International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) (2025) AI Processed Human Approved
Exploring Digital Sustainability:A Multidimensional Framework for IS Scholarship
This study conducts a systematic literature review of 40 scholarly articles to synthesize current knowledge on digital sustainability in Information Systems research. It conceptualizes how organizations utilize digital technologies to drive environmental performance and sustainability goals. The authors develop a multidimensional framework that structures antecedents, moderating mechanisms, and economic and environmental consequences.
Problem
Despite growing interest in leveraging digital technology to address climate challenges, digital sustainability research suffers from conceptual ambiguity. Existing literature across Green IT and Green IS lacks a unified theoretical foundation to explain how digital artifacts generate sustainable value. This lack of clarity hinders organizations from effectively implementing digital tools for environmental objectives.
Outcome
- Synthesized literature into a multidimensional framework detailing the antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of digital sustainability.
- Identified 14 sustainability-enabling logics showing how digital technology drives value creation, such as automatization, prediction, tokenization, and servitization.
- Categorized consequences into economic benefits, enhanced green employee/customer behavior, and improved environmental performance, alongside critical considerations like digital energy consumption.
- Proposed a research agenda around three main avenues: organizational transformation, product-level value creation mechanisms, and managing the duality/paradox of digital sustainability.
- Identified 14 sustainability-enabling logics showing how digital technology drives value creation, such as automatization, prediction, tokenization, and servitization.
- Categorized consequences into economic benefits, enhanced green employee/customer behavior, and improved environmental performance, alongside critical considerations like digital energy consumption.
- Proposed a research agenda around three main avenues: organizational transformation, product-level value creation mechanisms, and managing the duality/paradox of digital sustainability.
What it means for you
- CIO / IT Executive: On Monday morning, initiate a review of your organization's current digital infrastructure against the 'antecedents' dimension of the digital sustainability framework. Prioritize identifying at least one area where technology can be leveraged for 'automatization' to reduce physical resource consumption (e.g., paperless workflows, virtual meetings replacing travel).
- IT Manager: On Monday morning, identify one specific digital tool or process currently in use (e.g., cloud storage, software updates) and evaluate its potential 'digital energy consumption.' Research and propose to your team one tangible step to optimize its energy efficiency, such as scheduling software updates during off-peak hours or reviewing cloud storage policies for unused data.
- Business Strategist: On Monday morning, examine your current product or service offerings and identify an opportunity to apply one of the 'sustainability-enabling logics' presented in the research. For example, explore how 'servitization' (offering a service instead of a product) could reduce material waste and extend product lifespan.
- Researcher: On Monday morning, focus on the 'product-level value creation mechanisms' research agenda. Select one of the 14 identified logics (e.g., 'prediction') and brainstorm how it could be applied to develop a testable hypothesis related to reducing a specific environmental impact within an organizational context. Outline the initial steps for designing a pilot study.
- Policymaker: On Monday morning, review existing digital infrastructure policies and identify areas where incentives can be introduced or strengthened to encourage 'enhanced green employee/customer behavior' through digital means. For example, consider proposing a policy that rewards teams who demonstrably reduce their digital carbon footprint through technology adoption.
Transcript
Host: Welcome to A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. I'm your host, Anna Ivy Summers. Today, we're diving into a critical topic at the intersection of technology and business strategy: digital sustainability. We'll be discussing a landmark study titled "Exploring Digital Sustainability: A Multidimensional Framework for IS Scholarship." Joining me to unpack this research is our expert analyst, Alex Ian Sutherland. Welcome, Alex!
Expert: Thanks, Anna. It's great to be here. This study comes at a pivotal time when organizations everywhere are trying to figure out how digital technology can help them reach ambitious environmental goals.
Host: Exactly. Everywhere you look, executives are talking about using AI, IoT, and cloud computing to go green. But before we get into the solutions, what is the core problem this study addresses?
Expert: Well, despite all the excitement, digital sustainability has been a bit of a buzzword with a lot of conceptual ambiguity. In the Information Systems field, scholars have talked about "Green IT"—which focuses on making hardware and infrastructure energy-efficient—and "Green IS," which looks at systems that support green business processes. But "digital sustainability" is much broader. It's about using digital resources and artifacts to drive environmental, social, and economic welfare. Because the field lacked a unified framework, businesses didn't really have a clear blueprint for how digital tools actually translate into sustainable value.
Host: That makes a lot of sense. So how did the researchers set out to solve this clarity problem?
Expert: The authors conducted a systematic literature review analyzing 40 top-tier scholarly works across major Information Systems databases. Using structured, qualitative coding methods, they synthesized the existing research into a comprehensive, multidimensional framework that maps out antecedents, moderating mechanisms, and consequences.
Host: Let's walk through that framework. What drives a company to pursue digital sustainability in the first place?
Expert: The study categorizes these drivers, or antecedents, into three groups. First, external pressures like regulatory mandates for carbon reporting, market competition, and consumer demand. Second, internal organizational capabilities, such as firm size, digital maturity, and overall transformative capacity. And third, strategic leadership—having aligned digital strategies, green management orientation, and an engaged workforce.
Host: And once a company has those drivers in place, how does digital technology actually create green value?
Expert: This is really the heart of the study. The authors identified 14 "Sustainability Enabling Logics" that show how digital technology acts as a powerful moderator. These logics fall into two main themes: Efficiency and Optimization, and Engagement and Trust.
Host: Fourteen logics! Can you give us a few concrete examples of how those work in practice?
