Paper Number

ECIS2026-2241

Paper Type

CRP

Abstract

As IS researchers, we have a responsibility to help shape a more resilient and sustainable future. While the IS community increasingly calls for urgent action, responding to this urgency requires more than accelerating technological solutions. It demands reflection on the kinds of solutions we promote and the assumptions that guide them. This paper critically examines how IS research addresses digital environmental sustainability. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, we review 50 articles from the Senior Scholars’ Basket of Journals. Our findings reveal a dominant techno-optimistic assumption: most studies focus on conceptual models or solution-oriented contributions and frame digital technologies as instruments of optimization or transformation. Conversely, environmental externalities, rebound effects, and systemic impacts of digitalisation are rarely examined. We show that critical perspectives remain significantly marginalised—a major blind spot that restricts intellectual diversity and limits the IS field’s ability to address sustainability challenges meaningfully

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Jun 14th, 12:00 AM

Dominance and Marginalisation In IS Research On Digital Environmental Sustainability: A Critical Discourse Analysis

As IS researchers, we have a responsibility to help shape a more resilient and sustainable future. While the IS community increasingly calls for urgent action, responding to this urgency requires more than accelerating technological solutions. It demands reflection on the kinds of solutions we promote and the assumptions that guide them. This paper critically examines how IS research addresses digital environmental sustainability. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, we review 50 articles from the Senior Scholars’ Basket of Journals. Our findings reveal a dominant techno-optimistic assumption: most studies focus on conceptual models or solution-oriented contributions and frame digital technologies as instruments of optimization or transformation. Conversely, environmental externalities, rebound effects, and systemic impacts of digitalisation are rarely examined. We show that critical perspectives remain significantly marginalised—a major blind spot that restricts intellectual diversity and limits the IS field’s ability to address sustainability challenges meaningfully

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