Data Governance for Compliance with the European Digital Product Passport: a Systematic Literature Review

Financial Reporting Integrity in the Digital and Sustainability Era: A Systematic Literature Review on Governance, ESG, and Technological Transparency

Background: Digital transformation, sustainability demands, and evolving governance standards have challenged financial reporting integrity. However, existing studies have largely examined governance, ESG disclosure, and digital technologies separately, resulting in fragmented perspectives that limit a comprehensive understanding of their interrelationships. Objective: This study systematically reviews and synthesizes research on financial reporting integrity by examining how sustainability pressures, digital transformation, and governance mechanisms converge to reshape transparency and accountability in corporate reporting. Methods: A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) guided by the PRISMA 2020 guidelines was conducted. Data were sourced from the Scopus database and covered publications from 2021 to 2025. Following rigorous inclusion and exclusion screening procedures, 28 peer-reviewed articles were selected from an initial pool of 713 records. The TCCM Framework (Theory, Context, Characteristics, and Methodology) was applied to classify, evaluate, and synthesize the research findings. Results: Agency Theory and quantitative research methods dominate the field. Recent studies increasingly emphasize ESG disclosure, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) as key determinants of transparency. Significant research gaps remain regarding cross-disciplinary approaches, emerging market contexts, and ethical risk assessments in digital reporting practices. This review reconceptualizes financial reporting integrity as a multidimensional socio-technical governance phenomenon shaped by governance accountability, sustainability legitimacy, and technological transparency. Conclusion: Future research should adopt interdisciplinary, mixed-method, and cross-country research frameworks to investigate greenwashing mechanisms, digital reporting ethics, and the interplay between emerging regulatory frameworks, including the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards and IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, and technological transformation within sustainability-oriented reporting environments.

Digital technologies for adaptive climate governance: a systematic literature review with implications for policy innovation in South Africa

Climate change governance in developing countries continues to face persistent implementation challenges arising from uneven institutional capacity, weak data infrastructure, and limited stakeholder participation. Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, blockchain, and digital participation platforms, have been proposed as potential enablers of adaptive climate governance. However, evidence on how these technologies contribute to adaptive governance and policy innovation in developing-country contexts remains fragmented. A systematic literature review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Literature published between January and March 2026 was identified through searches of five electronic databases. After screening and quality appraisal, 44 studies were included in the review. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic synthesis in ATLAS.ti 25 through a hybrid deductive -inductive coding approach Five themes emerged from the analysis: (1) AI and predictive climate analytics, (2) IoT and real-time environmental monitoring, (3) digital platforms for stakeholder engagement, (4) blockchain for transparent climate governance, and (5) big data and policy learning. The review demonstrates that digital technologies support anticipatory governance, adaptive policy learning, accountability, and collaborative decision-making when supported by appropriate institutional conditions. It also introduces the Digital Adaptive Governance Framework (DAGF), which proposes five governance pathways linking digital technology inputs to policy outcomes: anticipatory governance, feedback loops, adaptive policy learning, accountability-triggered reform, and collaborative governance. The findings indicate that digital technologies are governance-contingent rather than inherently transformative; their effectiveness depends on institutional capacity, policy coordination, digital literacy, and inclusive governance arrangements. For South Africa, the review highlights opportunities to strengthen climate governance by improving digital infrastructure, enhancing transparency in Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) implementation, addressing water governance challenges, and promoting inclusive digital participation. Institutional reform and capacity development should precede large-scale technology procurement. The proposed DAGF provides a conceptual foundation for future empirical research on digital technologies and adaptive climate governance in developing-country contexts.

A Governance-Oriented Framework for Blockchain Adoption in Waste Management Systems: The Case of Plastic Bank

This study examines how blockchain technology is associated with institutional governance and operational effectiveness in blockchain-enabled plastic recovery, with particular attention to resource-constrained developing regions and Less Developed Countries (LDCs). Although prior research highlights blockchain’s technical capabilities, less attention has been given to the institutional, socio-technical, financial, and data governance conditions that shape practical adoption. To address this gap, the paper develops a literature-derived Blockchain-Enabled Waste Management Framework (B-WMF) and evaluates it through an interpretivist single-case study of Plastic Bank. The findings suggest that blockchain’s primary value in this case lies less in technological novelty than in its capacity to support verified recovery records, incentive-linked participation, auditability, and multi-stakeholder coordination. At the same time, the case shows that traceability, tokenized incentives, interoperability, and decentralized verification remain conditional on data quality at the source, institutional oversight, regulatory alignment, and sustainable business models. The paper contributes by reframing blockchain as a socio-technical governance infrastructure for blockchain-enabled plastic recovery, while offering practical guidance for circular economy initiatives operating in resource-constrained environments.

IT Governance and Corporate Sustainability: Decision Frameworks for Digital Transformation Aligned with GRI Standards

 Digital transformation represents a fundamental opportunity for organizations to incorporate sustainability criteria into their strategic decisions. In this context, IT governance and management frameworks—such as COBIT, ITIL, CMMI, and Six Sigma—provide structures to guide technology projects aligned with economic, environmental, and social objectives. This article presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that analyzed 61 primary studies selected from 126 initial records. The research work was based on the Kitchenham methodology and the PRISMA 2020 statement; to identify how these technological governance and management frameworks act as facilitators in the adoption of sustainability indicators under GRI Standards. The results reveal a clear association between cost reduction and increased productivity within the economic dimension; waste reduction reflects progress in the environmental dimension; and the improvement of quality and value delivered to stakeholders aligns with the social dimension. In conclusion, sustainability is not an abstract concept, but a measurable result of mature process management; which allows organizations to make informed strategic decisions and communicate their performance in a comprehensive manner.

From ESG Disclosure to Digital-Driven Governance: Evidence From Indonesian Corporations and Infrastructure Ecosystems

Blockchain-Based Data Sharing for National Statistics Offices: A Survey and Privacy Governance Evaluated with the Five Safes Framework

For national statistics offices (NSOs), data sharing is essential for the production of official statistics, yet it must comply with stringent confidentiality and governance mandates. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising means to enable trusted and auditable data exchange under these constraints, motivating a growing body of research across public-sector domains. This paper presents an up-to-date survey of blockchain-based data-sharing solutions in government and NSO contexts, reviewing studies published between 2018 and 2026. Given the limited research specific to official statistics, this survey evaluates public-sector solutions with particular attention to their alignment with NSOs’ strict privacy and data governance requirements. Departing from prior reviews that primarily organise the literature by technical architectures or application domains, the survey adopts the Five Safes framework as a unifying analytical lens. Through this governance-focused synthesis, the survey identifies recurring architectural patterns and design principles that support secure and accountable data sharing, including permissioned or consortium blockchains, hybrid on/off-chain storage, selective integration of privacy-enhancing technologies, and smart contracts to automate governance functions such as access control and workflow management. Building on these insights, the paper outlines two distinct reference architectures that distil best practices from existing studies for blockchain-enabled data sharing under public-sector constraints, and highlights open challenges—most notably scalability and integration with legacy systems—pointing to future research directions towards solutions that combine strong security assurances with practical governance compliance.