The increase in studies on how digital transformation based on the application of digital technologies affects the sustainable development of various sectors of the economy has been observed. Although digital transformation is important for the financial sector sustainable development, the drivers and links between them are weakly addressed by researchers. The study is aimed at exploring how digital transformation due to the application of innovative technologies and solutions, especially digital payments, is leading to the financial sector sustainable development through financial inclusion and operational efficiency. The current research presents the study of the financial sector digital transformation and its sustainable development based on a systematic literature review, a secondary data analysis, and expert interviews to provide further research directions and draw practical suggestions for professionals on the financial sector digital transformation toward sustainable development in the future. A systematic literature analysis is performed based on text analytics, a bibliometric analysis, and network maps aimed at acknowledging the existing research outcomes and identifying the research gaps on the digital transformation agenda in the financial sector. The collected data on the digital payments’ dynamic in the EU were analyzed with the use of statistical methods, including a correlation and regression analysis. Structured expert interviews were used to validate research findings and to highlight key issues of the digital transformation in the financial sector of Baltic countries. The authors have paid special attention to the sustainable development of the financial sector’s economic dimension and its efficiency indicators, such as financial inclusion and digital payments’ intensity. A social dimension is limited toward financial inclusion based on digital payments’ offering. The research results indicated recent trends in digital transformation and types of usage of digital technologies in the EU and Baltic countries to ensure the sustainable development of financial institutions. Furthermore, the results revealed a significant increase in the digital payments’ intensity during the last years in the EU, as well as a close relationship between digital payments with financial inclusion and operational efficiency of financial institutions.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of using the business planning digital tool KABADA in a study process on entrepreneurial intentions in Generation Z, based on the study conducted in selected Central and Eastern European countries and Southern European countries. The authors developed a literature review on digital transformation and digital tools in entrepreneurship education and their role in increasing entrepreneurial intentions in the context of sustainability. In the empirical part, the authors conducted a quasi-experiment, tested the digital entrepreneurship education tool KABADA among students with the analysis of sequentially obtained statistical data, using descriptive statistics, statistical tests of eight hypotheses, as well as the effect size test. The study reveals a mostly positive effect of the digital tool KABADA on the entrepreneurial intention of Generation Z, thus confirming the effectiveness of digitalization-based entrepreneurial education in promoting entrepreneurial intention. However, this effect is not statistically significant for some components forming intention, as proven by hypothesis testing. The study contributes to the role of the digital transformation of entrepreneurial education and the use of digital tools with built-in artificial intelligence algorithms in improving the effectiveness of education in terms of raising entrepreneurial intentions.

The latest studies reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed investors in developed economies to focus more on the value attached to environmental and social responsibilities. Unfortunately, socially responsible investment and compliance with environmental, social and governance criteria are not given enough priority in Latvia at present. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the willingness of Latvians to invest in assets that meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and factors influencing investors’ choice based on their financial literacy. Different views on sustainable investments, socially responsible investments and the relevance of environmental, social and governance criteria from private investors’ perspectives were analyzed to identify factors influencing investment decisions in favour of sustainable investments. Quantitative analysis was carried out to reveal the regularities between financial literacy, the willingness to invest to meet the ESG criteria and the level of education and income of the Latvian population, as well as their savings/investment experience. Such statistical methods as descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing were applied to perform an analysis of the results. The authors’ findings include the importance of sustainable investing to Latvian society, changes of attitude towards ESG investing in different private investors’ groups under the COVID-19 crisis, and the effects of these changes on the financial well-being of the population and, on the basis of these findings, have come to the conclusion that the willingness to invest in the assets that follow environmental, social and governance criteria depends on the level of education, savings/investment experience and income level.

Nowadays, European countries, while implementing the goals of sustainable development, are trying to be energy secure by reducing energy consumption and switching to renewable energy sources; the issue of green bonds is essential in the financing of these projects. This study aims to investigate the current situation and trends in green finance, identifies its problems and challenges, as well as determines the importance of green bonds in sustainability in general and renewable energy supply in particular. The authors conducted a bibliometric analysis of green finance and renewable energy, followed by an extensive literature review identifying the benefits and challenges of green bond investments, continued with an empirical study that included hypothesis testing and the creation and analysis of the EU countries clusters, which have not been sufficiently studied to date. A study examining trends in green finance, identifying its benefits and challenges, found that green bond investments have a positive impact on carbon reduction and renewable energy supply in the EU OECD countries, and cluster analysis of the European OECD countries indicated a positive relationship between economic performance and overall ESG risk.

The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has a significant impact on the business model of companies operating in the financial sector. Digital transformation leads to changing existing business model rapidly, as well as necessity of developing new processes specifically related to the use of ICT in business processes, development of new products and updating existing ones. At present, changes in the demand for ICT related processes in financial sector are observed both through the development of different technologies and their applications core or ancillary processes (e.g. innovations in payment systems including crypto currencies, blockchain-assisted smart contract, credit markets and insurance including peer-to-peer lending). Based on the opportunities offered by ICT, new business models need to be developed in the financial sector to transform these capabilities into new products and services that respond to changing customer demand. The aim of research to investigate the changes taking place in financial sector in the light of developments in ICT for acquisition of necessary competencies. Research methodology includes systematic review of scientific literature, analysis of selected financial sector statistics, semi-structured industry expert interviews and statistics analysis. The empirical study is limited to the financial sector of Latvia. Although due to the global nature of the financial sector the research findings could be applied internationally.

Digitisation of business processes has attracted practitioner attention across a wide range of industries as it enables enterprises to better manage their processes and improve results. The rate of digitisation has grown over the last decade and has become essential for enterprises to handle unforeseen disruptions and promote better management of resources. The COVID-19 pandemic is one example of a recent major disruption that caught enterprises off-guard and had a major impact on their value chains. The adoption of digitisation of business processes has significantly sped up to improve enterprise and their value chain resilience and enable enterprises to survive and potentially thrive in today’s uncertain environment. Through this movement, innovative companies have embraced idea management to develop new business models and achieve competitive advantage. One of the major digital tools that support enterprises in their idea management efforts is web-based idea management systems. This study aims to show how enterprises can manage the rewards of platforms, such as web-based idea management systems, to achieve a first-in-class quality and quantity of ideas sourced from the stakeholders involved in these platform-based ecosystems. To reach this aim, a global survey study was conducted involving over 400 responses from enterprises that use web-based idea management systems and consequent results were analysed. The impact of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards on the results of enterprises is a well-researched area. To further verify the results, the authors have conducted ten expert interviews and a qualitative analysis of a data set sourced from a database that contained 129 company entries that utilise web-based idea management systems and was available for this research that was conducted over a two-year period. Results strongly indicate that mixed and financial reward type tasks result in a higher quantity of ideas created, however, higher idea quality—i.e., ideas selected—is higher for financial reward tasks. The research highlights that there could be differences between different web-based idea management systems application groups.