Essays on Digitalization and Sustainability: An Empirical Investigation of Firms’ Adoption of Digital Technologies and Environmental Management Practices

This thesis investigates the strategic digital transformation of organizations in the broader context of sustainability imperatives. Concretely, it focuses on the following questions: How are digital technologies such as platforms, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things adopted today? What are the managerial complements needed to derive sustainable value from such technologies, and how are those adopted themselves? Finally, how do digital transformation and sustainability intersect with each other and how can organizations strategically integrate both? Relying on quantitative and qualitative data, this thesis brings empirical and theoretical contributions to both practice and research. Regarding the empirical findings, it documents the adoption of digital technologies and managerial practices, identifying the determinants of their profusion and highlighting, for example, the role played by firms’ size. Furthermore, it shows heterogeneity in the joint presence of digital technologies and specific managerial practices, notably those related to environmental innovation. Building upon these empirical findings and conceptual efforts, this thesis also presents theoretical propositions on the interlinkage between digital transformation, corporate strategy and sustainability. Concretely, it advances organizational and managerial complements needed to derive value from digital technologies today and also suggests an heterogeneous role of such technologies in sustainability transformation.