COVID-19 and sustainable development goals: A bibliometric analysis and SWOT analysis in Malaysian context

Mehrbakhsh Nilashi; Rabab Ali Abumalloh; Saidatulakmal Mohd; Sharifah Nurlaili Farhana Syed Azhar; Sarminah Samad; Ha Hang Thi; O A Alghamdi; Abdullah Alghamdi

doi:10.1016/j.tele.2022.101923

COVID-19 and sustainable development goals: A bibliometric analysis and SWOT analysis in Malaysian context

Telemat Inform. 2023 Jan:76:101923. doi: 10.1016/j.tele.2022.101923. Epub 2022 Dec 8.

Authors

Mehrbakhsh Nilashi^{1

2}, Rabab Ali Abumalloh³, Saidatulakmal Mohd⁴, Sharifah Nurlaili Farhana Syed Azhar², Sarminah Samad⁵, Ha Hang Thi^{6

7}, O A Alghamdi⁸, Abdullah Alghamdi⁹

Affiliations

¹ UCSI Graduate Business School, UCSI University, No. 1 Jalan Menara Gading, UCSI Heights, 56000, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² Centre for Global Sustainability Studies (CGSS), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia.
³ Computer Department, Applied College, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box. 1982, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM Penang, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Business Administration, College of Business and Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, VietNam.
⁷ International School, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, VietNam.
⁸ Business Administration Dept., Applied College, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Information Systems Dept., College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has been a core threat to the lives of billions of individuals over the world. The COVID-19 crisis has influenced governments' aims to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); leading to exceptional conditions of fragility, poverty, job loss, and hunger all over the world. This study aims to investigate the current studies that concentrate on the COVID-19 crisis and its implications on SDGs using a bibliometric analysis approach. The study also deployed the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) approach to perform a systematic analysis of the SDGs, with an emphasis on the COVID-19 crisis impact on Malaysia. The results of the study indicated the unprecedented obstacles faced by countries to meet the UN's SDGs in terms of implementation, coordination, trade-off decisions, and regional issues. The study also stressed the impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of the SDGs focusing on the income, education, and health aspects. The outcomes highlighted the emerging opportunities of the crisis that include an improvement in the health sector, the adoption of online modes in education, the swift digital transformation, and the global focus on environmental issues. Our study demonstrated that, in the post-crisis time, the ratio of citizens in poverty could grow up more than the current national stated values. We stressed the need to design an international agreement to reconsider the implementation of SDGs, among which, are strategic schemes to identify vital and appropriate policies.

Keywords: Bibliometric Analysis; COVID-19; Malaysia; SWOT; Sustainable Development Goals.