Preparing organizations for Green IT: From linear to circular thinking

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Preparing organizations for Green IT:

From linear to circular thinking

Willem-Jan la Roi (S2397145) Parkzijde 9, 9713WE Groningen

w.j.la.roi@student.rug.nl +31610630432

Master Thesis Change Management

Faculty of Economics and Business - University of Groningen Supervisor: dr. I. Maris-De Bresser

Co-assessor: dr. Q. (John) Dong January, 2019

Wordcount: 12615

ABSTRACT

In this study, the Green IT readiness model of Molla et al. (2009) is investigated through a qualitative analysis. The relevance of both sustainability issues and the growing importance of information technologies put the concept of Green IT into play. Despite our wide knowledge on about Green IT adoption, there is a lack of knowledge how organisations prepare for Green IT initiatives. Molla et al. (2009) have proposed Green IT readiness to be built up from five elements, namely Green IT attitude, policy, governance, technologies and practices. Through in-depth interviews with managers from three different organisations, it appears that Green IT readiness is usually not approached through expanding steps, but through acting ad hoc. This main finding is put into perspective by analysing a macro transition in business from linear to circular thinking which supports the need for a refinement of approaching Green IT readiness, that is to say: less static, more dynamic.

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– Sun Tzu (The Art of War, 2003) Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu’s work ‘The Art of War’ has proved to be speaking wisdom in several fields, not only in warfare, but also in advocacy, public administration, and business. Sun Tzu teaches us the great importance of being prepared, having foreknowledge to be able to anticipate on challenges to be faced. One major challenge for humanity nowadays, is sustainability. As a result of among others a rapid depletion of natural resources and concerns over wealth inequality (Dao et al., 2011), sustainability issues gain more and more relevance in global debate and research concerning business objectives as well. In this growing relevance of greening business, the role of Information Technology (IT) has come to the forefront, specifically in 2007 (Molla, 2008). This role of Green IT emerged to a topic of interest which was predicted to be number one priority for future research around sustainability at that time (Gartner, 2008). In the years following it appeared that research articles referring to Green IT increased sharply from 2008 on (Loeser, 2013). The concept of Green IT refers to measures and initiatives which decrease the negative environmental impact of

manufacturing, operations, and disposal of IT equipment and infrastructure (Loeser, 2013). Green IT practices are focused on three specific aspects; consideration of environmental criteria when purchasing IT equipment and services, energy-efficient IT operations in data centres and in office environments, and environmentally-friendly practices referring to the disposal of IT equipment (Loeser, 2013).

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avoided more than 50,000 tons of CO2 emissions (Chen et al., 2008). Besides the relation to the environment, Green IT has also yet been investigated as factor in relation to overall business efficiency which is positive (Campbell et al., 2018). However, while the potential benefits and opportunities of Green IT might both economically as environmentally be attractive, Green IT is not yet adopted in many companies (Campbell et al., 2018). In other words, it is not a matter of course that a company is busy with Green IT. Then, the research field of Green IT adoption emerges, which provides insights in the reasons of a company to (not) adopt Green IT.

Green IT adoption has been conceptualized by Molla (2008). The model states that a combination of contextual (technological, organizational and environmental) variables, Green IT drivers (economic, regulatory and ethical) and Green IT readiness can predict the intention to and actual Green IT adoption of a company. In the years after the study of Molla (2008), research has been done about contextual factors (for example Lei and Ngai, 2013) and Green IT drivers in relation to Green IT adoption (for example Zheng, 2014; Campbell et al., 2018). However, research about the concept of Green IT readiness is lagging behind. The concept of Green IT readiness was shaped by Molla et al. (2011) by creating a measurement tool to assess the readiness for Green IT of a company. This study (Molla et al., 2011) proposes that five elements represent the readiness of a company to adopt Green IT: attitude, policy, governance, practices and technologies.

Only three studies have picked up the Green IT readiness construct of Molla et al. (2011), all three to solely determine the Green IT readiness in particular developing countries (Bakar et al., 2011; Mariani & Imam, 2012; Wabwoba et al., 2013). Only the study of Wabwoba et al. (2013) provides a direct extension of the model by showing the importance of demographic characteristics. That is to say, it appears that characteristics of IT personnel as age, sector of work and academic level, largely explain why the average Green IT readiness in developed countries is higher than the Green IT readiness in developing countries. One more time the Green IT readiness measurement tool of Molla et al. (2011) has been named, by Murugesan and Gangadharan (2013), however without investigation. They refer to the model by mentioning that additional empirical validation of the proposed model by testing the relationship among the Green IT readiness elements and by exploring the relationship between the Green IT readiness factors would be an enrichment for research (Murugesan & Gangadharan, 2013).

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to the formulation of policies, governance models and adoption of technologies and practices. It has been found that Green IT adoption contains the least proportion of papers, against the categories Green IT benefits, Green IT design and implementation, and Green IT initiation (Esfahani et al., 2014). There is a specific need for an investigation of the influence of managers’ values, beliefs and norms in relation to the adoption of Green IT initiatives (Esfahani et al., 2014). This need might be explained by the fact that most research concerning Green IT focuses on the organizational level. However, as Liedtka (1991, p. 543) puts the need for a focus on the individual level into words; ‘’Organizations do not make

decisions – individuals do’’. Therefore, this study can be seen as an enrichment to the balancing of

organizational and individual level focus of existing Green IT research by investigating the individual manager’s role in making the organization Green IT ready for the adoption of Green IT. Some research has yet been done about attitude. From the studies of Sarkar and Young (2009) and Molla et al. (2014), we know how a managerial attitude is formed, and that this attitude leads to Green IT practices. However, contrasting the clarity about the formation of attitude, little is known about the steps after attitude, the ‘how’ on the relation between attitude and practice. In other words, the knowledge lacks how the attitude of a manager influences actual practices. This study addresses this gap by investigating this readiness construct as a road map from attitude to policy, governance, practice and technologies. This research also serves a practical purpose. This study can extend the value of the Green IT readiness measurement tool of Molla et al. (2011), which can be useful for managers to locate and manage their Green IT opportunities and develop strategies to improve these. Without knowledge about how an organization prepares for Green IT, a company will be unable to determine its current performance in relation to Green IT initiatives and this will subsequently hinder its ability to improve these opportunities. As green issues continue to impact strategy, business operations and IT itself (Gartner, 2008), lack of Green IT readiness might be translated to missed opportunities for competitiveness and success (Porter & Linde, 1995).

