Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Digital Entrepreneurship for Social Impact: Harnessing Emerging Technologies for Positive Change

As digital technologies continue to evolve, they are increasingly being harnessed by entrepreneurs to not only create business value but also contribute to solving some of the world’s most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

This special issue aims to explore the intersection of digital technologies, entrepreneurship, and social impact, with an emphasis on how novel digital technologies drive, foster, and sustain entrepreneurial firms and entrepreneurial ecosystems and contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed themes for this special issue include, but are not limited to:

• Digital Solutions for Social Impact and the SDGs: How entrepreneurs leverage technologies like generative AI, blockchain, big data, social media, mobile apps, analytics, and IoT to create scalable solutions that directly address specific SDGs such as poverty, inequality, clean energy, and sustainable cities.
• Business Model Innovation for Social Good: Examining how social entrepreneurs use emerging digital tools, technologies, infrastructures, and resources to create innovative business models that advance the SDGs while achieving long-term financial sustainability.
• Scaling Social Enterprises with Digital Technologies: Investigating how digital tools, such as cloud computing, artificial general intelligence (AGI), and IoT, help social enterprises scale their impact, making them more resilient and capable of reaching underserved communities globally. Further, how social enterprises are utilizing the power of emerging AI technologies to decentralize, diffuse, and democratize the entrepreneurial process, thus empowering marginalized and underserved communities, populations, and institutions to contribute to social progress, while in turn improving their lives, livelihoods, and overall well-being.
• Digital Platforms for Social Entrepreneurship and SDGs: Exploring the role of digital platforms in fostering collaboration and resource-sharing among entrepreneurs working towards the SDGs, and how these platforms can accelerate the achievement of social objectives such as education, healthcare, poverty alleviation, and provision of livelihoods
• Inclusive Entrepreneurship: The role of digital technologies in promoting inclusive and equitable entrepreneurship opportunities, particularly for marginalized groups as well as rural, remote, and resource-constrained communities, and how this contributes to reducing inequality.
• Development of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Social Innovation: How digital technologies shape entrepreneurial ecosystems that foster innovation and collaboration to address local and global grand challenges in line with the SDGs.
• Environmental Impacts of Digital Technologies: Examining both the positive and negative environmental consequences of digital technologies, such as their potential to reduce carbon footprints and the challenges related to e-waste and sustainability.

This special issue aims to highlight how emerging digital technologies are not only transforming entrepreneurship but also driving progress toward achieving the SDGs, creating sustainable and impactful solutions. The special issue welcomes theoretical, empirical, and policy research that is relevant to the theme and pushes the boundaries of research on digital entrepreneurship and social impacts. It will provide valuable insights for academic scholars, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners seeking to understand how digital solutions can be leveraged for both business growth and social good.

Guest Editors: 

·        Arman Sadreddin: Dr. Arman Sadreddin is an Assistant Professor of Business Technology Management at the John Molson School of Business. His research interests focus on digital entrepreneurship, digital innovation, technology-enabled organizational capabilities, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Arman has published his research in international journals, including the International Journal of Information Management, Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS), Information Technology for Development (IT4D), Technovation, and the Journal of Community Informatics, among others. He has also presented his work at various academic conferences, including the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), The Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), and others. Arman received several research grants from different agencies, including the Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada and others. He is also the recipient of the 2022 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Academic Service at John Molson School of Business, Concordia University. Arman is also the Director of the  John Molson Perspectives  (i.e., a platform to share practical, relevant, and impactful knowledge created by the John Molson School of Business community with the broader business community). Arman is a Distinguished Member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS). This membership recognizes a significant role of the member in related AIS activity. Arman holds a PhD. and an MSc in Management (Management Information Systems) from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Canada.

