Artificial intelligence (AI) for good? Enabling organizational change towards sustainability

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being recognized as a critical tool when it comes to addressing the most pressing challenges facing modern industries, including the pursuit of sustainability. The use of AI is aiding businesses in navigating corporate sustainability challenges, but existing research lacks a comprehensive exploration of how corporations leverage AI to boost their sustainability. By exploiting an inductive concept-development approach and incorporating data from 24 companies, this study provides valuable insights into the role that AI plays in shaping organizational sustainability strategies, identifying operational enablement and technical capacity as key drivers of AI adoption for corporate sustainability. These drivers are incorporated into the technology, organization, and environment (TOE) framework alongside the strategic steps and capabilities necessary for organizations to effectively adopt and implement AI in the development of their sustainability strategies. Ultimately, this study proposes an integrative model for sustainability-oriented AI adoption that emphasizes the importance of aligning AI initiatives with organizations’ sustainability objectives in order to maintain a competitive advantage and drive progress. Correspondingly, it underscores the need for robust data management, system integration, and continual performance monitoring to reduce resistance to AI adoption allowing for the potential of AI to be fully harnessed in pursuit of sustainability. Furthermore, this study offers practical guidance by exploring the direct and indirect use cases of AI in corporate sustainability. The study concludes by highlighting potential avenues for future research in this evolving field.