Arising from above reasoning, the research question for this study will be as follows: How are

the attitudes of managers aligned with the policy and governance of Green IT? And how do these attitude, policy and governance lead to the adoption of Green IT practices and technologies?

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Green IT has many meanings to different people. Lei and Ngai (2014, p. 243) pose Green IT as an

‘’umbrella term covering a range of initiatives’’. Examples of these initiatives are the Cloud Computing

initiative (Harman et al., 2010), the Paperless Policy (Hasan et al., 2009) and Extended Desktop and Laptop Lifecycle (Iacobelli et al., 2009). As mentioned in the introduction, Green IT has both positive and negative effects on the environment. In most Green IT adoption literature, two definitions are used. Elliot (2007, p. 107) captures the double-sidedness of IT in the following definition; ‘’the design,

production, operation, and disposal of IT and IT-enabled products and services in a manner that is not harmful and may be positively beneficial to the environment during the course of its whole-of-life’’. The

study of Molla et al. (2011, p. 73) defines Green IT as a ‘’systematic application of

ecological-sustainability criteria, such as pollution prevention, product stewardship, and use of clean technologies for the creation, sourcing, use and disposal of IT technical infrastructure.’’ From these definitions, two

typical points emerge. First, the double-sided effects of Green IT, and second, the lifecycle aspect of Green IT, that is to say, the focus on the whole process from creation to disposal, which are in both definitions present.

The transformation processes of a company to become greener are complex (Molla et al., 2011). This transformation contains both organizational as individual level factors (Hostager et al., 1998). Stakeholder pressures, economic opportunities and competition play for example important roles for an organization to become greener (Bansal & Roth, 2000). At the individual level, we know that intrinsic motivation in terms of values and concerns is a necessary condition for environmental innovation (Ramus & Steger, 2000). Furthermore, it is the organization that can accentuate the desire for environmental innovation by developing policies (Ramus & Steger, 2000), but this policy is made by individuals, mostly senior managers, with different personal values. So, both organizational and individual level factors provide insights in the Green IT adoption processes. Therefore, it is mentioned in the overview of existing literature about Green IT adoption whether that study is done from an organizational or individual perspective.

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organizational contextual factors. For example, Lei and Ngai (2013) have studied the influences of organizational, technological and external

environmental context on Green IT adoption.

Different from the GITAM model, these categories are mentioned as direct drivers of Green IT adoption. However, in their subcategories, the contextual factors of Lei and Ngai (2013) include what Molla (2008) identified as Green IT drivers. For example, ‘altruistic goals’ is mentioned to be a subcategory of organizational context (Lei and Ngai, 2013). This construct is explained as being a social responsibility, what is mentioned in the GITAM model as a Green IT Driver. With multiple subcategories per context (organization, technological and environmental), the study of Lei and Ngai (2013) provides a clear distinction of contextual factors. Contextual factors as strategic orientation, company size, coercive pressure from laws are examples of these. Consequently, it appears that this research of Green IT context is done from an organizational level.

Furthermore, Zheng (2014) proposes that there are three basic drivers for a company to engage in Green IT adoption; regulation, competitiveness and ecological responsibility. Regulation motives have to do with laws of a government and industry standards. Competitiveness can drive Green IT adoption through cost saving, improving business process efficiency. Ecological responsibility is the moral part of the motivations, of which Corporate Social Responsibility is an example of. In this, Zheng (2014) relates Green IT adoption to business strategy. An organisation with a proactive strategy of sustainable development is more likely to adopt green IT than an organisation with a reactive strategy of sustainable development. This study of Zheng (2014) has also been done from an organizational level.

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change which companies with clan or adhocracy cultures in general have more. This study is also done from an organizational perspective.

The specific construct Green IT readiness has only been investigated in three studies since Molla et al. (2011). These studies have researched the Green IT readiness of (developing) countries (Malaysia (Bakar et al., 2011), Indonesia (Mariani and Imam, 2012) and Kenya (Wabwoba et al., 2013)), instead of organisations. All these studies found that all elements (attitude, policy, governance, practice and technologies) of Green IT readiness appear to be more prevalent in developed countries (USA, Australia, New Zealand) than in developing countries. Besides, the study of Wabwoba et al. (2013) investigated demographic characteristics (gender, age, sector of work, occupation, academic qualifications and technical qualifications) as moderators. They found that differences in characteristics of IT personnel largely explain the difference between developing and developed countries in Green IT readiness scores of companies. So, the need for refinement of the GITAM model seems not to be answered in recent years concerning Green IT readiness. However, there are studies which provide information about managerial attitude, which is one of the five elements of the proposed Green IT readiness construct of Molla et al. (2011).

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(influences from society, natural environment and organizations) with micro-level constructs of individuals to understand the formation of beliefs and actions.

Summarizing, there is a lot of information available about contextual factors regarding intention to and actual Green IT adoption. Furthermore, from the studies of Sarkar and Young (2009) and Molla et al. (2014), we know how a managerial attitude is formed, and that this attitude leads to Green IT practices. However, contrasting the clarity about the formation of attitude, little is known about the ‘how’ on the relation between attitude and practice. There are propositions made by Molla et al. (2014) that through policies, governance, and adoption of technologies, attitude leads to practice, however this has not been investigated empirically. This study refines the measurement tool of Green IT readiness designed by Molla et al. (2011) by investigating this road map between attitude and practice analysing the five elements which build up the Green IT readiness. Besides this gap, previous research also shows different frameworks used when studying Green IT. The next section elaborates on the most used frameworks regarding Green IT adoption, to be able to put the of other studies, and this study, into perspective.

