Unraveling the Complexity of Twin Transition: Insights from a Professional Development Workshop

Authors

• Johan Magnusson, University of GothenburgFollow
• Jonny Holmström, Umeå University
• Alexander Herwix, University of Cologne & University of Gothenburg
• Anna af Hällström, University of Gothenburg
• Margunn Aanestad, University of Oslo & University of Agder
• Carl Piva, Swedish Internet Foundation
• Jan Recker, University of Hamburg Business School
• Anna Visvizi, SGH Warsaw School of Economics

Author ORCID Identifier

Johan Magnusson: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0649-6460

Jonny Holmström: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0905-350X

Alexander Herwix: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7031-3198

Anna af Hällström: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1961-7361

Margunn Aanestad: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3731-4241

Jan Recker: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2072-5792

Anna Visvizi: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3240-3771

Abstract

Twin transition, the deliberate alignment or “twinning” of digital and sustainability transformations, has become a top priority for policymakers and corporations. However, research and practice on this important topic are still in their infancy. We advocate for information systems research to place greater emphasis on accelerating twin transitions in practice. Delaying the coupling of digital and green imperatives deepens carbon lock-ins, wastes capital, and erodes organizational legitimacy, whereas integrated approaches present a promising path to prosperity cognizant of and nested within planetary boundaries. To advance momentum, we convened a Professional Development Workshop at the Academy of Management 2025 meeting in Copenhagen that comprised opening provocations, round-table discussions, and plenary syntheses. We report on five recurring themes (conceptual ambiguity; metrics and data; rhetoric–practice gaps; politics and power; researcher reflexivity) that were focal to the workshop and, from the panel we re-organize the intellectual debate on twin transition along two dimensions: conceptual stability vs. ambiguity and instrumental vs. normative purpose. Doing so reveals four pitfalls that threaten to derail twin transition progress: technological determinism, ideological overconfidence, fragmentation and analysis-paralysis. We conclude by proposing strategies that will afford research, policy and practice to reframe twin transition as an executable program.

Recommended Citation

Magnusson, J., Holmström, J., Herwix, A., af Hällström, A., Aanestad, M., Piva, C., Recker, J., & Visvizi, A. (In press). Unraveling the Complexity of Twin Transition: Insights from a Professional Development Workshop. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 58, pp-pp. Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol58/iss1/74