CONCEPTUALIZING AND DEFINING GREEN INFORMATION SYSTEM CAPABILITIES

Michael Kennedy

There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that the corporate sector has a significantly negative impact on the natural environment. Yet at the same time, there are many examples of organizations that have decoupled profit and impact, generating revenues without effecting ecological harm. Given innovations in automation, clean technology, and digital business strategy it is possible that information systems (IS) enable and support organizations’ ability to achieve economic and environmental goals. In this dissertation, I contribute to the literature on green information system (green IS) by further developing the concept of green information system capabilities and by determining its influence on organization performance. This research addresses two key objectives: (1) to conceptualize and measure a new capability of organizations in dynamic business environments (green information systems capabilities); and (2) to test the role of green information system capabilities as a source of competitive advantage for global organizations. Regarding objective 1, I reviewed relevant literature on green IS and business-IT-value to identify the following core dimensions of green information systems capabilities: automation, stakeholder engagement, public reporting, and green IT. Next, I developed and tested five hypotheses to validate the role of green IS capabilities as a unique dynamic capability of the organization. To develop and validate my research model, I tested these hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling on a unique survey sample of 176 global corporations that report their environmental and financial performance. The results of this analysis address objective 2. I demonstrate that organizations can generate a competitive advantage through the use of green IS capabilities and identify many of the defining constructs in the nomological net for green information systems capabilities. This research makes a significant advance to the existing green IS literature by providing empirical evidence of the role of green information systems in contributing to organizational environmental and financial performance. .

CONCEPTUALIZING AND DEFINING GREEN INFORMATION SYSTEM CAPABILITIES

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