Common frameworks regarding Green IT. Pro-environmental behaviour is best viewed as a mixture of self-interest and of concern for other people, the next generation, other species or whole eco-systems (Bamberg & Möser, 2007). An analysis of previous Green IT related studies show that in general, two types of models are used in conceptualizing an individual’s pro-environmental behaviour reflecting this mixture; rational economic models and the norm activation model. The rational economic model proposes that people are self-interested and aiming for a maximum of own benefit (Bamberg & Möser, 2007). Therefore, they argue that an individual’s pro-environmental behaviours are driven by the person’s desire to gain personal benefits through pro-environmental behaviours. Rational economic models are widely used in predicting the decision on (among others) general pro-environmental behaviours (Harland et al., 1999), such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).

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to positive behavioural intentions concerning general IT tasks. Mishra et al. (2014) found that positive intentions towards Green IT influences the actual behaviours of individuals. From the perspective of TPB, attitude is equated with the attitudinal belief that doing a behaviour results in a particular outcome, weighted by an evaluation of the desirability of that outcome.

The Norm Activation Model (NAM), on the other hand, assumes that people's pro-environmental or pro-social behaviour are driven by their personal norm, rather than the evaluation cost and benefit or personal affect (Lei & Ngai, 2014). Personal norm is a set of self-set moral standard on what ought to be done or not (Perugini et al., 2003). The model poses that these personal norms are a result of the awareness that the certain behaviour has particular consequences, and the feeling of responsibility for performing the specific behaviour (Schwartz, 1977). In this study, personal norm refers to an organizational decision maker’s self-set standard on the relationship between business and natural environment; what a company should or should not do to the natural environment. Regardless of the perceived importance, senior executives should have a set of personal norm on what a business ought to do to protect the environment (Klassen, 2001).

Some studies have integrated the NAM with the TPB (for example Manstead, 2000; Bamberg & Möser, 2007). Combining these models is in essence in line with the statement that pro-environmental behaviour is a mixture of self-interest and concern for others. The integrative model includes personal norm as additional independent predictor of intention to and actual behaviour (Bamberg & Möser, 2007). Personal norm on environmental preservation will drive the decision maker’s intention to adopt Green IT because a decision maker can use Green IT adoption to protect the environment and achieve environmental sustainability (Onwezen et al., 2013). However, personal norm might not be relevant in the organizational adoption of other kinds of IT, as the adoption of other kinds of IT does not involve value judgment which is in this case in judgment on environmental preservation. Summarizing, the NAM and the TPB provide useful frameworks for conceptualizing behaviour of the individual, which might prove relevance when analysing the components of the Green IT readiness. Therefore, both of these models are used when analysing the individual level data about attitude, policy, governance, practice and technologies. But before elaborating on these five components, the concept of readiness is elaborated.

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the ‘Network Readiness’ of countries since 2001 (Dutta & Mia, 2007). Two dimensions of the readiness construct can be identified in the literature:

- as a precursor condition (or set of conditions) for the implementation of initiative such as a change, IS or innovation (e.g. Weiner, 2009)

- as an indicator of the agility of a business and a capability that needs constant building, re-building and upgrading (e.g. Dutta & Mia 2007)

In Molla’s study (Molla et al., 2011), readiness is studied from an organizational level and therefore seen as a capability of an organization instead of a condition. The Resource Based View is used to support this view, by conceptualizing Green IT readiness as a resource which can lead to competitive advantage (Barney, 1986). The five elements of Green IT readiness are then seen as input capability (attitude), transformational capability (policy and governance) and output capability (practices and technologies). However, Molla et al. (2011) are not clear about the link to adoption. In the GITAM model (Molla, 2008) (Figure 1), Green IT readiness is conceptualised as antecedent before Green IT is being adopted. But in the study about Green IT readiness (Molla et al., 2011), Green IT readiness appears to be comprised of the five named elements, of which two (practices and technologies) already require the adoption of Green IT. Molla et al. (2011) are not clear about what readiness is required for the adoption of practices and technologies as named to be elements preceding Green IT adoption. Theoretically, it could be argued that adoption of Green IT practices and technologies is part of the readiness of a company. But readiness needs then to be seen as capability, for adoption of Green IT just increases the already present readiness of an organization to further adopt Green IT. Therefore, the elements practices and technologies can technically be part of readiness as they are in the study of Molla et al. (2011), in spite of that this is not mentioned by Molla et al. (2011) themselves.

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From attitude to policy. An attitude represents a permanent feeling about an object or issue (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). Attitudes are concerned as learned habits and the result of personal experiences. Attitude is also referred to as the assessment of an individual of a certain behaviour as being harmful or beneficial (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). This description of attitude seems to be related to the theory of planned behaviour as posing attitude besides a subjective norm leading to intentional behaviours (Kranz & Picot, 2011). Empirical research has shown that managers with a more positive attitude towards Green IT are more likely to adopt Green IT (Gholami et al., 2013). This study analyses from the Belief-Action-Outcome framework. The attitude (Belief) leads to Green IT adoption (showing results on all three pillars pollution prevention, product stewardship, sustainable development) (action) leads to environmental performance (outcome). The line of reasoning was that senior managers play a decisive role in conveying the strategic importance of Green IT throughout the organization in making resource allocations. A positive attitude is then necessary for successful Green IT adoption. Furthermore, the relation between attitude and personal norms and values in the integrated NAM-TPB model is worth mentioning. Zhang & Maruping (2008) investigated the influence of espoused cultural values such as individualism and collectivism on IT adoption patterns. Similarly, Lee and Kozar (2008) examined moral and ethical values in their study to investigate the factors influencing anti-spyware software adoption. Both studies found IT adoption decisions to be influenced by people’s values. So, there is a significant influence of the personal attitude influenced by personal norms and values. However, in the empirical study of Sacchero & Molla (2009) it is found that the expected economic rent from Green IT initiatives is more dominant than doing the right thing to clean up ITs footprint. In other words, it is not clear to what extent personal norms are playing a role in decision making and thus, in setting up a policy. Green IT policy relates to the companies’ vision and strategy regarding the application of environmental criteria in its IT-activities. Such a policy states the degree to which Green initiatives are encapsulated in organizational procedures guiding the sourcing, use, and disposal of IT infrastructure (Molla, 2011). For it is managers with the responsibility over making up a policy, it is expected that a particular person’s attitude will lead to a particular policy. Therefore, the first proposition is:

A positive attitude towards sustainability leads to a mature Green IT policy.

