Social Economy Digitalization: A Systematic Literature Review

The issue of digitization is taking on a global reach and is becoming of vital importance for an increasing number of people and organizations. Technological and digital progress determines the opportunity and, sometimes, the need to collect, analyze and use the so-called "Big Data"; these can concern every aspect of daily life and the possibility of analysis is constantly evolving according to the methods and technologies used. The proliferation of data generated using digital technologies is commonly identified as the phenomenon of big data. It is a real information asset characterized by such high volume, speed, and variety as to require specific analytical technologies and methods for its transformation into value. The storage and calculation of large amounts of data, the use of data mining techniques, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are instrumental to the extraction of knowledge, the resolution of complex problems, supporting decision-making processes, and optimizing business activities. These analytical technologies, concerning Big Data, are not only the fulcrum of the new research trends and their related implementation but also represent possible solutions and guiding strategies for numerous critical aspects of daily life, as they are producing new paradigms for corporate organizations, both for-profit and non-profit. The implementation of the Third Sector Reform in Italy, the pandemic crisis, and the international political one are likely accelerating the process of spreading digital tools in the world of the social economy. Furthermore, the latest digital technologies can potentially impact the economic and social accountability and performance of these organizations. The goal of our research is to verify the state of the art in the digitization of social economy organizations in this period of strong changes. Furthermore, our goal is to analyze, through a systematic and structured review of the existing literature, also accompanied by quantitative analyzes of a bibliometric nature, the current trends in digitization that specifically concern the non-profit world. Recent empirical surveys show that non-profit organizations, engaged in various sectors of activity, already use digital tools to improve their social performance and achieve sustainable goals. Examples include blockchain applied to accounting and reporting systems, the use of artificial intelligence in fundraising activities, and the use of NFT (Non-Fungible Token) in the world of art and culture, etc. In particular, the blockchain is an authentication and verification technology based on the concept of a "distributed ledger" in which blocks of transactions are recorded in a shared chain. Exploring the potential of blockchain beyond the financial domain is a fascinating question recently also addressed by management and accounting scholars. From the first results of our analysis, a positive correlation seems to emerge between the level of digitization of the non-profits and the organization results achieved. Supporting social economy organizations to improve their digitization process, therefore, means contributing to the achievement of some of the most important objectives of the EU recovery and resilience plans and following up on the indications contained in the Action Plan on the social economy recently approved by the European Commission.