An agenda for 'Green' information technology and systems research

Green information technologies and systems refer to initiatives and programs that directly or indirectly address environmental sustainability in organizations. Although practitioners have begun to focus on 'Green IT', there is little research in this area. To set the stage for this research, we develop a multilevel research framework to guide future research. To do so, we review the existing green information technology and systems literature, and also draw more broadly from research that addresses environmental sustainability in the management, environmental psychology, and social marketing domains. From this review, we identify important research gaps and present a set of propositions to guide future research

Green information technologies and systems: Employees' perceptions of organizational practices

In this study, we examine the extent to which employees recognize the importance of information technologies and systems (IT/S) in developing and implementing environmental initiatives. To address this question, we first review past research on this topic and draw on a framework for examining environmental motivating forces, strategies, and employee environmental orientations. We then analyze qualitative data based on in-depth interviews with employees in financial services organizations. Our aim is to develop a richer understanding of how employees currently view IT/S issues in relation to environmental sustainability and if similarities exist between different types of financial institutions. We also assess the extent to which these employee perceptions align with both actual organizational practices, as captured in interviews with information technology managers, and practices espoused by organizations, as reflected on their corporate websites. Our findings suggest that organizations are still in the infancy stage of awareness and adoption of "Green" IT/S. As a result, we identify four types of gaps: knowledge gaps, practice gaps, opportunity gaps, and knowing-doing gaps. We suggest that future research should draw on absorptive capacity, organizational learning, and social marketing theories to help align employees' attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors and to drive environmental changes