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manager (Molla et al., 2011). The different company characteristics are mentioned to mainly influence the level of centralization of Green IT decision-making, leading to three archetypes; centralized, federal or decentralized governance (Schmidt & Kolbe, 2011). An environmental policy is found to be an important precursor to among others employee engagement in environmental activities (Ramus & Steger, 2000). However, it is also found that with a stated commitment to a policy of sustainable development, even in environmentally proactive companies, management of eco-innovation receives less focus and commitment (Ramus & Steger, 2000). An investigation of the relation between Green IT policy and Green IT governance would provide a lot of meaningful insights. Therefore, the second proposition is:

A well elaborated and clear Green IT policy leads to strong Green IT governance

From governance to practices and technologies. Green IT practice refers to the concrete operation of the IT greening considerations (Molla et al., 2011). Green IT technologies include Information Systems such as SAP or ERP. These software programs have shown to develop more into sustainable targets. A clear example of this is the Recycling Administration Application function of SAP which can support a company to a more efficient way of reducing risk of environmental reporting (Molla et al., 2011). Existing literature does not provide studies investigating the Green IT governance – Green IT practices and technologies relationship. What we know from traditional IT literature is that effective IT governance is supposed to be the most important predictor of the value an organization generates from IT (Weill & Ross, 2004). Differences between Green IT and other IT are elaborated, however, also similarities exist and therefore this finding of Weill and Ross (2004) might support the expectation of Green IT governance to precede Green IT practice and technologies. Therefore, the third proposition is:

Strong Green IT governance leads to success in Green IT practice and technologies.

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Figure 2: Conceptual model

METHODOLOGY

Research design. As already has been mentioned, this research is qualitative, that is to say a multiple case study. This serves the research purpose, for typical of a case study is the investigation of a phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context (Yin, 2009). Qualitative research leads to rich and explanatory data, which is in general a suitable means for answering the proposed question of ‘how’ (Maxwell, 2008). Through in-depth interviews, managers can shed light on how their organization prepare for Green IT through their own words, in contrast to surveys. Besides the fact that the proposed how-question requires asking further, the qualitative design also suits the nature of Green IT well. Sustainability topics are nowadays trending, but there are that many buzzwords which all have to do with sustainability and/or IT that there is not a direct understanding of a term like Green IT. This appeared to be reality in the interviews, that some respondents were known with the term Green IT, but others were not, while they both talked about the same Green IT initiative. In other words, the extent of buzzwords and the resulting confusion about terminology concerning this topic requires digging deeper. Furthermore, the focus of this study to investigate at the individual level makes it logical to do a qualitative study, for the strengths of qualitative research are more used when individuals are studied (Maxwell, 2008). The interviews were semi-structured, meaning that an interview guideline had been made before conducting the interviews (see appendix 1). Following Patton’s (1987) iterative approach, the questions and structure of the interview was refined during the data collection.

The selection of companies happened as follows. At first, the aim was to research one single company, whereby the research would be a single case study. The idea was to conduct interviews with

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around 15 participants at this company. At first, the personal network was used to contact companies. Second, the researcher contacted companies known for having clear Green IT purposes. Examples of these companies were KPN, Deloitte and De Gasunie. However, as it turned out, the researcher was not successful in finding a company willing to provide time and energy for the research. As this first attempt failed, the trajectory was redirected. The format was changed into a multiple case study, whereby the aim was to conduct around five interviews at multiple companies, for this would increase the chance for companies to be willing to accept the invitation to do the research at. This appeared to lower the barrier for companies to do the research and this led to an acceptation from Dynniq, Agrifac and SURFsara. Dynniq is a company offering mobility and energy solutions and services in logistics. For instance, trucks can get priority at crossroads through smart mobility techniques in traffic lights, which lead to overall less fuel consumption. Agrifac is manufacturer of agricultural machines, specialized in the production of agricultural sprayers, whether or not self-propelled, and beet harvesters. The sprayers on the beet harvesters, for example, include innovative techniques aimed at reducing the resource consumption by recognizing how much resource a plant precisely requires without overconsumption. SURFsara is a company offering the two largest supercomputers in The Netherlands, serving research and education instances. These computers placed in the Amsterdam Data Tower are increasingly using less energy through innovative techniques. All three companies were busy with adopting different Green IT initiatives, whether or not under that term. At the end, the sample of participants was thirteen. Six respondents were in a top management function, the other seven one line lower, functioning as for example Director Operations or Director ICT.

Data collection. The interviews have taken place at the base locations of the companies, except for two interviews. One respondent of Agrifac was ill when the interviewer was in their base location in Steenwijk and one respondent of SURFsara was ill when the interviewer was in Amsterdam at their base location. These interviews have been conducted a few days later than scheduled by a Skype meeting. The interviews were conducted in Dutch, to allow greater accuracy; both the interviewer as the respondents were native Dutch speakers. The duration of the interviews was generally 1 hour (min = 40 minutes, max = 75 minutes). At the start of the interviews, the voluntary nature of participation was emphasized. Furthermore, it was guaranteed that the data is confidential by anonymizing the participants. Then, the purpose of the research was told besides what was expected of the participant, including the amount of time likely to be required. The interviews proceeded with introductory questions; about their personal core business and current topics in their jobs in general. Then, the interview proceeded with pre-formulated questions as: ‘’What are your thoughts about climate

change?’’ and ‘’How is the Green IT initiative we talked about being measured?’’ Afterwards, clarifying

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readiness in this way. Asking the additional general question whether they thought their organization would be ready for Green IT also emerged to lead to interesting insights. Therefore, this question was more placed central in each interview.

