Information Systems in Environmental Sustainability: Of Cannibals and Forks

Dirk S. Hovorka (), Elaine Labajo () and Nancy Auerbach ()
Additional contact information
Dirk S. Hovorka: Bond University
Elaine Labajo: Bond University
Nancy Auerbach: Bond University

A chapter in Green Business Process Management, 2012, pp 59-72 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract That individuals, communities, and organizations need to change patterns of behavior and interactions to create a sustainable future for the biosphere has become a widely accepted concept in both organizational practice and sustainability research from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Information systems and the organizational, community and individual actions they support have the potential to alter the current trajectory of resource consumption, negative environmental impacts, and ecosystem degradation. Although the Information Systems discipline has begun to address the problem of environmental sustainability, current models adhere to a technologic-managerial mindset which supports the organizational status quo. By critiquing the assumptions of the established Triple Bottom Line framework, this research proposes that Information Systems research can be expanded in three directions: addressing collective rather than individual actions, creating, measuring and monitoring a broad range of environmental impact measures, and designing organizational learning systems that enable adaptive management practices in the face of unpredictable and nonlinear environmental changes. Recognition of these additional research avenues will emphasize the difficulty of the problem domain and support transformational research thinking.

Keywords: Ecosystem Service; Information System; Environmental Sustainability; Ecological Footprint; Triple Bottom Line (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-27488-6_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783642274886

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-27488-6_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().