New digital technologies for social impact assessment: Considerations for Italian social economy organizations

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) holds significant relevance for Social Economy- organizations (SEOs) such as associations, foundations, social enterprises, social co-operatives, and consortiums for accountability and strategic planning purposes. In Italy, the Third Sector Reform passed in 2016 mandates that an SIA should be conducted by third-sector entities when they fall under specific circumstances as specified in the guidelines introduced in 2019. Notably, these guidelines do not propose a specific SIA model for Third Sector Entities (TSEs) but consider acceptable models that are internationally recognized in literature and practices. In this paper, we explore the opportunity to consider new digital technologies such as digital platforms, big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, to implement SIA for SEOs. We conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on the intersection of SIA and digitalization in the context of SEOs. The bibliometric analysis aims to show the main authors, countries, journals, and keywords associated with the literature on digital technologies and SIA of the SEOs. Finally, various themes and trend topics were identified in this studied literature. We conclude with suggestions for further research.