Regarding reliability, independent characteristics should be used to increase replicability for other studies (Yin, 2016). In other words, potential biases must be managed. In this study, reliability is ensured through interview recordings and the fact that all interviews have been conducted by the same researcher. Since valuable aspects arose during the interviews, minor parts of the outline were added and removed so that the interview guideline evolved and refined over time. Recordings made it possible to re-hear interviews in order to guarantee the complete picture of the interviews, and to transcribe them for analysis. Internal validity is met when the chance of alternative explanations of the used terms is low (Van Aken et al., 2012). To accomplish that, feedback about the questions has been given by another researcher. Furthermore, two pilots have been conducted in order to see how suitable the questions of the interview guideline were. The three companies are from different business fields, therefore the study has some external validity.

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17 Axial code Open code Description of

code Explanation when code is used Example of quote Green IT attitude (deductive) Sentiment, values and norms towards climate change and eco-sustainability and IT’s role (Molla et al., 2009) When a manager expresses considerations and experiences regarding climate issues

‘’I come from the oil and gas industry. I left this industry deliberately because… On ethical grounds I did not want to work there anymore’’ Expression of Green attitude Actions the respondent undertakes in personal life in order to contribute to energy efficiency When actions are mentioned by the respondent, such as investing in solar panels and LED lights

‘’Our house, car… everything with a sustainable

alternative… solar panels, LED lighting. Underfloor heating instead of radiators. Everything what we could do has been done, and soon we will drive electric’’

Future concerns about climate

Outspoken concerns about the state of the earth in the future When a manager expresses concerns about the future for their children

‘’Look, I got two kids myself. I do not only think about my own generation so to speak… I think that makes the difference.’’ Awareness of climate issues The ability to directly know, perceive and be cognizant of climate issues When ‘awareness’ is mentioned as being a critical factor in forming someone’s own attitude

‘’But the mental awareness… taking steps, I think that that is the most important. Then you got… whether it is sense of urgency or intrinsically driven… Then a movement emerges and that is very important.’’

Table 1: Example codes of interview data

FINDINGS

First, the empirical evidence for the model of Molla et al. (2011) is presented, the five elements in sequence. Furthermore, additional findings on the basis of the inductive codes are elaborated.

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among all managers: all the interviews showed data where the manager mentioned that there is not much time to lose regarding global warming. Besides awareness, there were also concerns about the state of the climate. Six respondents referred to their desire for a viable world for their children when they talked about concerns. For example, one respondent mentioned; ‘’Look, I got two kids myself. I do

not only think about my own generation so to speak… I think that makes the difference.’’ Regarding

actions, twelve respondents mentioned that they were for example investing in solar panels, LED lighting, and electric car driving. So a green attitude seems to be apparent. However, there was no consistency in the data about the perceived importance of a green attitude. On the one hand, five managers mentioned the importance of creating awareness among others regarding Green IT readiness. This was reflected in the following quote: ‘’But the mental awareness… taking steps, I think that that is

the most important. Then you got… whether it is sense of urgency or intrinsically driven… Then a movement emerges and that is very important.’’ On the other hand, it also emerged from interviews of

seven respondents that a green attitude was not seen as necessary in preparing the organization for effective adoption of Green IT initiatives. These managers indicated that their considerations and actions were in the end just rational, and driven by a personal experience. This need for self-experience is reflected in the following quote; ‘'But to turn that into your own actions by doing things differently in

your own life or eh whatever that is often more difficult because it is still relatively far away from you. Because if tomorrow the dyke .. I live in Zwolle myself, if tomorrow the dyke in Zwolle breaks through I am very different when Maastricht is overflowing tomorrow.’’ Furthermore, their awareness of climate

issues was mentioned to be only implemented in further steps if it was also economically responsible, and if the concerning Green IT initiative included fancy tools, which were seen as just cool. For instance, a manager put this into words in the following quote: ‘’In my opinion, the keyword is efficiency.

Sustainability is automatically improved when efficiency is increased.’’

Green IT policy. A predetermined written Green IT policy is mostly mentioned to not be present. Most respondents explained how the certain strategy or general vision at their company was mostly the starting point for Green IT initiatives to function as fertile ground. There were only two specific Green policies mentioned (a CO2 performance scale at Dynniq and a policy on e-waste at SURF), but all other Green IT initiatives appeared to emerge from unforeseen factors, external and internal, instead of a predetermined written policy. Two ways of external influence were mentioned: forced, which arose from the government (through laws and regulations) and unforced, which arose from suppliers and/or clients. The influence of the government was mentioned in the following way: ‘’So it is a combination of

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of Green IT initiatives was also unforced, which was exemplified in the following case: ‘’We are

continuously gathering new initiatives, which just can come from everybody; from employees, but also clients or suppliers. We set up a list of those initiatives, and every once in a while we take a look at that list by which we decide which of the ideas we are going to work out.’’ All three companies appeared to

have this experience of shifts in external factors which led to Green IT initiatives.

Emergent internal influence on the creation of Green IT initiatives was also twofold. As the last quote already showed, there is room for employees to contribute their ideas about Green IT. How this was structured, is shown in the following quote: ‘’We organize colloquium sessions. Usually during the

lunch. Then we have speakers, and the main result is then a poster with ideas. A large poster, with ideas about Green IT for the coming two years. That is then sufficient material to work with for a year.’’ Besides

the opportunity of employees to contribute their insights, the role of the R&D department was also mentioned to be important. ‘’That initiative is then discussed with the R&D directors. They come up with

the innovations they are developing, and if that suits our idea about what to change with the initiative, then we are going to do it.’’