Suchit Ahuja: Dr. Suchit Ahuja is an Associate Professor of Business Technology Management at the John Molson School of Business.  Suchit received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Information Technology from Purdue University, USA. He received his Ph.D. degree in Management Information Systems from the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, Canada in 2018. He joined the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Canada as an Assistant Professor in Business Technology Management in 2018. He is the Director of the M.Sc. program in Business Analytics and Technology Management since 2021. Suchit’s research focuses on digital strategy and innovation, digital platforms and ecosystems, frugal digital innovation, societal impacts of digital innovation, and community-based innovation. Suchit has obtained funding for his research from federal and provincial funding agencies such as SSHRC, FRQ, and Mitacs. His research has been published in academic and practitioner outlets including Information Systems Journal, Journal of Small Business Management, Information Technology for Development, Journal of Community Informatics, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Forbes, and The Conversation. His research has also appeared in top international conferences including AoM, ICIS, AMCIS, HICSS, IEEE, and ACM. Suchit has won the 2021 Dean’s Excellence in Teaching award and the 2023 Excellence in Academic Service award at the John Molson School of Business. In 2022, he won the President’s Excellence in Teaching award at Concordia University. He has served on prestigious committees such as the Standards Council of Canada and was a member of the board of advisors of BizSkills Academy, an EdTech startup in Ontario. He serves on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Markets, and Complexity and is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Technology and Society journal.

Mai Thi Thanh Thai: Dr. Mai Thi Thanh Thai is an Associate Professor at HEC Montreal and the founder and director of Social Business Creation (SBC), which is an impactful global platform for the promotion of social entrepreneurship and enhancing ESG (environmental social and governance) performance. Mai Thai has won many local and international awards for her performance and commitment in her different roles as a researcher, teacher, and entrepreneur throughout her career. At HEC Montreal, she teaches courses on social entrepreneurship, new venture creation, strategies in transitional markets, and qualitative research methods. She has won many prizes for teachers, notably the Top 50 Women Leaders in Education in 2024 by Women We Admire, the HEC Montréal’s Hall of Fame, Pedagogical Innovation Prizes, and the Alma-LePage Award. Her research delves deep into the intricate connections between entrepreneurship and its complex web of socioeconomic, cultural, and political contexts. Her work has been published in prestigious journals in the domain of entrepreneurship, such as the Journal of Business Venturing, Review of Managerial Science, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Journal of Small Business Management,  etc. She has served as an editorial board member and ad-hoc reviewer for reputable journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Journal of Enterprising Communities, etc. She has received several prizes for her research impacts, such as the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2024, the Past President’s Award, the Emerald Literati’s Highly Commended Paper Award, etc. She was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship from 2015 to 2020, during which she led the journal to unprecedented growth in terms of full-text downloads, manuscript submissions, and journal rankings.

Hamid Nach: Dr. Hamid Nach is a full Professor of Business Technology Management (BTM) at the University of Québec in Rimouski (UQAR). With a career spanning both academia and industry, Dr. Nach has established himself as a leading expert in the integration of technology, business, and organizational studies. At the forefront of his research is a focus on digital transformation and emerging technologies. His work has been widely recognized, with publications in peer-reviewed journals and contributions to numerous book chapters. Dr. Nach's insights are frequently sought after, leading to invitations as a speaker at international conferences and consultations in both corporate and public sector environments. Dr. Nach is the founder of the Canadian Conference of Fintech and Insurtech. He also serves as the Director of the Applied Fintech Research Lab for Africa (AFReLA), an initiative dedicated to studying and promoting Fintech solutions in Africa. Dr. Nach was recently appointed as an affiliated researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences at UQAM to foster projects on education, technology, and sustainability. His expertise is further acknowledged through his service on the Canadian BTM Accreditation Council and his past leadership roles in scholarly associations, including his role as Division Chair and Divisional Editor for the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) in the Information Systems track. He’s also member of the international committee of the 7th IEEE International Conference of Technology Management, Operations and Decisions - Glasgow, Scotland 2025. His teaching portfolio covers a broad spectrum of BTM subjects, including e-Business, AI for Business, Business Analytics, and Enterprise Architecture. Dr. Nach is known for his innovative approach to education, leveraging technology, state of the art materials and videos as well as Learning Management Systems like OpenEdx to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. He teaches at varying levels, including executive education. Dr. Nach is also an active participant in media discussions, sharing his insights through TV, radio, podcasts, and online videos. He has a talent for making complex technological concepts accessible to a wide range of audiences, contributing to broader public understanding of technology, business, and society.