The Impact of Digitalization on Sustainability and Organization: The Emerging Paradox
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2025-07-08
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en
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Abstract
As digital technologies increasingly implemented to improve sustainability by companies in
various industries, they are also encountered by organizational paradoxes. While digital
technologies promises various improvements such as efficiency for better sustainability, it may
conflict with social and environmental sustainability concerns, namely job security and
corroborating sustainability performance instead of improvements. This thesis, therefore,
investigates how such paradoxes emerged and responded by multinational companies that are
undergoing digital transitions. By conducting qualitative, multi-case study approach, eight
participants as actors representing the companies were interviewed to explore their insights of the
paradoxes at the juxtaposed topic of digitalization and sustainability. The findings reveal that
paradoxes exists between digitalization for sustainability, employees, organizations, and
environmental concerns. It is also found that organizations employed various responses in order to
handle the paradoxes. This study contributes to paradox theory and literatures related to paradoxes
in digital transition, by highlighting how digitalization for sustainability could shape differing
paradoxes and responses of organizations, influenced by the organization’s internal and external
factors.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen