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Speaker:

Jane Webster, Queen's School of Business, Canada

Title:

Getting to Green: Navigating the Road to Environmentally Sustainable Information Technologies and Systems

Location:

Owheo 106 - 1:00 pm, Friday 9nd August

Abstract:

Research suggests that there are many motivations for organizations to adopt Green information technologies and systems (Green IT/S); however, we still do not yet have a good understanding of how intentions become reality.
This study examines Green IT/S at the operational level seeking to explain how they are developed in organizations. Using four case studies of Green IT/S projects and an approach that combines variance and process perspectives, we discover that the environmental profiles of IT/S projects change over time and that the mechanisms by which they become green are complex and varied. At the macro-level, tensions between pressures for green and forces that serve to preserve traditional (non-green) institutionalized practices of IT/S projects create windows of opportunity for greening. At these windows of opportunity, project members engage in a range of microprocesses. When microprocesses associated with learning and building networks are used, greening episodes that elevate the environmental profile of the project are likely to result. However, when microprocesses emphasize fitting into current systems, windows of opportunity may pass by and traditional IT/S project practices maintained. These findings suggest ideas about how to accelerate the design, development, and implementation of Green IT/S in organizations.

This talk will provide an overview of our past and future research on Green IT/S, and then focus on a working paper concerning green IT/S projects.

Last modified: Tuesday, 06-Aug-2013 10:02:02 NZST

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