The Correlation between Sustainable Development and Digitalization in the Post-Pandemic Era

Abstract

Abstract This study contains both a qualitative and a quantitative approach regarding the correlation between digitalization and sustainable development and the significance level of the impact that digitalization might have on sustainable development. In order to conduct the research, the dependent and independent variables were selected. We selected as a dependent variable representing the sustainable development, the Social Progress Index and as independent variables, representing the digitalization area, the share of enterprises turnover on e-commerce and share of Individuals who have never used the internet. The database was created for 24 European countries for a period of 6 years (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022). The main conclusion of the study indicates to a strong direct correlation between the Social Progress Index and the share of enterprises turnover on e-commerce and a strong and reverse correlation between the Social Progress Index and the share of Individuals who have never used the internet. Also, based on the linear regression model, we can affirm that for the selected period of time and for the 24 European countries, the increase with one unit of the social progress index, the enterprises turnover on e-commerce (%) increases with 2.06 units. As well, at the increase with one unit of the social progress index, the percentage of the individuals who never used the internet increases with 0.18 (decreases). However, the current model has its own limitations based on the restricted number of variables and time period considered in the database.