Digital resilience: How rural communities leapfrogged into sustainable development

Abstract

Digital social innovation (DSI)—the novel use of digital technology to address societal challenges—plays a critical role in our collective pursuit of sustainable development. In this practitioner paper, we present an in‐depth DSI case study where the grassroots communities in a remote county leveraged e‐commerce to leapfrog out of poverty, becoming successful entrepreneurs with online businesses that thrive on a global scale. Based on this case study, we first discuss three leapfrogging opportunities afforded by e‐commerce, which were successfully embraced by the grassroots communities to begin the transformative journey. We then reveal three obstacles that emerged during the technology leapfrogging process, which have challenged the sustainability of the grassroots DSI endeavour. Lastly, we discuss three top‐down interventions that have been instrumental in overcoming the bottleneck of grassroots leapfrogging development and subsequently nurture a self‐sustaining, resilient community. Overall, by discussing some of the common barriers to the growth and sustainability of DSI, and how they have been addressed, this article offers insights and recommendations for policymakers, public and private sector practitioners, and communities in underdeveloped regions to navigate both the potentials and pitfalls of technology leapfrogging, and ultimately build a pathway towards resilience and sustainability.

A Confirmation Bias View on Social Media Induced Polarisation During Covid-19

“…The digital economy and environment have steered the multitudes of information platforms (Tim et al, 2021 ). The practicing managers in supply chains should examine and analyse large amount of information and by doing so they may favour or develop certain channel of information in their day-to-day operations.…”

“…The digital economy and environment have steered the multitudes of information platforms (Tim et al, 2021). The…”

“…As supply chains become increasingly digitised using social media platforms and other digital technologies (i.e., AI, Big data), supply chain participants are increasingly seeking and believing the information from like-minded individuals (He et al, 2017 ; Sestino et al, 2020 ; Tim et al, 2021 ). This approach can increase the risk to echo chambers as participants may unknowingly seek reinforcement of existing biases and beliefs (Bhardwaj et al, 2016 ; Flaxman et al, 2016 ).…”

Digital social innovation: An overview and research framework

“…Resilience framework (Heeks & Ospina, 2019;Tim et al, 2021) Empowerment (Alao et al, 2017;Bailur et al, 2018;Pandey & Zheng, 2020) Does long-term engagement transform local institutions? If so, how?…”

The need for compelling problematisation in research: The prevalence of the gap‐spotting approach and its limitations

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