Paper was never the problem: The paperless idea as a persistent symbol for organizational digitalization and sustainability

Abstract

This study problematizes the long-lived assumption that eliminating paper and becoming paperless contributes to organizational digitalization and sustainability efforts. By identifying paperless as a trope in discourse and a norm in practice, we show how the strive for paperless drives digitization of a paper-based logic rather than creates conditions for digital value creation. A sense of doing good when reducing paper, combined with neglecting opportunity costs related to digital technologies can also create adverse effects on sustainability as well as simplify the complexities of converging digitalization efforts with sustainability outcomes.