Law Commons^™

Big Data Sustainability: An Environmental Management Systems Analogy, Dennis D. Hirsch, Jonathan H. King

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Today, organizations globally wrestle with how to extract valuable insights from diverse data sets without invading privacy, causing discrimination, harming their brand, or otherwise undermining the sustainability of their big data projects. Leaders in these organizations are thus asking: What management approach should businesses employ sustainably to achieve the tremendous benefits of big data analytics, while minimizing the potential negative externalities?

This Paper argues that leaders can learn from environmental management practices developed to manage the negative externalities of the industrial revolution. First, it shows that, along with its many benefits, big data can create negative externalities that are structurally …