Socioenvironmental Effectiveness of IoT: Structure and Elements of a Proposal Assessment Tool

The purpose of this research is to identify and describe the structure of an original assessment tool to support the evaluation of the socioenvironmental effectiveness of IoT technologies in manufacturing companies. The research methodology follows the systematic literature review applying Prisma process. The theoretical contributions are based on scientific-academic demands for empirical studies on IoT technologies towards sustainability and circular economy principles, which impacts the research on digital transformation oriented to environmental and social approaches. The contribution to management practices is an assessment tool, which provides support to the company’s decision-making process regarding the use of IoT technologies oriented towards a socioenvironmental sustainability. The limitation of this research is the fact that the assessment tool is literature-based, without empirical evidence; it is relevant to get the contributions and suggestions of experts for feedback and new insights. Another limitation is the assessment tool has not yet been tested for its validity and reliability. On the other hand, these are an opportunity for future research, improving the assessment tool by applying the Delphi process and the mentioned tests. It is worth in future research, to extend this subject to the service sector. The authors believe that the assessment tool will push manufacturing company leaders’ views on IoT technologies toward social and environmental sustainability, and circular economy principles, rather than merely associated with the organization’s financial performance.