Spurring Impactful Research on Information Systems for Environmental Sustainability

The Research ResponseThe study of information systems for environmental sustainability has coalesced into two research streams (Loeser 2013).Green IS, the larger of the two, refers to the study of the design, implementation, and impact of information systems that contribute to sustainable business processes (Watson et al. 2008).Green IT, in contrast, refers to study of technology energy efficiency and equipment utilization (Watson et al. 2008).Both streams address the threat of climate change.However, given the unique nature of the threat, there is a pressing need for impactful research.By this, we mean studies that go beyond conceptualizing, analyzing, and even designing, to those with demonstrable impact on mitigating the threat of climate change.To understand the extent to which existing research is characterized by demonstrable impact, we examined the existing literature.Building on recent reviews (Melville 2010), we focused on the six-year span of 2008-2013 and searched within the AIS basket of eight leading IS journals (European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of AIS, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of MIS, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and MIS Quarterly).We used the Web of Science to search the topics of "green" or "environmental sustainability."We also searched eight environmental management journals (Business & Society, Business Strategy and the Environment, Ecological Economics, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental & Resource Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and Journal of Industrial Ecology) using search topics of "ICT," "information systems," "information technology," or "Internet."The results revealed 14 articles in IS journals (1 in European Journal of Information Systems, 10 in a special issue of Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and 3 in MIS Quarterly): about a third of an article per journal per year.The numbers are similar for environmental management journals (16 articles total).