An Empirically Developed Model for IT-enabled Sustainability Transformation

This study explores how a world-wide operating IT software solution provider engaged in the implementation of sustainable business practices. We characterize the organization's experiences with their sustainability transformation in a theoretical framework describing the important factors and processes of change enablement. Our analysis and coding of case data produce an empirically developed framework that suggests four inter-related categories of change-individual behavioral change, management strategies and interventions, IT-usage, and process change-that, concurrently and over time, effectuate the organizational change towards a sustainable entity. The model specifically explores the transformation capabilities provided by information technology. Our research provides a set of contributions including a better understanding of IT-enabled organizational change, and a rich set of conjectures guiding future study in sustainability research.

Keywords: Sustainability, socio-technical theory, green information systems