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Talking The Talk but Not Walking the Walk : Is the Use of Sustainability Keywords in IS/IT Job Ads “Greenwashing”?

Pierce, Paul LU orcid and Steen, Odd LU orcid (2024) itAIS 2024 XXI Conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS p.1-1
Abstract
This paper explores the intersection of corporate sustainability and recruitment perspectives in Swedish companies, examining the use of one hundred and seven sustainability keywords in more than 230 000 IS/IT job ads collected from the Swedish Public Employment Service. The study emphasizes the pressing need for a new breed of computing professionals to address environmental challenges and climate change. Despite the strategic nature of sustainability issues, the analysis reveals a surprising focus on operational occupations in both IS and Engineering job ads. The study suggests that companies are signalling an interest in sustainability, maybe even “greenwashing”, but more often than not seek operational/micro level rather than... (More)
This paper explores the intersection of corporate sustainability and recruitment perspectives in Swedish companies, examining the use of one hundred and seven sustainability keywords in more than 230 000 IS/IT job ads collected from the Swedish Public Employment Service. The study emphasizes the pressing need for a new breed of computing professionals to address environmental challenges and climate change. Despite the strategic nature of sustainability issues, the analysis reveals a surprising focus on operational occupations in both IS and Engineering job ads. The study suggests that companies are signalling an interest in sustainability, maybe even “greenwashing”, but more often than not seek operational/micro level rather than tactical/meso or strategic/macro business level competencies. Future work proposes a deeper analysis using suitable AI applications and interviews with companies to study the contextual use of sustainability keywords and more nuanced perspectives of recruiters. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
Sustainability, IS/IT Job ads, IS/IT Employer studies, IS/IT Green-washing
pages
18 pages
conference name
itAIS 2024 XXI Conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS
conference location
Piacenza, Italy
conference dates
2024-10-11 - 2024-10-12
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5798b584-46e9-4b00-85c4-41a3c4aa63a9
date added to LUP
2024-10-16 14:59:22
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:01:08
@misc{5798b584-46e9-4b00-85c4-41a3c4aa63a9,
  abstract     = {{This paper explores the intersection of corporate sustainability and recruitment perspectives in Swedish companies, examining the use of one hundred and seven sustainability keywords in more than 230 000 IS/IT job ads collected from the Swedish Public Employment Service. The study emphasizes the pressing need for a new breed of computing professionals to address environmental challenges and climate change. Despite the strategic nature of sustainability issues, the analysis reveals a surprising focus on operational occupations in both IS and Engineering job ads. The study suggests that companies are signalling an interest in sustainability, maybe even “greenwashing”, but more often than not seek operational/micro level rather than tactical/meso or strategic/macro business level competencies. Future work proposes a deeper analysis using suitable AI applications and interviews with companies to study the contextual use of sustainability keywords and more nuanced perspectives of recruiters.}},
  author       = {{Pierce, Paul and Steen, Odd}},
  keywords     = {{Sustainability; IS/IT Job ads; IS/IT Employer studies; IS/IT Green-washing}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--1}},
  title        = {{Talking The Talk but Not Walking the Walk : Is the Use of Sustainability Keywords in IS/IT Job Ads “Greenwashing”?}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}