Paper Number
ICIS2026-3860
Paper Type
Completed
Abstract
Organizations are required to produce verifiable sustainability reports under European Union legislation like the CSRD and ESPR. They respond with digital sustainability initiatives, which use digital technologies to pursue sustainability objectives, yet these initiatives consistently fail to deliver efficiency gains combined with positive ecological outcomes. Viewing business processes as the boundary object where digital and sustainability transformation converge, we ask how organizations operationalize digital sustainability and what explains success or failure. Drawing from a literature review with 25 articles and eleven expert interviews, we propose a three-layer framework encompassing a diagnostic, an instrumental and an impact layer. We find that operationalization follows a sequencing logic in which sustainability objectives, process-level data foundation, and accountability precede technology deployment, and that practitioners apply evaluation criteria diverging from prior research. We thus complement value-creation perspectives on digital sustainability with prescriptive knowledge on operationalization, offering practitioners a sequential approach for managing such initiatives.
Recommended Citation
Bahr, Charlotte; Smandzik, Angela; Matzner, Martin; and Tang, Willi, "Putting Digital Sustainability into Practice through Business Processes" (2026). ICIS 2026 Proceedings. 17.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2026/sustenv/sustenv/17
Putting Digital Sustainability into Practice through Business Processes
Organizations are required to produce verifiable sustainability reports under European Union legislation like the CSRD and ESPR. They respond with digital sustainability initiatives, which use digital technologies to pursue sustainability objectives, yet these initiatives consistently fail to deliver efficiency gains combined with positive ecological outcomes. Viewing business processes as the boundary object where digital and sustainability transformation converge, we ask how organizations operationalize digital sustainability and what explains success or failure. Drawing from a literature review with 25 articles and eleven expert interviews, we propose a three-layer framework encompassing a diagnostic, an instrumental and an impact layer. We find that operationalization follows a sequencing logic in which sustainability objectives, process-level data foundation, and accountability precede technology deployment, and that practitioners apply evaluation criteria diverging from prior research. We thus complement value-creation perspectives on digital sustainability with prescriptive knowledge on operationalization, offering practitioners a sequential approach for managing such initiatives.
Comments
04_Sustainability_and_environment