An Institutional Perspective on the Adoption of Green IS & IT

Abstract

This article examines how institutional pressures affect the adoption of green IS & IT across organizations. From the natural-resource-based perspective, it examines green IS & IT practices with strategic foci on pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Each category incorporates the separate roles played by IT (as a problem) and IS (as a solution). The partial least square method was employed to analyze the survey replies from 75 organizations. The results show that mimetic and coercive pressures significantly drive green IS & IT adoption. In particular, outcomebased imitation and imposition-based coercion represent major institutional processes. The results also suggest the complementary relationship between mimetic and coercive pressures. Such interaction significantly motivates the green IS & IT adoption focusing on product stewardship. These findings contribute to existing knowledge on the proenvironmental behaviors of organizations, demonstrate the interaction between institutional forces, and further current understanding of green IS & IT adoption The study concludes with a general discussion of eco-goals and their relationship to institutional theory before considering the implications and directions for research and practice.

Impact of adoption of Green IT practices on organizational performance

“…The intensity of the adoption of Green IT practices is the extent to which an organization is embedding IT in its pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development strategies (Chen et al 2011;Hart 1997). Pollution prevention focuses on the prevention and control of polluting emissions during and after production and operations processes (Hart 1997).…”

“…Institutional theory has been employed to explore firms' environmental behaviors (Campbell 2007;Chen et al 2011). Chen et al (2011) examine how organizational adoption of Green IT practices is motivated by institutional forces.…”

“…2 Background to related concepts 2.1 Green IT Green IT refers to the design and implementation of information systems that contribute to sustainable business processes (Chen et al 2011). Over the last few decades, the advance of business and social practices based on information technology has transformed many economies into e-economies and many businesses into e-businesses.…”

Determinants of Green ICT Adoption in Organizations: A Theoretical Perspective

“…A mix of both pragmatic (e.g., financial and legal) and idealist (e.g., moral and ethical) factors influence managers' decisions to adopt green ICT according to Lampe et al [40]. There are general motivations, applied to all EMPs, and specific motivations applied only to the ICT field ( Figure 1).…”

Smart energy: where do we stand and where should we go?

“…Green IS addresses issues related to the IS use of individuals, groups, organizations, and societies that help ecosustainable practices emerge and diffuse (Chen, Watson, Boudreau, and Karahanna 2010;Dedrick 2010;Ijab, Molla, and Cooper 2012;Hilpert, Kranz, and Schumann 2013). The impact of Green IS on eco-sustainability-and with it the literature on Green IS-can be categorized into three effects (Köhler and Erdmann 2004;Hilty et al 2006;Dedrick 2010):…”