs, emerging economies, digital greenwashing, sustainability reporting

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Как цитировать

Assem Yergali, Maral Assanova DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES, VALUE CREATION, AND THE CREDIBILITY GAP IN EMERGING ECONOMIES // Central Asian Scientific Journal. – 2026. – No. 4(32), Vol. 1. – Pp. 180–192.