Definition and delimitation
Digital sustainability means using information and communication technology (ICT) artefacts for goals that ensure the long-term survival of humanity [9] [13]for example, by using corporate environmental information systems to collect and analyse consumption and emissions data in order to derive climate protection measures [15].
Digital refers to the use of ICT such as interorganisational online platforms [16]intra-organisational online forums [26] and mobile applications for the end customer [27]. Sustainability means living and doing business in a sustainable way by harmonising economic, ecological and social goals [8]. In order to achieve digital sustainability, it must be recognised that digital ICT can have both potential solutions and its own direct and indirect negative effects on people and the environment [26].
Digital sustainability is related to terms such as Green IT and Green IS. According to Murugesan (2008), green IT refers to the ecologically sustainable use of ICT, e.g. in terms of electricity consumption [24]. According to vom Brocke et al. [29] refers to the use of ICT for the purpose of ecological optimisation, for example by improving the charging of electric vehicles through the use of induction charging panels and information systems [10].
The newer concept of digital sustainability makes it clear that sustainability encompasses not only ecological but also social aspects. This is particularly important in view of the fact that ecological sustainability can only be achieved by taking social aspects into account [20]. In addition, the term digital sustainability is intended to raise awareness of the topic beyond the IS specialist area.
History
As early as the 1990s, German researchers in business informatics were working on topics that can now be categorised as digital sustainability [23]. At that time, the focus was on how information systems could be designed to collect and analyse sustainability data efficiently, easily and securely [11]. The term “Business Environmental Information Systems” (BUIS) is translated into English as Environmental Management Information Systems and this line of research is now internationally relevant in the IS literature on digital sustainability [15].
For the establishment of digital sustainability in the international IS research community, the contributions of Melville (2010) [17] in the leading IS journal “MIS Quarterly” and by Dao et al. (2015) [5] in the “Journal of Strategic Information Systems” were of central importance. Since then, empirical studies on the topic have been conducted in various contexts such as companies [21], [25], [36], universities [6], [26], the public sector [3], in villages [34] and rural areas [28]. Overall, these studies are based on a techno-positive paradigm that presents ICT as a means to an end to achieve sustainability goals, for example in the context of an ICT-enabled circular economy [35].
Application and examples
To summarise, the empirical studies in the international IS literature show that the application of digital ICT for sustainability goals is based on four mechanisms.
- Automation refers to having processes partially or fully executed by digital ICT [7] for example, this opens up opportunities in the sharing economy, such as ICT-supported, efficient administration of the shared use of bicycles [1].
- Virtualisation is understood to mean shifting interactions and means of communication from analogue to digital space through the use of digital ICT [12] for example, individual transport can be reduced through mobile working [31].
- Seidel et al. (2013) use sensemaking to describe the phenomenon of people using digital ICT to draw specific conclusions from information, for example with regard to sustainability information that is made available to them via online forums and which they discuss [31], [32].
Nudging means “nudging” people with the help of digital ICT in order to force behaviour that is considered normatively desirable (Wunderlich et al. 2019), for example with regard to economical water consumption in private households [27].
Opportunities and risks
In the pursuit of digital sustainability, it is important to bear in mind that digital ICTs themselves can have both direct and indirect negative effects on people and the environment. Direct negative effects can include, for example, technostress [19] or the extraction of raw materials for the manufacture of devices such as laptops or smartphones [2]. Indirect negative impacts could be, for example, the marginalisation of people who cannot or do not want to use digital ICTs [4] or the inadequate repairability of some digital ICTs to date, which is fuelling a throwaway mentality in society [21].
Further links and literature
- AIS Sig Green (Special Interest Group) in Green IS: Green Information Systems – Sustainably Digital.
- Recker, J. This is Research. Podcast by Prof Dr Recker, one of the leading scientists in international IS research, especially on the topic of digital sustainability
- Watson, R./Boudreau, M. C. (2011). Energy informatics.
- vom Brocke, J. et al. (2013). Green business process management.
- Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut Economics. Kraemer, A./Edinger-Schons, L. M. (2019). CSR and social enterprise.
Sources
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