Sustainability Defined

According to MISQ Call for Papers (2010):

• Sustainability is a complex term that can encompass environmental, economic, and societal issues.
• In essence, sustainability is conservation, deployment, and reuse of resources in responsible ways—a responsibility that is geared toward the triple bottom line. The triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit—view of value creation balances commercial and societal goals in a way that all three Ps are addressed simultaneously rather than being seen as trade-offs or with one goal overriding the other two.

According to Melville (2010):

• An encompassing definition of sustainability is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
  (WCED 1987, p. 43).
• This definition is related to the triple bottom line, a broad conceptualization of organizational performance comprising economic, environmental, and social dimensions (Kleindorfer et al. 2005; Porter and Kramer 2006).

References:

WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development). 1987. Our Common Future, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Green IT and Green IS

Energy Informatics Framework

Moving beyond a general viewpoint on sustainability to take a specific IS direction, researchers could elect to apply the energy informatics framework (Watson et al. 2010).

This framework advocates a research agenda to establish a new subfield of energy informatics, which applies information systems thinking and skills to increase energy efficiency.

References:

Watson, R. T., Boudreau, M.-C., and Chen, A. J. W. 2010. “Information Systems and Environmentally Sustainable Development: Energy Informatics and New Directions for the IS Community,” MIS Quarterly (34:1), pp. 23-38.

Belief–Action–Outcome Model

Moving beyond a general viewpoint on sustainability to take a specific IS direction, researchers could elect to apply the belief–action–outcome model (Melville 2010).

References

Melville, N. P. 2010. “Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability,” MIS Quarterly (34:1), pp. 1-21.

The Role of IS in Achieving the Three Eco-Goals

One approach for guiding the research work in this field could be to examine the role of IS in achieving the three eco-goals:

• eco-efficiency (DeSimone et al. 1997),
• eco-equity (Gray and Bebbington 2000), and
• eco-effectiveness (McDonough and Braungart 1998).

References:

-- DeSimone, L. D., Popoff, F., and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 1997. Eco-Efficiency: The Business Link to Sustainable Development, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

-- Gray, R. H., and Bebbington, K. J. 2000. “Environmental Accounting, Managerialism and Sustainability: Is the Planet Safe in the Hands of Business and Accounting?,” Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management (1:1), pp. 1-44.

-- McDonough, W., and Braungart, M. 1998. “The NEXT Industrial Revolution,” The Atlantic Monthly (10), pp. 82-92.

The Four Dimensions of The Sustainability Portfolio

The four dimensions of the sustainability portfolio (pollution prevention, product stewardship, clean technology, and sustainability vision) (Hart 1997) provide another angle for investigating the role of IS in sustainability.

References:

-- Hart, S. 1997. “Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World,” Harvard Business Review (75), pp. 66-77.

Three decades into the environmental revolution, many companies in the industrialized nations have recognized that they can reduce pollution and increase profits at the same time. But beyond corporate "greening" lies the enormous challenge--and opportunity--to develop a sustainable global economy, one that the planet is capable of supporting indefinitely. Stuart Hart, director of the Corporate Environmental Management Program at the University of Michigan School of Business, explains the imperative of sustainable development and provides a framework for identifying the business opportunities behind sustainability. The dangers today are clear: exploding population growth, rapid depletion of resources, and ever more industrialization and urbanization are creating a terrible environmental burden. Companies normally frame greening in terms of risk reduction, reengineering, or cost cutting. But, says Hart, when greening becomes part of strategy, opportunities of potentially staggering proportions open up. A number of companies are moving in that direction. BASF, for example, is colocating plants to make the recycling of waste feasible, and Xerox is reusing parts from leased copiers on new machines. Hart identifies three stages of environmental strategy: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and the development of clean technology. But companies will not benefit from such efforts unless they draw a road map that can show them how new products and services must evolve and what competencies they will need. Businesses that create a vision of sustainability will be ready to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the need for a sustainable global economy. INSETS: Aracruz Celulose: A Strategy for the Survival Economy.;The Sustainability Portfolio;Building Sustainable Business Strategies.

Three Categories for Sustainability Issues: Generic, Value Chain, and Competitive Context

There is the viewpoint that sustainability issues can be prioritized into three categories: generic, value chain, and competitive context (Porter and Kramer 2006). For example,the competitive context calls for a proactive strategic approach and may offer opportunities to illustrate the transformative powerof IS.

References:

-- Porter, M., and Kramer, M. 2006. “Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility,” Harvard Business Review (84:12), pp. 78-92.

-- Malhotra, A., Melville, N. P., Watson, R. T. 2010. "Call for Papers, MISQ Special Issue on Information Systems and Environmental Sustainability."

Research Groups Around The World, Interested in IS for Sustainability

The United States
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

• Arvind Malhotra

University of Michigan (Stephen M. Ross School of Business):

• Nigel P. Melville

University of Georgia (Department of Management Information Systems, Terry College of Business):

• Richard T. Watson
• Adela J. Chen
• Marie-Claude Boudreau
• Elena Karahanna

Syracuse University (School of Information Studies):

• Jason Dedrick

University of California, Berkeley:

• Elizabeth Goodman

Canada

Queen's University, Canada:

• Jacqueline Corbett
• Jane Webstery
• Koray Sayiliz
• Ivana Zelenika
• Joshua Pearce

University of St. Gallen:

• Ali Dada
• Elgar Fleisch

Ryerson University, Canada:

• Tim S. McLaren
• Priscilla R. Manatsay
• Ron Babinz

Australia

RMIT University (School of Business Information Technology & Logistics), Australia:

• Mohamad Taha Ijab
• Alemayehu Mollay
• Asmare Emerie Kassahunz
• Say Yen Teoh

Queensland University of Technology, Australia:

• Jan Recker

Europe

The University of Liechtenstein:

• Stefan Seidel
• Jan vom Brocke

University of Amsterda, The Netherlands

• Wietske van Osch
• Michel Avital

IS for Sustainability: Several Perspectives

MISQ has issued a Call for Papers for its special issue on Information Systems and Environmental Sustainability (http://www.misq.org/BulletinBoard/GreenIS.pdf). It describes several perspectives might be adopted by researchers in guiding their work:

First, there is the viewpoint that sustainability issues can be prioritized into three categories: generic, value chain, and competitive context (Porter and Kramer 2006). For example, the competitive context calls for a proactive strategic approach and may offer opportunities to illustrate the transformative power of IS.

Second, the four dimensions of the sustainability portfolio (pollution prevention, product stewardship, clean technology, and sustainability vision) (Hart 1997) provide another angle for investigating the role of IS in sustainability.

A third approach could be to examine the role of IS in achieving the three eco-goals: eco-efficiency (DeSimone et al. 1997), eco-equity (Gray and Bebbington 2000), and eco-effectiveness (McDonough and Braungart 1998).

Moving beyond a general viewpoint on sustainability to take a specific IS direction, researchers could elect to apply the belief–action–outcome model (Melville 2010) or the

energy informatics framework (Watson et al. 2010).

(Source: http://www.misq.org/BulletinBoard/GreenIS.pdf)

What? Ubiquitous Computing for Sustainability?!

I started this blog to share what I find in my research on the role of information systems innovation in achieving the sustainability goals. I will focus on ubiquitous/pervasive computing technologies.