From Words to Results: The Role of IS in Bridging the Sustainability Strategy-Implementation Gap

Wagner, Franziska; Ixmeier, Anne und Kranz, Johann (2023): From Words to Results: The Role of IS in Bridging the Sustainability Strategy-Implementation Gap. Forty-fourth International Conference on Information Systems, Hyderabad, India, December 2023. In: Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies ICIS 2023, Vol. 18

Abstract

After many years of reluctance and lack of commitment, companies are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and setting ambitious goals. Along with the rise of organizational sustainability strategy (OSS), the role of information systems (IS) in sustainability has increased and become a source of sustainability at the organizational level. Although ever more companies consider sustainability a top priority, they struggle to turn sustainability strategies into practice and observe measurable results. We followed a mixed methods approach combining qualitative interview data (n=13) and quantitative data from a multi-continental industry survey (n=551) to generate an in-depth understanding of the role of IS-enabled sustainability practices in influencing the organizational sustainability strategy-implementation gap. With our study, we demonstrate that IS-enabled sustainability practices mediate the impact of OSS on organizational sustainability performance (OSP) and that these practices are enabled by IS capabilities that are critical to implementing sustainability practices (technology intelligence, data analysis, and digital twinning capability).

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
• Keywords: Information Systems ; Organizational Sustainability Strategy ; IS-enabled Sustainability Practices ; Sustainability-Strategy Implementation Gap ; IS Capabilities ; Green IS ; Environmental Sustainability
• Faculties: Munich School of Management > Professorship of Digital Services and Sustainability
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• Language: English