Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309485 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of Business Economics [ISSN:] 1861-8928 [Volume:] 93 [Issue:] 6 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Berlin, Heidelberg [Year:] 2023 [Pages:] 1231-1253
Publisher: 
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Digitalization has permeated all aspects of human lives, economies, and societies. This transformation has been driven by the rapid growth in computing power, storage capabilities, and data transmission infrastructures. These changes have enabled innovations, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, smartphones, digitalized homes, (semi) autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, and more. Digitalization has further resulted in faster, more effective service delivery by many organizations. The phenomenon of digitalization relies on an increasingly finite supply of resources, such as crude oil, silicon, and energy. Over the past 150 years, humans have consumed as many natural resources as they have consumed in the past 20,000 years. In part, this increasing clip of consumption has been driven by digitalization, as novel, technology-based solutions, such as blockchain, supplant older, slower low-tech solutions, such as books and ledgers, to process data and create value. Digitalization's demand for resources may be leading us to an environmental abyss. Consider cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, whose electricity consumption is approximately equal to the energy needs of small nations such as Malaysia or Sweden. Such consumption evokes the question, is, "is more digitalization really better, or given the harm to the planet, is this one context where less is more?". In this paper, we develop a research agenda for understanding the full cost of digitalization and its impact on sustainability. We do so in three parts; first, we offer a crisp definition of sustainability; second, we offer a concise review of the digitalization and sustainability literature; and third, we offer suggestions for research that advances our understanding of how digitalization impacts sustainability.
Subjects: 
Digitalization
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Environmental sustainability
Social sustainability
Economic sustainability
Green IT
Green IS
JEL: 
M00
M15
Q01
Q55
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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