Abstract
Sustainable competitiveness (SC) encourages nations not only to meet the needs of the current generation but also to sustain or even expand national wealth in the future without depleting natural and social capital. Drawing on complexity theory, we used a configurational approach to identify under what necessary and sufficient conditions, digitalisation contributes to achieve higher SC. Shifting attention from net effects to configuration analysis improves our understanding of cross-national differences in sustainability by exploring how the digitalisation factors combine to strengthen SC power across countries. To address the complexity of this configuration, we have incorporated fsQCA and NCA techniques in the modelling of high and low levels of sustainable competitiveness recipes. Analysis of data from 127 countries advanced our perception of how access to ICT infrastructures and capabilities, combined with the adoption and usage of ICT could result in different degrees of sustainable competitiveness. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on digitalisation and national sustainability; and it can practically act as a guideline for policymakers to understand the complex interactions and causal configurations of digitalisation factors on sustainability.
Highlights
It has been argued that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not in line with the standard of living of ordinary people (Stockhammer et al 1997), and cannot reflect the reality of the current state or the outlook for nations’ competitiveness
One that is incorporated in fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) which is based on set theory and the other is a dedicated necessary condition analysis (NCA) method rooted in calculus (Vis and Dul 2018)
The main difference between these two approaches is that fsQCA only analyse in kind necessary conditions, whereas NCA can analyse both in kind and in degree necessary conditions
Summary
It has been argued that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not in line with the standard of living of ordinary people (Stockhammer et al 1997), and cannot reflect the reality of the current state or the outlook for nations’ competitiveness. While some countries have a high level of GDP, this economic growth does not inevitably translate into the quality of life of average citizens and the opportunities for future. Since overlooking non-economic or sustainable factors, GDP and its derivatives do not represent national development in a comprehensive manner. Sustainable competitiveness encourages nations to meet the needs of the current generation, and to sustain or even expand national wealth in the future without depleting natural and social capital (SolAbility 2017). The ultimate goal of sustainable competitiveness is to develop a set of mechanisms and policies to improve the level of nations’ productivity, while ensuring that the future generation can meet their own needs (Thore and Tarverdyan 2016)
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