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Besides the widespread harm and dreadful impact COVID-19 has caused, it brought about change. Interpreting the pandemic as a ‘change agent’, it is possible to observe how it accelerated the use of digital technologies, facilitating the migration of many activities to the virtual sphere and thus changing the interaction between the physical and virtual worlds. Although the pandemic accelerated the diffusion and adoption of digital technologies, allowing many to avoid or reduce the harms caused by the pandemic, not everyone benefitted to the same extent. The pandemic exacerbated existing digital divides while creating new ones, simultaneously elevating important policy debates regarding digital infrastructure and inclusion policies.

This study aims to present a comprehensive knowledge mapping and an in-depth analysis of plastic and sustainability research to understand better global trends and directions in this field that emerged between 1995 and 2022.

This study presents a visual analysis of 1933 research articles listed in the Web of Science (WoS) databases between the years 1995 and 2022 related to plastic and sustainability. The knowledge mapping based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer presents the current research status, which contains the analysis of the collaboration network, co-citation network, references with citation bursts and keyword analysis.

The results reveal that China and the USA are the most prominent countries in exploring the notion of sustainability and plastic. The Chinese Academy of Science is the most prominent institution. Chai Qiang, Friedrich Daniel, Sahajwalla Veena and Ok Yong Sik are the most prolific authors in this field. Furthermore, circular economy, bioplastic, sustainable development, polyester and bioplastics are the highly discussed issues in recent years. Not surprisingly, COVID-19 is the latest topic of discussion started in 2021 due to its negative impact on plastic pollution and the challenges it posed to sustainability.

This study is among the pioneers to shed light on the current research status of plastic and sustainability using the bibliometric method and the newest data. This study also suggests that collaborations between scholars and institutions require to be enhanced for better management of plastic pollution and to contribute to sustainable development.

AI-based robo-advisory (RA) represents a FinTech application that is already replacing retail investment advisors. In private banking (PB), clients also increasingly expect service provision across different digital channels, but with a higher degree of personalization. Hence, the present study investigates the impact of intelligent RA on the PB investment advisory process to derive both process (re)design knowledge and strategic guidance for artificial intelligence (AI) usage for PB investment advisory.

The present study applies an AI process impact analysis approach by decomposing AI-based RA into three AI application types: conversational agent, customer segmentation and predictive analytics. The analysis results along a reference PB investment advisory process reveal sub-process transformations which are applied for process redesign integrating AI.

The study results imply that AI systems (1) enable seamless client journeys, (2) increase advisor flexibility, (3) support the client–advisor relationship by applying an omnichannel approach and (4) demand advisor skills to be augmented with technical and statistical knowledge.

The research study contributes (1) an AI process impact analysis approach, (2) derives process (re)design knowledge for AI deployment and (3) develops strategic guidance for AI usage in PB investment advisory.