The Reach And Richness Of Green IT: A Principal Component Analysis

The pairing of Information Technology (IT) and the environment, under the headline of Green IT, has given rise to a near-endemic concern on how Green ITs themselves are and on how IT can enable a business’s Green strategy. However, Green IT is neither a well defined concept, nor a single innovation, nor a uniformly accepted set of practice. This ambiguity has an implication in advancing Green IT research, as it affects the definition of the dependent and independent variables. This paper proposes a framework that can assist in the conceptualisation of Green IT and the definition of the Green IT phenomenon. The framework is partially tested using data from a survey of 143 Chief Information Officers and IT managers and employing principal component analysis. With the findings, the study makes an original contribution, albeit preliminary, to the definition and operationalisation of Green IT in a given research context. Practitioners can use the framework to chart out different strategic options in Greening their IT.

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