The Great Divide : Empirical Evidence of a Decoupling of Digital Transformation and Sustainability

• Digital transformation is increasingly prioritized within the public sector to assure sustained relevance. At the same time, sustainable development goals (SDGs) are increasingly addressed in the strategies and missions of public sector actors. Previous research highlights that sustainability requires integration into internal procedures and governance structures (e.g., accounting) to avoid running the risk of merely being ceremonial and green washing. With digital transformation deemed critical for the public sector, we would hence expect to see an integration of SDGs in digital initiatives. This study answers the research question of how SDGs are integrated into digital transformation initiatives. We answer the question through purposive sampling of digital initiatives within a large, Swedish municipality, where each initiative is categorized on the notion of which SDGs they are related to. The findings show that there is a decoupling of sustainability in digital transformation initiatives, that risks leading to directly detrimental effects for both the digital transformation of the public sector as well as for sustainability. This is discussed through integration with previous literature with the intent of identifying future avenues for research and recommendations for practice.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Digital transformation

Sustainable development goals

SDG

Responsible information systems

Digital government

Work Integrated Learning

Arbetsintegrerat lärande

Digital Transformation

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG

Re- sponsible Information Systems

Digital Government

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)