Do Different Industries Define Sustainability Differently? : A Comparative Analysis of the Swedish Retail and IT Sectors

Abstract: Title: Do Different Industries Define Sustainability Differently? A Comparative Analysis of the Swedish Retail and IT Sectors.Level: Degree project at Undergraduate level (Bachelor’s degree) in the subject Business Administration Authors: Amanda Stål and Diana Hawaz AliSupervisor: Asif HuqDate: 2022-JuneAim: Examine the differences in the handling of sustainability issues within the retail and IT industries Method: The thesis was conducted through semi-structured interviews. The respondents consist of four retail companies and three IT companies.Results and conclusion: The results showed that although there are many similarities in how the respondents in the two industries handle sustainability issues, there were some differences in where they put their focus. Respondents in the retail industry were more inclined to focus on the environmental aspect of sustainability while respondents in the IT sector were shown to gravitate toward the social aspect. Contribution of the thesis: This thesis shows that the term “sustainability” differs depending on context, which would give researchers more freedom to change their definition of sustainability instead of trying to find one definition that fits every context.Suggestions for further research: Further research should be done with a greater sample pool to strengthen the transferability of the result. Keywords: Sustainability report, CSR, Retail industry, Information technology industry