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Tracing the Trends in Sustainability and Social Media Research Using Topic Modeling

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  • Jee Hoon Lee

    (Department of Business Administration, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea)

  • Jacob Wood

    (JCU Singapore Business School, James Cook University Singapore, Singapore 387380, Singapore)

  • Jungsuk Kim

    (Department of Economics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea)

Abstract

New ideas are often born from connecting the dots. What new ideas have emerged among the two highly trending research topics of sustainability and social media? In this study, we present an empirical analysis of 762 published works that included the terms “sustainability” and “social media” in their abstracts. The bibliographic data, including abstracts, were collected from the Scopus database. In order to conduct the analysis, we used the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), an unsupervised machine learning algorithm to extract the latent topics from the large quantity of research abstracts without any manual adjustment. The 10 main topics identified from our analysis revealed topographical maps of research in the field. By measuring the variation of topic distributions over time, we identified hot topics (research trends that are becoming increasingly popular over time) and cold topics. Sustainable consumer behavior, Sustainable community and Sustainable tourism were identified as being hot topics, while Education for sustainability was identified as the only cold topic. By identifying current trends in social media and sustainability research, our findings lay a platform from which further studies may abound.

Suggested Citation

  • Jee Hoon Lee & Jacob Wood & Jungsuk Kim, 2021. "Tracing the Trends in Sustainability and Social Media Research Using Topic Modeling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1269-:d:487008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Maryam Al-Hail & Mariem Fekih Zguir & Muammer Koç, 2024. "Exploring Digital Learning Opportunities and Challenges in Higher Education Institutes: Stakeholder Analysis on the Use of Social Media for Effective Sustainability of Learning–Teaching–Assessment in ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-30, July.
    3. Saleh Md. Arman & Cecilia Mark-Herbert, 2021. "Re-Commerce to Ensure Circular Economy from Consumer Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-18, September.
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    5. Seungsu Paek & Namhyoung Kim, 2021. "Analysis of Worldwide Research Trends on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Jianping Huang & Yuheng Tao & Minghong Shi & Jun Wu, 2022. "Empirical Study on Design Trend of Taiwan (1960s–2020): The Evolution of Theme, Diversity and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Mehdi Tajpour & Elahe Hosseini & Maliheh Mohammadi & Behrooz Bahman-Zangi, 2022. "The Effect of Knowledge Management on the Sustainability of Technology-Driven Businesses in Emerging Markets: The Mediating Role of Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Schallehn, Frauke & Valogianni, Konstantina, 2022. "Sustainability awareness and smart meter privacy concerns: The cases of US and Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).

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