Workplace IT (such as laptops, smartphones, servers, and cloud services) forms the digital backbone of modern organisations but also generates significant environmental impacts through energy use, raw material extraction, and electronic waste. Because these technologies are procured at scale, procurement represents a strategic leverage point for improving the sustainability of organisational IT. However, it remains unclear how procurement can effectively stimulate supplier innovation rather than merely enforce compliance.

This thesis addresses the question: how can large Dutch organisations use supplier interaction mechanisms in workplace IT procurement to stimulate supplier innovation and thereby improve environmental sustainability? The study applies Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) to conceptualise procurement as an interaction process shaped by actors’ motivations, perceptions, resources, and institutional context. A structured literature review and expert interviews identified seventeen supplier interaction mechanisms, grouped into four categories: control-oriented, competition-based, exploratory collaboration, and capability-building collaboration.

To explain variation in mechanism use, six propositions were developed linking interaction patterns to institutional context (public versus private) and procurement maturity (low, medium, high). These propositions were tested through in-depth case studies with eleven large Dutch organisations. The findings show that procurement maturity is the primary differentiating factor. Low-maturity organisations rely predominantly on control-oriented mechanisms, while high-maturity organisations combine competition-based approaches with selective collaboration, supported by a control-oriented backbone. Medium-maturity organisations display hybrid and inconsistent patterns. Across cases, procurement primarily stimulates incremental, demand-pull innovation rather than transformative change.
The study also identifies structural challenges that constrain more advanced interaction. Legacy systems, long-term contracts, limited sustainability metrics, competing priorities (such as cost and security), and concentrated supplier markets reduce buyer leverage and limit room for experimentation. These conditions help explain the persistent gap between sustainability ambitions and practical outcomes.

Building on these findings, the thesis develops a thematic roadmap that clusters interventions into four enabling themes: making sustainability visible, enforceable, structurally feasible, and acceptable. The roadmap positions short-term improvements (such as clearer criteria and improved data) alongside longer-term organisational and behavioural change. Validation discussions indicate that visibility and enforceability measures are most feasible in the short term, while more transformative interventions require gradual capability development and stronger alignment between data, governance, and routines.

The study contributes to Green IT and procurement-for-innovation literature by reframing workplace IT sustainability as a market-oriented and interaction-driven challenge. It demonstrates how procurement maturity and organisational context shape the balance between control, competition, and collaboration, and explains why innovation outcomes are often incremental. While limited to large Dutch organisations and primarily based on procurer perspectives, the research provides a structured framework for analysing procurement-supplier interaction and offers practical guidance for strengthening procurement’s role in advancing sustainable IT. ... Read more

The Dutch high-tech manufacturing sector is undergoing a Twin Transition: the simultaneous shift toward digital transformation and improved sustainability. This dual transition is driven by the need to maintain technological leadership while meeting national climate goals and complying with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Although digital technologies can support sustainability efforts, they also introduce trade-offs that make the relationship between these goals complex.

This research addresses a key gap in both academic literature and industry practice: the lack of a sector-specific decision-support tool that connects digital maturity with sustainability performance. Using a Design Science Research (DSR) approach, the study followed four phases: problem explication, requirements definition, design and development, and demonstration and evaluation.
1. Through expert interviews and literature reviews, ten key challenges were identified, of which four were prioritized for tool development by applying the Stacey Matrix. These include unclear returns on investment, limited visibility into sustainability impacts, the absence of sector-specific roadmaps, and a lack of methods for weighing trade-offs between digital and sustainability goals.
2. To define the tool’s requirements, a second literature review and five user interviews were conducted, resulting in functional, structural, and contextual specifications using the MoSCoW framework.
3. The resulting tool consists of three integrated components: a company-specific ESG and digital maturity survey, a Twin Transition maturity model across People, Process, and Policy dimensions, and a recommendation dashboard. This dashboard maps digital manufacturing technologies based on their sustainability impact and implementation complexity. The tool adapts an existing maturity model by aligning ESG priorities with digital transformation levels, and uses Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis (EEIOA) and ESG materiality mapping for impact assessment.
4. Demonstrations with consultants and a manufacturing firm showed that the tool is effective in bridging departmental silos and supporting strategic discussions. It helps companies translate high-level sustainability and digital goals into actionable steps suited to their specific context. Rather than offering prescriptive solutions, the tool serves as a structured guide for informed decision-making.

The research contributes to Twin Transition theory by providing the first integrated framework that explicitly links digital capabilities to ESG outcomes in the high-tech manufacturing sector. Methodologically, it shows how stakeholder input and quantitative analysis can be combined in a practical, industry-ready tool. While the tool offers a valuable starting point, the study also highlights its limitations, particularly in addressing the political and cultural dynamics that shape real-world change. Future research should explore how this approach can be adapted to other sectors and to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Longitudinal studies, deeper lifecycle assessments, and cross-national comparisons will also be needed to understand the broader dynamics of the Twin Transition.
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