Exploring Researchers' Perspectives on 6G Technology for Sustainable Business Innovation

Context: 6G technology is poised to revolutionize communication systems, offering unprecedented data transfer rates, ultra-low latency, and seamless device connectivity. Unlike earlier generations, 6G emphasizes socio-technical integration, aligning technological advancements with sustainability goals to enhance human-technology interactions for societal and environmental benefit. Objective: This paper explored the success factors influencing 6G adoption in sustainable business settings and proposed a theoretical framework. Method: To address the objective of this study, we have applied a Socio-Technical Grounded Theory Literature Review (ST-GTLR) approach to systematically collect the potential literature set and review the studies for data extraction. Extracted success factor themes were coded, categorized, and mapped into a hypothetical framework addressing sustainability opportunities for 6G technology. Results: The study identified 20 success factors of using 6G technology in sustainable business. Furthermore, a theoretical framework has been presented by classifying the identified factors across sustainability dimensions, including - environment, economy and society. The proposed framework provides actionable insights for aligning 6G technology with sustainable business pillars. Conclusion: Integration of 6G technology for sustainable businesses requires a strong focus on addressing barriers and aligning operations with sustainability principles (pillars). This work provides a foundation for advancing 6G-enabled sustainable ecosystems and guiding future research and practice.