Too Little Fit, Too Much Demand: A Task–Technology Perspective on Sustainability in Engineering Management

The increasing regulatory demands for sustainability pose a significant challenge for engineering management in aligning corporate strategies with practical implementation. This paper investigates how multinational organizations operationalize sustainability directives, focusing on the integration of environmental product declarations within engineering practices and information systems. Employing a 13-month ethnographic case study within the global product lifecycle management (PLM) unit of a large multinational enterprise, we apply task–technology fit (TTF) theory to evaluate the effectiveness of current digital infrastructures, including PLM, enterprise resource planning, and product configuration systems. Our findings highlight a critical misalignment between regulatory sustainability requirements and technological capabilities. Engineering managers often rely on manual processes, because of fragmented data systems and limited automation, resulting in inefficiencies and compliance risks. Sustainability is predominantly defined through customer-driven performance metrics focused on resource efficiency at the deployment stage. It is also shaped by multiple institutional logics, where sales follow a market logic, corporate leadership a reputational or ESG logic, and engineering a technical logic. These differences fragment efforts and limit integration. The study achieved a high level of rigor through methodological triangulation of interviews, observations, documents, and system access, combined with insider–outsider researcher roles and reflexive analysis. We recommend improving interoperability and automation of digital systems to streamline sustainability reporting and compliance, and encourage closer alignment among corporate strategy, technological infrastructure, and engineering practices. This study contributes to the literature by showing why integration challenges persist despite regulatory imperatives and underscores the need for strategic investment in integrated technological solutions.