Expert: Absolutely. Take *Prediction*—using AI to forecast energy demand and generation patterns. Or *Servitization*, where digital platforms allow companies to transition from selling physical products to offering product-service systems, like car-sharing services, which drastically cuts down on resource consumption. Then there's *Verification* and *Tokenization*, using blockchain and smart contracts to track carbon offsets or verify sustainable agricultural supply chains. And *Visualization*, where satellite data and sensors track real-time ecological changes like deforestation or ocean health.
Host: That really highlights how diverse these technologies are. Now, when companies leverage these logics, what outcomes are they actually seeing?
Expert: The study splits consequences into economic and environmental benefits. On the economic side, companies develop new sustainable business models, gain competitive advantage, and optimize operational efficiency and revenue. On the environmental side, digital tools enhance employee and consumer green behaviors and directly boost organizational environmental performance through carbon mitigation.
Host: But I understand the study also warns about a catch—what the authors call a "duality" or paradox of digital sustainability?
Expert: Precisely. This is a crucial takeaway for business leaders. Digital technologies aren't inherently green. Training massive AI models, running data centers, and deploying millions of sensors require huge amounts of energy and lead to electronic waste. If you aren't careful, the environmental footprint of the technology itself can offset the sustainability gains it generates.
Host: That duality is a massive consideration for executives. So, Alex, what is the key practical takeaway for business leaders listening today?
Expert: The main lesson is that going green with tech requires intentional design. Leaders shouldn't just adopt "cool technology" and assume it helps the planet. They need to map out *which* specific sustainability-enabling logic—whether it's automatization, quantification, or servitization—will drive their target outcome, while simultaneously measuring and minimizing the carbon footprint of their digital infrastructure.
Host: Strategic clarity and measuring the net impact. Powerful takeaways from a really insightful study. Alex, thank you so much for breaking this down for us today.
Expert: My pleasure, Anna.
Host: And thank you to our listeners for tuning into A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. Join us next time as we continue to explore the ideas shaping the future of business and technology.
Expert: Thanks, Anna. It's great to be here. This study comes at a pivotal time when organizations everywhere are trying to figure out how digital technology can help them reach ambitious environmental goals.
Host: Exactly. Everywhere you look, executives are talking about using AI, IoT, and cloud computing to go green. But before we get into the solutions, what is the core problem this study addresses?
Expert: Well, despite all the excitement, digital sustainability has been a bit of a buzzword with a lot of conceptual ambiguity. In the Information Systems field, scholars have talked about "Green IT"—which focuses on making hardware and infrastructure energy-efficient—and "Green IS," which looks at systems that support green business processes. But "digital sustainability" is much broader. It's about using digital resources and artifacts to drive environmental, social, and economic welfare. Because the field lacked a unified framework, businesses didn't really have a clear blueprint for how digital tools actually translate into sustainable value.
Host: That makes a lot of sense. So how did the researchers set out to solve this clarity problem?
Expert: The authors conducted a systematic literature review analyzing 40 top-tier scholarly works across major Information Systems databases. Using structured, qualitative coding methods, they synthesized the existing research into a comprehensive, multidimensional framework that maps out antecedents, moderating mechanisms, and consequences.
Host: Let's walk through that framework. What drives a company to pursue digital sustainability in the first place?
Expert: The study categorizes these drivers, or antecedents, into three groups. First, external pressures like regulatory mandates for carbon reporting, market competition, and consumer demand. Second, internal organizational capabilities, such as firm size, digital maturity, and overall transformative capacity. And third, strategic leadership—having aligned digital strategies, green management orientation, and an engaged workforce.
Host: And once a company has those drivers in place, how does digital technology actually create green value?
Expert: This is really the heart of the study. The authors identified 14 "Sustainability Enabling Logics" that show how digital technology acts as a powerful moderator. These logics fall into two main themes: Efficiency and Optimization, and Engagement and Trust.
Host: Fourteen logics! Can you give us a few concrete examples of how those work in practice?
Expert: Absolutely. Take *Prediction*—using AI to forecast energy demand and generation patterns. Or *Servitization*, where digital platforms allow companies to transition from selling physical products to offering product-service systems, like car-sharing services, which drastically cuts down on resource consumption. Then there's *Verification* and *Tokenization*, using blockchain and smart contracts to track carbon offsets or verify sustainable agricultural supply chains. And *Visualization*, where satellite data and sensors track real-time ecological changes like deforestation or ocean health.
Host: That really highlights how diverse these technologies are. Now, when companies leverage these logics, what outcomes are they actually seeing?
Expert: The study splits consequences into economic and environmental benefits. On the economic side, companies develop new sustainable business models, gain competitive advantage, and optimize operational efficiency and revenue. On the environmental side, digital tools enhance employee and consumer green behaviors and directly boost organizational environmental performance through carbon mitigation.
Host: But I understand the study also warns about a catch—what the authors call a "duality" or paradox of digital sustainability?
Expert: Precisely. This is a crucial takeaway for business leaders. Digital technologies aren't inherently green. Training massive AI models, running data centers, and deploying millions of sensors require huge amounts of energy and lead to electronic waste. If you aren't careful, the environmental footprint of the technology itself can offset the sustainability gains it generates.
Host: That duality is a massive consideration for executives. So, Alex, what is the key practical takeaway for business leaders listening today?
Expert: The main lesson is that going green with tech requires intentional design. Leaders shouldn't just adopt "cool technology" and assume it helps the planet. They need to map out *which* specific sustainability-enabling logic—whether it's automatization, quantification, or servitization—will drive their target outcome, while simultaneously measuring and minimizing the carbon footprint of their digital infrastructure.
Host: Strategic clarity and measuring the net impact. Powerful takeaways from a really insightful study. Alex, thank you so much for breaking this down for us today.
Expert: My pleasure, Anna.
Host: And thank you to our listeners for tuning into A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. Join us next time as we continue to explore the ideas shaping the future of business and technology.