Together, this represents a way of working which was prevalent among all three companies. It is typical that actually none of the respondents could answer the questions about Green IT policy, because it was just not there. The respondents could elaborate on about how a Green IT initiative was initiated, ad hoc organized and implemented. The step of setting up a written policy, however, seems to not be present. The following quote illustrates this perspective of a more ad hoc policy regarding Green IT initiatives: ‘’So in this way, we organise stepwise something what we in terms of policy only

highlight as; this is important, we want to see effect in this. But how that is organized is usually very pragmatic, very case driven.’’

Green IT Governance. Green IT governance appears to be a prominent element in the Green IT initiatives at the companies. Monitoring is mentioned to be of large importance, for external and internal reasons. In terms of external reasons, stakeholders are more and more giving value to green products. As a result, this increases the relevance for companies to be able to show what they do, and how they measure that. This rationale of the increasing perceived value of green facts was mentioned nine times (at all three companies), exemplified in the following quote: ‘’The thing what matters us, is that it is becoming

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The internal reason for monitoring arises from the economical aspect of Green IT initiatives.

Most initiatives require an investment and seven respondents indicated that such an investment only gets top management support when calculations can be executed about, for example, how much energy can be saved through the initiative, and how expensive it is. Being able to do those calculations has been named by respondents of all three companies to be a decisive factor in decision-making around new Green IT initiatives. For example: ‘’The decision whether or not to invest in the Green IT initiative is in the

end a mix of thoughts, whereby the top management needs to be able to eliminate the risk of losing a profit. That risk can only be eliminated by accurate estimates, and preconceived ways to measure the progress.’’

This leads to answering the first research question which was; How are the attitudes of

managers aligned with the policy and governance of Green IT? It seems that the key words in the

alignment between attitude, policy and governance are rationality and emergency. If a certain Green IT initiative is placed at top of the list of options after a consideration of economical calculations, comfort-related arguments, ecological thoughts and the preference for new fancy stuff, then it is been taken care of. Thus, the attitude where the road map starts includes in particular a rational consideration of which the Green IT attitude is part of. This rational approach also emerges in the policy phase, for in all three organizations the importance of dependency of clients’ requirements, government regulations, et cetera was named. Therefore, there was often not a pre-determined written policy, but a more ad hoc policy which is responsive in nature. The governance part also especially shows the rational component for all companies accentuated the decisive importance of facts whereby monitoring and measuring the Green IT initiative was present and important. Summarizing, rationality is what connects attitude, policy and governance.

Green IT Practice and Technologies. The data does not provide a lot of elaboration on Green IT technologies, however practices are represented in the data. Regarding technologies, an interesting insight is the fact that one respondent mentioned optimizing the basic IT infrastructure as very first step in preparing the company for Green IT initiatives: ‘’Infrastructure, the fundament. Very important. If the

fundamentals are right, you can build. And that is something on behalf of what I say; 100 % because of that we are ready.’’ This respondent motivated this point by explaining that focusing on both improving

the infrastructure and pursuing Green IT initiatives at the same time would not work. However, none of the respondents told about for example adjustments in the organization’s software program supporting the Green IT initiatives. Practices, on the other hand, have been mentioned by eleven respondents. Examples of practices were put into words by the following quotes: ‘’In my opinion, and actually we can

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drawing room which show the instructions.’’ However, together with the high prevalence of

respondents referring to practices, resistance to Green IT initiatives was also highly represented in the data. Eight respondents mentioned that there were possibilities to increase the organizations’ readiness for Green IT through managing resistance of employees. As was exemplified: ‘’There exists a healthy

amount of opposition. A certain restraint in accepting new technological advancements. Due to repeated attempts of introducing new systems, people have become lethargic towards innovation in this field. Hence, wide-spread scepticism persists.’’ and ‘’There are always 90 who are willing to and 10 who don’t want to. They dug in their heels. They refuse to work with the Cloud, are still using that much paper.’’

Additional findings. In the data-analysis, two inductive axial codes emerged concerning the readiness of the companies to adopt Green IT initiatives. At first, a few managers mentioned knowledge and skills to be an important factor in preparing the organization for a Green IT initiative. The variable ‘knowledge and skills’ was explicitly mentioned by four respondents as the main reason why they thought their organization would be ready for adopting Green IT initiatives. For instance: ‘’I think that we have got the

knowledge and skills to scale further up. So, especially regarding growing in Green IT we are ready for it because of that.’’ In addition, a respondent mentioned the importance of intellect regarding the delay

of adoption of initiatives: ‘’There is a certain level here at the production line, which is quite low. These

people are yet working for 23 years in a particular way; every change is then tough. That is difficult to handle, we have to take that into account.’’ In line with this, respondents from two of the three

companies explained how this intellectual factor already affected the focus of the organisation on among others selecting new personnel: ‘’That has been a conscious choice around 3 years ago to invest

in personnel from a high level, to hire them,’’ and ‘’If one would analyse the educational level at the technology department of the last five years, one would see a real turning point from low to high educational level.’’ Good thinking, intellect, common sense were other examples of wordings managers

mentioned to be important regarding the organizations’ Green IT readiness. Lastly, the process of knowledge sharing was indicated by three respondents to be supportive to the level of intellect among the employees in order to improve the organizations’ readiness. Together this puts the inductive code Knowledge and skills forward. This code does not stand on its own, for it can be related to the already elaborated first code ‘rational consideration’ which indicated the mostly rational attitude of the interviewed managers. The model of Molla et al. (2011), however, does not represent the influence of knowledge and skills.

