A Review of Green IS Research and Directions for Future Studies <s> Outcomes <s> Abstract While it is true that successful implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a task of Herculean proportions, it is not impossible. If your organization is to reap the benefits of ERP, it must first develop a plan for success. But “prepare to see your organization reengineered, your staff disrupted, and your productivity drop before the payoff is realized.” Implementing ERP must be viewed and undertaken as a new business endeavor and a team mission, not just a software installation. Companies must involve all employees, and unconditionally and completely sell them on the concept of ERP for it to be a success. A successful implementation means involving, supervising, recognizing, and retaining those who have worked or will work closely with the system. Without a team attitude and total backing by everyone involved, an ERP implementation will end in less than an ideal situation. This was the situation for a soft drink bottler that tried to cut corners and did not recognize the... <s> BIB001 </s> A Review of Green IS Research and Directions for Future Studies <s> Outcomes <s> Green IS is one of the latest manifestations in the realm of sustainable business practices. The decisions surrounding Green IS implementation strategies, policies, and tools provide compelling challenges for organizations. As practitioners have been highly interested in this topic for a while (known as Green IT), there has also been a recent growing interest in Green IS within the IS academic community. In this chapter, we conduct a systematic and comprehensive review of both the practitioner and academic literatures surrounding Green IS. Specifically, our review includes articles published in the IS academic Senior Scholar’s Basket of Journals, hybrid journals such as Communications of the ACM, IEEE Software, and MIS Quarterly Executive, and practitioner outlets such as CIO magazine and PC World. Through this review, we identify the main streams of Green IS-related studies that have been undertaken within both practice and academia, and offer a holistic picture of the current state of research/interest in Green IS. We then identify the overlaps and differences between the two sides (that is, academia and practice) in an attempt to unearth noticeable similarities/gaps between both perspectives. Finally, we not only identify the trends in Green IS research, but also provide academic scholars interested in Green IS more focused directions on the specific research questions to address with respect to Green IS. <s> BIB002
Consistent with the concept of sustainability (Kleindorfer, Singhal, & Wassenhove, 2005; Porter & Kramer, 2006) , the literature has included three major categories of outcomes: environmental, economic, and social outcomes. Based on our review, the literature has incorporated a variety of methods such as case study, survey, experiment, simulation, and secondary data to deal with both the individual and organizational level. Twenty-three empirical studies in the outcomes category examined environmental outcomes; the majority of these studies found that green IS initiatives had a positive impact on the environment. Gimenez, Sierra, Rodriguez, and Rodon (2012) found that environmental practices implementation was positively related to firms' environmental performance. On the other hand, Haigh and Griffiths (2008) found that green IS initiatives could result in positive or negative environmental outcomes for service-oriented operations. Yim (2011) found that green IS initiatives such as providing information on energy consumption could have either a positive or no effect at the individual level (i.e., energy consumption). Overall, the literature investigated the outcome of green IS initiatives using three outlooks. The majority of environmental outcomes were positive, economic outcomes were positive or neutral, and social outcomes required further investigation. We also examined the philosophical perspectives (e.g., positivist, interpretive, or critical) and theories behind studies. As Appendix A shows, we found that 80 studies followed a positivist perspective and that 51 studies followed an interpretive perspective. We found that only two studies that used a critical perspective and that previous studies have used various theories such as institutional and resource-based views. Given that green IS (or IT) is a new phenomenon, some papers try to inform managers that these initiatives are not merely a liability but also that companies might benefit from adopting green IS. Overby (2007) reports that VistaPrint realized significant savings and cut carbon emissions using green IT initiatives. Overall, while practitioners have begun to pay attention to green IS, they have mainly focused on energy efficiency, such as designing energy-efficient hardware and reducing the energy consumption of data centers  . Our search revealed no papers on green IS. Given that this is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon, we suggest that practitioners may wish to pay more attention to other aspects of green IS so they may enjoy the benefits of green IS. The narrow focus on green IS initiatives could limit the potential of green IS and prevent companies from thinking about these initiatives from a strategic perspective. Because few studies have tried to derive strategies for managing green IS initiatives, the practical literature offers a good starting point. Murugesan (2008) suggests three approaches that organizations could take, including a tactical incremental approach, a strategic approach, and a deep green approach, and he provides examples of each approach. Future studies could build on Murugesan's paper to examine how strategies can apply to different green IS initiatives. After reviewing both types of literature, we did not find a large gap between them. Both communities devoted attention to the outcomes of green IS. In particular, practitioners wanted to know what this new kind of IT could bring to their businesses and how organizations could potentially benefit from different kinds of initiatives. The most common categorical area for both scholars and practitioners was the initiation and strategies of green IS. Given that such initiatives are relatively new, managers may need to justify why an organization should use them and how they should proceed to allow the maximum chance for success. Both communities are beginning to realize the potential of green IS initiatives beyond recycling and energy efficiency. The scholarly literature seems to be a step ahead of the practical literature in examining further aspects of green IS initiative beyond the technical. In the category of enterprise strategies and practices, papers on eco-efficiency (DeSimone & Popoff, 1997) moved into eco-effectiveness (McDonough & Braungart, 1998) and eco-collaboration BIB002 , showing once again that green IS initiatives may be more valuable and beneficial than green IT initiatives and deserve the attention of IS scholars. Although benefits are a main reason why organizations adopt green IS initiatives, they are not the only reason. Other factors such as government regulation and attitudes toward green IS initiatives may play important roles. While the lack of published work on the adoption framework of green IS may be understandable given that these initiatives are still fairly new and there may be little information and few cases available, whether organizations can harvest the benefits of green IS initiatives largely depends on the degree to which initiatives are successfully implemented. Based on the previous IS literature, we know that investing in IT may not necessarily lead to the realization of benefits and that organizations often fail to implement IT successfully BIB001 . Therefore, this topic may be at least as important as other topics, and more studies are needed in this area. On the organizational level, previous studies have examined the environmental and economic outcomes of green IS initiatives. Results of environmental and economic outcomes are mixed; few studies have examined social outcomes or outcomes at the individual level.