Untangling digitalisation: a topic of growing relevance for transition scholars

Abstract

With the growing interest in so-called ‘twin transitions’, i.e. the intersection of the sustainable and digital development, digitalisation has emerged as a topic of interest within the transition field. However, despite recent advancements, research on digitalisation in this field remains conceptually and empirically narrow. This perspective builds on previous calls for transition scholars to pay closer attention to digitalisation but advocates for greater diversity, creativity, and clarity in how it is studied. In particular, it highlights three main suggestions for advancement. First, transition scholars should engage more critically with the digitalisation literature to better untangle the nature of digital phenomena. Second, they should take a leading role in developing a systemic understanding of digitalisation, addressing gaps in the broader digitalisation literature. Finally, they should leverage the conceptual flexibility of digital phenomena to generate novel insights that enrich transition studies. The relationship between digitalisation and sustainability is complex and ambiguous, requiring a broad array of empirical and theoretical approaches to fully grasp their interconnections.