The Interconnections Between Digital Servitization and Sustainability: Current Trends and Future Research Directions

Digitalisation, servitization, and sustainability are key levers for the current and future development of the manufacturing industry. While digitalization involves adopting technologies from the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) to transform manufacturing business processes, servitization focuses on shifting from producing physical products to providing integrated solutions in response to customer demands for higher-quality services. Accordingly, digital servitization involves providing solutions through the adoption of digital technologies, requiring a radical transformation of manufacturers’ business models. Simultaneously, there is a call for organizations to reshape their business models, embracing sustainability. While scholars recognize the importance of explaining how digital servitization leads to sustainability, a lack of studies in exploring their interconnections arises. The present research undertakes a literature review performing Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) and using a bibliometric technique to systematize the corpus of knowledge about sustainable digital servitization and suggesting future research avenues.