The Hierarchy of Green Information Systems Capability in Organizations to Enhance and Ensure Green Performance: An Operant Resources Perspective

Abstract

Green information systems (green IS) have evolved and expanded over the years, now having a broad scope in organizations. Green IS in these organizations function to help to address climate change challenges. The growing complexity of green IS in organizations needs a conceptual framework that can articulate its different impacts at various levels while taking into consideration a holistic and integrated perspective. This research focuses on how to enhance and ensure green IS-driven green performance in organizations from an operant resources hierarchy perspective. A conceptual model is proposed to examine the role of management support for green initiatives and the role of information assurance in addressing IS misuse and process automation in relationship to green IS capability and green performance. The current study tests the effects of management support as composite operant resources and information assurance as interconnected operant resources for green IS capability in enhancing and ensuring organizations’ green performance using a matched dataset of 73 organizations. We illustrate the application of the proposed conceptual model in two real-world scenarios. This study contributes theoretically by illustrating the application of the operant resources hierarchy perspective in green IS research and provides practical action suggestions for organizations adopting sustainable practices to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13.