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.

Research Highlights► Comprehensive literature review reveals a dearth of Green IT/S research. As of the summer of 2009, no articles on Green IT/S were found in the leading MIS journals. However, 20 scholarly articles in other peer-reviewed journals and 18 conference and working papers were found. ► Develops a multilevel Green IT/S research framework by placing the fragmented Green IT/S literature in conversation with the more well-established environmental sustainability literatures in management, environmental psychology, and social marketing. ► Develops several theoretical propositions and suggestions for future research in the area of Green IT/S. ► Within-level and between-level alignment of environmental orientation, as well as its relationship to environmental initiatives (both Green IT/S strategy and Green IT/S implemented) and environmental impacts is a critical area for future research.