Environmental Sustainability through Green Business Process Management

Abstract

The climate change phenomenon, directly or indirectly, affects industries and nations. Governments and organizations have been challenged to identify their environmental impacts to address environmental sustainability issues. A promising, yet under-studied in this context, theme of information systems (IS) literature that has the potential to help with identifying, quantifying and managing environmental impacts is business process management (BPM). With its focus on continual process performance improvement, the capacity of BPM to contribute to Environmental Sustainability (ES) needs to be further explored. Yet, contributions from the BPM research community and the impact of these contributions appear to be fragmented. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review to explore BPM contributions to ES, with a focus on environmental performance indicators (EPIs) as well as relevant organizational factors related to ES and BPM. In doing so, we identify and explore ‘Green BPM’ contributions and suggest ways to advance BPM research in the context of ES.

Green Human Resource Management as an Element of Green Business Process Management

“…According to Couckuyt and Von Looy (2019), there is a lack of research related to people management in GBPM that would refer to employee competencies, training, readiness for change, evaluation and rewards, and top management commitment. More holistic approach is needed in GBPM, therefore it should also take into account cultural, organizational and managerial factors (Roohy Gohar, Indulska, 2020;vom Brocke, Sinnl, 2011). Changing organizational practices and individual behavior towards GBPM requires raising social and individual awareness about the impact of global environmental challenges, along with offering practical solutions for the individual (Nerlich et al, 2010).…”

“…), the concept of "green business process management" (GBPM) was developed. It is associated with such categories as process optimization, process performance measurement methods and process design (Roohy Gohar & Indulska, 2020). According to another definition, GBPM is about understanding, documenting, modeling, analyzing, simulating, and implementing continuous changes in business processes, with particular emphasis on the environmental consequences of process implementation (vom Brocke et al, 2012).…”

The role of Industry 4.0 technologies in driving the financial importance of sustainability risk management

“…On the other hand, there is an expectation of a revision of the role of business and financial systems in helping to accelerate responses to climate change (Newell, 2020). There is comprehensive literature dealing with responses to climate change from various perspectives and disciplines, covering issues such as business strategies, models, processes, relationships and management concepts, methods and tools (George et al, 2021;Gohar & Indulska, 2021;Kara et al, 2021;Chen et al, 2022;Hösli & Weber, 2022). Sustainable development (SD), defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (The World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), is an increasingly important concept in the multidimensional assessment of contemporary enterprises by stakeholders.…”