Do Carbon Management System Adoption Announcements Affect Market Value?

In this paper we conduct an event study to test the hypothesis that carbon management systems (CMS) are perceived by financial markets to be value-adding IS investments worth more than their costs. After populating a list of over 200 exchange-traded CMS adopters, we search newswires and specialty news outlets to identify 62 adoption announcements over a 10 year period. These are analyzed for a 3 day window starting with the announcement and we find that the mean cumulative abnormal returns (MCARs) from CMS announcements are 1.04%. A sub-analysis by firm size confirms earlier IS research results that smaller firms experience larger returns. Another sub-analysis by industry finds a potentially surprising result that lower-C02 emission industries accrue larger MCARs than high-emitting industries, though further research will be required to establish this conclusively

Understanding the Effectiveness of Carbon Management System (CMS): An Empirical Study

Despite increasing emphasis on corporate sustainability and green IS, empirical research on the relationships between specific green IS artifacts and intended outcomes (such as various resource consumption) are relatively scant. In addition, research is silent on the firm-specific factors that could influence the benefits from such artifacts. This paper seeks to fill this research gap by examining the relationship between carbon management system (CMS) and energy consumption. The paper also explores the role of the environmental management system (EMS) and human capital development (HCD) in influencing the relationship between CMS and energy consumption. The study utilizes data from secondary sources and proprietary databases. Findings from this study empirically demonstrate the environmental value of specific green IS artifacts and the role of facilitating factors

Enterprise Information Systems Capability and GHG Pollution Emissions Reductions

This paper adds to IT sustainability literature by empirically examining the degree to which enterprise information systems capability impacts organizational greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). We accomplish this by analyzing a unique data set combining surveys of corporate IT, GHG emissions and environmental practices with other secondary sources that contain financial and environmental metrics. We find that high levels of Enterprise Support IS Capability combined with the adoption of firm GHG pollution reduction targets help to reduce firm GHG emissions. On the other hand, the adoption of reduction targets in less IS-capable firms is associated with higher emissions. Our research highlights the role of information technology in firm sustainability programs and the value of information to pollution reduction

Green IT Assimilation: Comparing the Influence of Contextual and Absorptive Capacity Based Models

As Green IT is a relatively new area in Information Systems research, the first wave of research has often focused on organisations’ adoption of Green IT. In this study, we look beyond the initial adoption and investigate the assimilation of Green IT by organisations. We draw from and compare two theories – contextual theory and absorptive capacity – and investigate which of the two theories better explains the level of Green IT assimilation. Results from an international survey of 148 large organisations show that both theories explain Green IT assimilation, however while contextual theory has a medium to large effect, absorptive capacity has a small to medium effect

A Socio-Ecological-Technical Perspective: How has Information Systems Contributed to Solving the Sustainability Problem

This literature review extends the dominant view of Information Systems (IS) as socio-technical. We establish a novel view of IS as socio-ecological-technical systems to steer and unite IS research and scholarship to co-create digitally transformed sustainable futures. Without a commitment to reducing carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e), we will reach a tipping point leading to large-scale, dangerous, and irreversible impacts on climate, human liveability, and survivability. Digital technology can potentially mediate human activities to reduce CO2e, but its production, utilisation, and disposal are multiple sources of CO2e. In response to the conference theme “Co-creating Sustainable Digital Futures”, this paper systematically reviews the IS research over the last twelve years from the socioecological- technical and Environmentally Sustainable Digital Transformation frameworks, with a focus on CO2e. Our holistic approach reveals emerging themes, current gaps and research opportunities, thus contributing to IS knowledge building and proposing future studies in this socio-ecological-technical domain

Show Me the Green: Three Essays on Information Systems Value and Environmental Performance in Global Organizations.

Businesses utilize information systems (IS) to increase revenues, reduce costs, and spur innovation. IS automate tasks, generate and deliver information, and can transform core value creation processes. As climate change and its associated challenges become increasingly relevant to business enterprises worldwide, IS are a key tool in enabling their response. Prior research shows that IS can either aid or inhibit organizational efforts, yet we do not fully understand their influence in this important context. This dissertation presents three essays examining how IS affects financial market value and greenhouse gas emissions performance in large businesses. The first essay (Chapter 2) introduces a method utilized in chapter 3. After finding a surprising dearth of international event studies in the IS discipline, a multiple-factor method is selected from related management literature to estimate international financial market reaction. Its performance relative to the commonly-used single-factor model is evaluated with a Monte Carlo analysis. Error correction improvement of the multiple factor model is calculated to be 44%-99% over the single-factor model for conditions observed in world markets 2000-2012. The second essay (Chapter 3) utilizes the multiple-factor model from chapter 2 to investigate international financial market reaction to Carbon Management Systems (CMS) adoption. CMS, a class of IS, enable the capture and management of carbon footprints. Three main results emerge. First, shareholders do not react positively to CMS announcements, as wealth effects are either not significant or negative, depending on the specification. Second, markets appear to penalize firms in more carbon regulated countries versus others, consistent with theory. Lastly, negative reactions to CMS appear to be dampening over time. The third essay (Chapter 4) examines the impact of IS on firm GHG emissions for large corporations with a presence in North America. This first-of-its-kind analysis finds interaction effects between GHG reduction plans and the physical deployment scope of ERP modules for Enterprise Support (e.g. HR, Finance, Accounting). Corporations with reduction plans in place and the highest 18% of ES physical scope are associated with reduced CO2 emissions. A one-standard-deviation increase in the ES physical scope deployment measure reduces GHG emissions by 46.63% for these companies.PhDBusiness AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113461/1/danrush_1.pd

Information Technology Impacts on Firm Performance: An Extension of Kohli and Devaraj (2003)

Despite the importance of investing in information technology, research on business value of information technology (BVIT) shows contradictory results, raising questions about the reasons for divergence. Kohli and Devaraj (2003) provided valuable insights into this issue based on a meta-analysis of 66 BVIT studies. This paper extends Kohli and Devaraj by examining the influences on BVIT through a meta-analysis of 303 studies published between 1990 and 2013. We found that BVIT increases when the study does not consider IT investment, does not use profitability measure of value, and employs primary data sources, fewer IT-related antecedents, and larger sample size. Considerations of IT alignment, IT adoption and use, and interorganizational IT strengthen the relationship between IT investment on BVIT, whereas the focus on environmental theories dampens the same relationship. However, the use of productivity measures of value, the number of dependent variables, the economic region, the consideration of IT assets and IT infrastructure or capability, and the consideration of IT sophistication do not affect BVIT. Finally, BVIT increases over time with IT progress. Implications for future research and practice are discussed