The adoption of artificial intelligence has risen, yet research on its impact on innovation processes between actual businesses remains sparse. This research fills the present gap by investigating ten workers from a tech startup who utilize artificial intelligence tools in operational and creative activities. The paper analyzes business-related AI functionality through a qualitative analysis of ten tech start-up employees. The examination reveals that AI produces significant enhancements in problem resolution by executing mundane actions while analyzing large datasets to deliver data-driven suggestions to users. The interview respondents mentioned that AI’s role in diminishing supply chains is 15%, while allowing AI to manage customer service without employee engagement in 80% of interactions. The implementation costs, along with data dependency and occasional contextual blindness in AI systems, represented some of the problems in this system. Analysis demonstrated that AI tools enable the development of innovative concepts and challenge established viewpoints, prompting participants to create a gamified loyalty system and dynamic content planning. Participants in the study emphasized the need for human involvement to refine AI-based insights, recognizing how human imagination complements AI capabilities effectively. The work enhances academic discussions about AI-related problem-solving and creativity while offering specific business-related recommendations for implementation. The recommendations begin with establishing initial experimental programs, while providing support for employee’s skills development, and fostering strong alliances between technical AI personnel and professional subject matter experts. Research topics focused on AI application fields and the anticipated impacts on company decision-making, as well as the ethical ramifications, need further exploration. This research confirms the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence systems for problem-solving methods, but requires proper execution, along with human supervision, to fully realize their advantages.

Digital transformation is now one of the key engines of entrepreneurial behavior and company development, but there is still a lack of empirical evidence on the creation of digital ecosystems, especially in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. This paper examines how digital capabilities affect the sustainable development of entrepreneurial ventures and how the relationship changes depending on the three emerging digital ecosystems of Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt. Data were collected through a structured online questionnaire developed using Google Forms and distributed via email, WhatsApp, and the Prolific research platform to owners, managers, and key decision-makers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed, yielding 131 responses, of which 22 were excluded after screening for completeness and eligibility. The final analytical sample comprised 109 valid firm-level responses from Egypt (n = 51), Lebanon (n = 34), and Iraq (n = 24). The study quantitatively assesses digital capabilities on several dimensions, including digital infrastructure adoption, data and analytics capabilities, digital product development, and digital revenue integration, and attributes those capabilities to sustainable business growth indicators (the revenue stability, scalability, profitability, and long-term resilience). The results showed that more robust digital capabilities have more significant impacts on sustainable business growth outcomes, whereas basic digitalization has no significant effect. Further, the analysis found no statistically significant moderating effect of ecosystem contextual factors, including institutional quality and digital maturity, on the relationship between digital capabilities and sustainable business growth across Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt. This study contributes to the body of knowledge of entrepreneurship and sustainability in emerging markets by integrating Resource-Based View, Dynamic Capabilities Theory, and Digital Ecosystem Theory. The findings have practical implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers who aim to use digital transformation to attain sustainable entrepreneurship in the vulnerable and dynamic digital ecosystems.

Sustainability in organizations extends beyond environmental stewardship to encompass the social dimension, including employee wellbeing, ethical conduct, psychological safety, and the long-term viability of human capital. Within this perspective, leadership behaviors that nurture relational quality and human flourishing constitute a micro-foundation of sustainable organizational performance. The present study examines the role of emotional intelligence as such a micro-foundation, testing whether managers' emotional intelligence is positively associated with leadership skills and team performance, and whether organizational emotional intelligence training moderates the emotional intelligence–leadership relationship. Drawing on theoretical models of emotional intelligence alongside the sustainable leadership and sustainable Human Resource Management literatures, the review synthesizes evidence linking emotional intelligence to transformational leadership, team processes (trust, cooperation, conflict management), and structured emotional intelligence training as an organizational enabler. Using a cross-sectional survey design (N = 51), exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression were employed to test three hypotheses. Results indicate that managers' emotional intelligence is positively and significantly associated with leadership skills (r = .690, p < .001) and with team performance (r = .599, p < .001). Furthermore, emotional intelligence training significantly moderates the emotional intelligence–leadership relationship (b = 0.617, p = .007; ΔR2 = .075), such that the association between emotional intelligence and leadership behavior is stronger at higher levels of training. The findings reposition emotional intelligence as a relational capability that supports socially sustainable workplaces and offer practical implications for leadership development, performance management, and the human dimension of organizational sustainability.