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a Green IT attitude (different attitudes can lead to the same green practices), it is thus also accentuated that there is at least one whistle-blower needed who initiates Green IT initiatives. One manager put that into words in the following way: ‘’You need someone to be the figurehead. Not a top manager, but

someone who continuously is like a spider in the centre of the web in such an internal organisation, who formulates a policy whereby the board can agree and just add their seal to what such an individual organizes.’’ Second, seven managers specifically mentioned that Green IT initiatives at their organization

usually worked in the way of a snowball effect. One manager explained this based on a video about how a movement needs to be guided. At a festival, one man is dancing in an uncommon way. All other visitors are looking weird at this man. But then a second and third one are joining the until then loony initiator. Gradually people are joining, and, in the end, the whole field is dancing in this way. This manager explained how preparing the organization for Green IT initiatives is working in the same manner; that the initiatives of a change champion needs to be met with receptiveness of a few followers in order to get the whole organization in motion. ‘’There is always the first one who wants everything to be green…

he is then seen as the nutcase. Then, the number two and three, these are creating the movement. Those are very important.’’ Lastly, managerial focus needs to be put on networking. One manager for example

explained that a Green IT initiative in most cases did not have only to do with the internal organization, but with other organizations as well. As he further clarified: ‘’You need to join quite a lot of partnerships

to develop it together. Because… like that flow optimisation; that is not a solo sport. There is also a manufacturer of trucks who needs to adjust his software on our program.’’ In other words, preparing

the organization for Green IT readiness also includes networking skills.

The second research question was: How do attitude, policy and governance lead to the adoption

of Green IT practices and technologies? Mainly the additional findings provide an answer to this

question, which can be summarized into the main result which is that the road map from awareness about sustainability issues walks a dynamic path with managerial requirements to adoption of practices and technologies. This appeared also in the data, for one respondent specifically experienced; ‘’So, we

try to control the complexity and dynamics and all transitions, such as Green IT that we are facing, with a system that is 150 years old. And we are then unable to let that go. Complex organisms in biology do not work that way. These are all entities that look up each other organically and make connections.’’

What this respondent reflects, is the possible need for Green IT readiness to not be analysed from a linear model, but from a more dynamic point of view. This fits the specificity of Green IT that communication is key. That is also reflected in the following quote of one of the respondents; ‘’But the

thing is, in IT, everything interacts with everything and everyone.’’ IT (also Green IT) leads to the tendency

of companies to narrow gaps between each other, what is also exemplified by the quote: ‘’What you

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you also get a need for collective collectivity. You do not have to sit in each other's waters, so you can be competitors. But you think it's important that we get a kind of standard platform where the production can work.'’ The Green IT readiness measurement thus needs a modern paradigm analysis which

indicates a prominent role for factors as leading and building networks, focusing on knowledge sharing, and focusing on how a movement can be managed.

Furthermore, the data provided also some insights in the question whether readiness should be seen as capability or condition. It was never literally mentioned, but from the following quotes it was implied that readiness was interpreted as being a process, which points to the idea of a capability in which an organization can grow. This was illustrated in the following quotes: ‘’A number of such

initiatives which actually save energy, have been implemented. So I do not know what ‘being ready’ precisely means, but we could do much more than that, so in that sense we are not ready. But at least we have a process of continuously looking for improvement, measuring that and report it,’’ and ‘’So yes we are ready for it like… we address them with a serious focus, but we are not ready with the meaning of we don’t have to do anything anymore,’’ and ‘’This Green IT is just a challenge we have got, but which is present in the whole business. You are never done with seeking a new way of working. Designing organisations or networks or organisms goes on and on.’’ However, the idea of readiness as a condition

finds also support in the data, in the following quotes: ‘’Infrastructure, the fundament. Very important.

If the fundamentals are right, you can build. And that is something on behalf of what I say; 100 % because of that we are ready,’’ and ‘’I think we are ready for Green IT. Also the process that we want to grow towards software IT components and pre-sorting them is getting better and better. I think that is a result of our readiness.’’ These respondents indicated readiness as precursor condition before the

organization could implement Green IT initiatives.

DISCUSSION

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the organization is ready for Green IT adoption, in contrast to attitude, policy and governance which all were at least one time mentioned. Regarding this Green IT readiness-question, knowledge and skills were prevalent in the answers. Furthermore, the need for a focus on the management of a dynamic movement emerged with the codes change champion, snowball effect and networking. One main theme emerges from findings. The Green IT readiness model of Molla et al. (2011) is static, focused on placing Green IT readiness into fixed elements. The findings of this study, however, show more dynamic processes managers work with to prepare their organization for Green IT. First, it is elaborated how the data can be placed in the theoretical models (TBP and NAM) which were elaborated in the literature review. Second, these findings are analysed from a macro perspective, relating the difference between the static focus of the model of Molla et al. (2011) and the ‘dynamic’ focus in the findings to the transition in general business theories from linear to complexity theories.

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At the same time, the prevalence of respondents who took actions in their personal life in order to contribute to sustainability was quite high (twelve out of thirteen). These actions were not solely a result of a cost-benefit analysis, for the prevalence of future concerns about climate issues and awareness about sustainability issues were also prevalent. Therefore, that the NAM or TPB alone would not be sufficient to explain the findings, but that the integrated model allow room for on the one hand the influence of the individual norms and values, but on the other hand the decisive cost-benefit analysis which is the actual antecedent for people to start with rolling out the Green IT initiative. Analysing these behaviours from a higher perspective, leads to another interesting point of discussion. As mentioned before, Green IT readiness might require a different macro lens through which it can be conceptualized than it has been conceptualized by Molla et al. (2011). To explain this, it is essential to shortly elaborate on the general transition in business management which has taken place in the 20th_century.

The origins of organizational theories emerged with a few key players, of which Taylor is the best known. His Scientific Management principle promotes the ability to analyse and investigate how an organization can be organized, built on hierarchy (Burnes, 2017). Management theories like these were born in the beginning of the 20th_{century. Then, over the 20}th_{century, management theories}

evolved in line with the significant progress in civilization of human being. The classical management approach of among others Taylor, accentuating the linear organization based on analysis and quantification, shifted to complexity theories. The complexity theory as elaborated in Burnes (2017) poses that successful organizations need to operate at the ‘edge of chaos’ and can maintain this position only by the presence of appropriate order-generating rules (Burnes, 2017). This is about non-linear system-thinking. In other words, theories have evolved, rejecting the linear and bureaucratic accent. However, nowadays, most organizations are still bureaucratic systems (‘t Hart & Van Twist, 2011; Vroom, 1977). The findings indicate that the hampering effect of the bureaucracy of the organizations was also recognized by respondents of this study. Besides the hampering effect of the bureaucracy, it emerged from the data that the nature of Green IT requires a certain level of nonlinearity. Constantly changing and unpredictable situations in communication with other entities are in the nature of what Green IT is. So in order to conceptualize the Green IT readiness measurement, it is inevitable to ignore the transition in doing business in general. Therefore, it could be that the readiness of a company to adopt Green IT initiatives is less a plan-do-check-act tool, but more needs to be seen as managing a movement. This green movement is then built up from the presence of a change champion (who places a spot on the horizon and conducts an ad hoc policy), the need to help the snowball rolling (the importance of a participating 2nd_{and 3}rd_{), the focus on the ability to connect and sustain networks of}

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conceptualizing Green IT readiness, which emerged from the findings, finds its support in both the need for evolving along with modern business theories as well as the suitable nature of Green IT.

