Technology, Society, and Sustainable Development: A Critical Integrative Review

Abstract

Digital technologies increasingly influence the institutional, economic, social, and environmental pathways through which sustainable development is pursued. Existing research, however, remains dispersed across technological domains and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with limited integration of distributional, environmental, and governance conditions in developing-country settings. This study conducts a qualitative critical integrative review of peer-reviewed and institutional literature published primarily between 2016 and 2026. Sources were identified purposively through academic databases, publisher platforms, and repositories of international organisations and assessed using explicit relevance criteria. The synthesis applies sociotechnical systems theory and the capability approach to examine digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and digital public infrastructure across social, economic, environmental, and governance dimensions. Three recurrent positions are identified in the literature: technology-optimist, technology-risk, and governance-conditioned perspectives. The reviewed evidence indicates that digital technologies can extend access to education, health services, financial services, public administration, and environmental monitoring, while benefits remain uneven where connectivity, affordability, skills, institutional capacity, and data governance are inadequate. Digitalisation also entails material and energy costs associated with data infrastructure, computation, hardware production, and electronic waste. The synthesis supports a conditional interpretation of technology's contribution to sustainable development: developmental effects depend on inclusive access, digital capability, environmental responsibility, accountable governance, institutional capacity, and international cooperation. The proposed framework remains an interpretive proposition requiring subsequent empirical evaluation.