Like peas and carrots: The complementary role of digital transformation in the achievement of university social responsibility objectives

The body of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) literature offers ample theoretical guidance and practical implementation roadmaps for organisations. However, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) also face immense pressure to adopt CSR as a strategy due to its dual responsibility of teaching and practicing CSR. Taking an HEI-centric perspective, this research develops an integrated conceptual model that advocates the implementation of CSR in universities during the digital transformation (DT) era, namely, DT enabled Systematic University Social Responsibility (DT-SUSR). The DT-SUSR model is derived from a critical literature review by scrutinizing a range of extant models in DT, USR, CSR 2.0 in HE, and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) disciplines.

The proposed framework highlights the complementary aspects of DT and SUSR and emphasises that effective deployment of USR is contingent on the seamless integration of DT at each level of USR framework. The research has major implications for USR practitioners. It offers a strategic road map for adopting CSR in HE, provides insight into the emerging dimensions of CSR, and offers a critical understanding of how CSR could be best adopted in a changing HE context.