The Impact of Virtual Learning Environments and Mobile Technology Platforms on Sustainable Innovation Performance: The Mediating Role of Digital Transformation Capability

Abstract

The use of virtual learning environment (VLEs) and mobile technology platforms are becoming seen as a designed system and the interplay of these influences an organization's ability to be sustainable in their innovative efforts. This paper reinterprets a management-style hypothesis (that digital transformation capability (DTC) is a mediator between the impact of VLEs and mobile platforms on sustainable innovation performance (SIP) as an architecture-driven system-optimization problem. A four-layer architecture (VLE layer, mobile platform layer, DTC layer and SIP layer) is specified along with seven mathematical models that connect the layers, including a multi-objective optimization formulation. The architecture is tested with a 12-month horizon Monte Carlo simulation conducted over five user volumes (100–3000), three learning-complexity levels, three mobile-intensity levels and three network conditions. The proposed framework achieves an SIP score of 0.665, mobile-response time of 40.0 ms, reliability of 98.5% and decision-support accuracy of 89.4%, outperforming four progressively simpler variants of the system across all learning-, decision-, and reliability-oriented metrics (one-way ANOVA on SIP: F = 1.21×10^5, eta^2 = 0.995; proposed vs. mobile-learning baseline: Cohen's d = 9.0). After an ablation study, the DTC layer is determined as the key mediator, as its removal decreases SIP by 48.3%, and the decision accuracy drops from 89.4% to 52.5%. The framework also has the highest level of energy draw (10.9 W vs. 1.5 W for a non-mobile baseline) as an explicitly stated capability–cost trade-off.