Digital Transformation and Sustainable Business Model Innovation in Renewable Energy Transitions: A Comparative Study of Poland and Selected European Countries

Renewable energy transition management increasingly depends on the integration of digital technologies, organizational capabilities, and innovative forms of value creation. This study examines how digital transformation, organizational learning, and Sustainable Business Model Innovation jointly support renewable energy transition management. A convergent mixed-methods design was adopted, integrating comparative quantitative analysis of secondary data with qualitative evidence derived from strategic documents and complementary evidence obtained through structured expert assessments conducted in Poland, Germany, Denmark, and Spain. The comparative evidence suggests that higher levels of digital maturity are generally associated with stronger renewable energy performance, greater innovation intensity, and more advanced forms of Sustainable Business Model Innovation. Digitally advanced energy systems appear to exhibit stronger capacities for decentralized coordination, participatory governance, and adaptive learning processes, while less mature systems rely more heavily on localized experimentation and fragmented institutional arrangements. The comparative analysis also highlights differences in renewable energy transition pathways across the analyzed European countries, emphasizing the importance of organizational and institutional conditions in shaping transition processes. The study contributes to the literature by proposing an integrated analytical framework integrating digital transformation, organizational learning, and Sustainable Business Model Innovation within renewable energy transition research. The findings underline the importance of digitally enabled coordination and learning-based adaptation for supporting resilient renewable energy transition pathways and provide practical implications for policymakers, energy companies, and other stakeholders involved in sustainability-oriented energy transitions.