As mentioned in the literature review and findings, there is a problematic point regarding the conceptualization of the term ‘readiness’. The confusion is caused by the fact that the literature does not provide clarity about the question how to see Green IT readiness (the study of Molla et al. (2011) is an example where it is not clear what the role of adoption is within the concept of readiness), and furthermore, an individual perspective is taken in this study while previous studies had taken an organizational level perspective. The findings provide some insights about this question, in spite of the difficulty to interpret the data about this question. There were respondents who talked about readiness as a continuum, in the way that they thought the organization could grow in its readiness, but also respondents who saw it as a condition. When there was spoken about an extent of readiness, it was mentioned to be dependent on people’s own considerations. So, it might be the case that readiness is dependent on a condition of people, but once this has been established into practices, the organizations can grow in it. This has consequences for the proposed conceptual model: the case of placing Green IT attitude as starting point finds still support, but more arrows are added in order to represent the circularity (Figure 3) of Green IT readiness. This reflects both of the dimensions.

Figure 3: Adjustments to conceptual model

Another way of approaching this question is to see the two dimensions as a duality. It might be the case that the necessity how to conceptualize readiness, together with the transition from static to dynamic organizations, also evolves over time. For instance, if an organization is based on hierarchy, it could be good to see readiness as capability, for an organization can then pin their capability and grow in that framework. However, when an organization approaches Green IT as a dynamic movement, it might be arguable that readiness needs to be a condition for networks to be created. In other words, readiness could be a duality which evolves over time, maybe till now as capability, but in future as

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condition. Being prepared for a continuously changing environment might require a dynamic view of the concept of readiness also.

The findings of this study contain practical relevance. It has been suggested that a ‘change champion’ can initiate Green IT initiatives, free of its function in the organization. Furthermore, the importance of the first followers have been elaborated. So, this study shows the potential for the individual manager to achieve Green IT at his or her organization and this study might therefore drive individuals with such a desire to effectively achieve Green IT initiatives. Second, this study promotes a useful advise for managers who experience resistance among their employees to adopt Green IT initiatives. Namely, it is found that knowledge contributes to an individuals’ rational consideration and therefore, resistance behaviours can be overcome which leads to more efficiency in the implementation of the Green IT initiative. Therefore, it is recommended to invest in knowledge sharing among employees by practically organizing events where knowledge can be learned.

Limitations. The sample of respondents included 13, of which there were 12 men and 1 woman. Even though the equivalence of men and women and to what extent that equivalence is nowadays accepted, research still shows a lopsided balance in gender representation of which this study is another example. In this study, it is difficult to elaborate on a certain gender difference for there is only one woman to compare results with. However, previous research has yet indicated significant differences in environmentally responsible behaviours between men and women (Ngo et al., 2009). Women are more likely to see climate change as the most important environmental issue than men (Abeliotis et al., 2010). In addition, Iyer & Kashyap (2007, p. 42) found that women have a ‘’more favourable attitude toward

the environment and recycling and more likely to engage in environmentally friendly and recycling behaviors.’’ This is an important side note to make, for it could be that there would be more women in

top management functions in future, which then eventually would require certain nuances in Green IT research as well.

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other Green IT adoption research as well. It is difficult to identify where the case for Green IT precisely starts. It could for instance also be argued that knowledge and skills should be seen as starting point, on which all the implementation happens.

Future research considerations. The Green IT readiness model of Molla et al. (2011) was the starting point of this study. For future investigation of this model of Green IT readiness, it is recommended to expand the qualitative analysis of it, for the implications are quite ground-breaking and this would require a complete refinement of the model. If researchers will go on with the analysis of Green IT readiness at organizations through qualitative research, the case of revising the static model into a dynamic model will be stronger. Furthermore, Green IT and organizational competency toward eco-sustainability are likely to evolve. Therefore, refining the elements in order to operationalize Green IT readiness remains important. In addition, research using a larger sample could test whether the findings of this study are generalizable. Lastly, based on the findings, it is also recommended to investigate in the knowledge and skills part concerning Green IT readiness. As has emerged in several sections of this study, knowledge and skills appear to be of decisive value in assessing an organization’s readiness for Green IT adoption. However, there is a large open research field about knowledge acquiring concerning Green IT. We do not yet know what are efficient ways of acquiring and assessing knowledge in relation to Green IT. In other words, understanding how to most effectively make use of knowledge would be a nice further step in Green IT research.

CONCLUSION

The question how managerial attitude is translated into policies, governance, technologies and practice which was central in this study, has led to a macro analysis of the transition in general business theories of the last century. This question was raised from the Green IT readiness model of Molla et al. (2011) and the main takeaway is that this model is quite static, while it might need to be changed into a more dynamic model. I began this thesis with a quote of Sun Tzu about the art of war, the accentuation on the necessity to be prepared. However, being prepared seems not to be the whole story. The shift from linear to circular thinking depends on several new abilities organisations should be able to acquire. Concrete knowledge, together with less concrete communication and networking skills proposes organisations to act like organisms. That brings this thesis to an end and another historical specialist in warfare to the front:

‘’Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.’’

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Preparing organizations for Green IT: From linear to circular thinking

Preparing organizations for Green IT:

From linear to circular thinking

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