The Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), the flagship journal of the Association for Information Systems, publishes the highest quality scholarship in the field of information systems. It is inclusive in topics, level and unit of analysis, theory, method and philosophical and research approach, reflecting all aspects of Information Systems globally. The Journal promotes innovative, interesting and rigorously developed conceptual and empirical contributions and encourages theory based multi- or inter-disciplinary research. 

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Special Issue on Digital Sustainability and Information Systems Research: New challenges and theoretical perspectives
截稿日期: 2024-10-02

Sustainability is a moral and existential imperative of our time. As Information Systems (IS) scholars, we
are aware of the immense impact of digital technologies on efforts and initiatives towards sustainable
practice happening locally and globally. Furthermore, because digital phenomena lie at the heart of our
discipline, IS researchers are well positioned to join these efforts. This Special Issue aims to champion new
digital sustainability research programs targeting the planet’s most pressing sustainability challenges from
the past decade. We hope it will contribute towards building novel collective knowledge and help shape
digital sustainability research in IS.

Motivation for this Special Issue

Human society is approaching the edge of a dangerous precipice. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report unequivocally confirms that human activities have caused global
warming, predicting that even with current commitments and mitigation efforts, it will be difficult to limit
warming below the critical threshold of 2oC (IPCC, 2023). The planet’s air, land, and water continue to be
threatened on several fronts, with research suggesting that the safe operating zone for six of the nine planetary
boundaries has already been breached (Stockholm Resilience Centre, n.d.). Over the past decade, extreme
weather events such as droughts, floods, fires and heatwaves have not only increased in frequency but also in
magnitude. In addition to causing environmental impacts, these events have a significant impact on society,
further complicating the pursuit of social and economic sustainability.

In 2020, about 724 million people were living in conditions of extreme poverty, with almost 30% of the world’s
population suffering from some level of food insecurity (United Nations, 2023). Equality for women and other
marginalized groups continues to lag. The World Bank (2022) reports that 2.4 billion women globally do not
have the same economic rights as men, and despite the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 (United Nations, 2007), Indigenous Peoples around the world continue
to suffer the intergenerational trauma of colonization. The trend towards urbanization endures, with cities
struggling to ensure inclusive, resilient, and sustainable living environments for all residents (United Nations
2023). On top of all these challenges, violent conflicts have led to the forced migration of millions of people
and the deaths of thousands of civilians (United Nations 2023). These alarming circumstances highlight the lack
of progress towards the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. As stated in the 2023 Progress Report
,the promise of leaving no one behind is in peril: of 140 measured targets, only 12% are on track for 2030, and
about half are moderately or severely off track.

In response to the urgent need to address sustainability challenges, organizations, governments and industries
worldwide have started to make efforts in recent years to harness the potential of digital technologies.
Examples of such efforts range from specific solutions, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors widely used
by many organizations to pursue sustainability objectives, to the birth of new data-driven companies that are
applying advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer sustainability-related data services.
This harnessing of digital technologies to address sustainability challenges has impacted the way practitioners
view this emerging trend, which they increasingly refer to as digital sustainability. For example, Gartner
describes digital sustainability as harnessing the “tools of digital transformation, such as enhanced connectivity
and the Internet of Things (IoT), to improve the environment and support sustainable business operations”.
On a global scale, the United Nations has initiated conversations on the relationship between digital
sustainability and environmental concerns. For example, the focus of the United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP) is “accelerating and scaling environmental sustainability by applying data, digital technologies, and
solutions to UNEP’s key activities, products, and services and ultimately delivers on its key action areas—
climate, nature, and pollution”(UN Environment Programme, n.d.). In the domain of social sustainability, the
United Nations chosen theme of “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality” for International
Women’s Day 2023 emphasizes the potential of digital technologies for empowering women and girls.
However, IS research has been lagging behind the digital sustainability discourse happening in practice. As
argued in a recent JAIS editorial on digital sustainability (Kotlarsky et al., 2023), the IS research community
has a strong foundation to draw upon (Watson et al., 2020), ranging from research into Green IS (e.g., Leidner
et al. 2022; Watson et al. 2021; Corbett & Mellouli, 2017) to studies addressing significant societal challenges
(e.g., Tong et al. 2022; Young et. al. 2019; Young 2018; Tim et al. 2017, Puri 2007). As Urquhart and her
colleagues (2008) note, the poor cannot eat technology, but the mindful design and use of technology can
contribute to innovative solutions and positive impacts. In particular, we consider that the recent shift in the
way IS research approaches digital phenomena offers new perspectives on the relationship between digital
technologies and sustainability.

Building on Baskerville et al.’s (2020) contention that the classical view of an information system as
representing and reflecting physical reality has become obsolete, we agree that an ontological reversal has
taken place at the junction between technology and sustainability whereby the digital version of business
solutions is created first (e.g., algorithms and data analytics solutions) and the physical version second (e.g.,
material waste) (Kotlarsky et al. 2023). As a result, the assumption that IS only represents the physical assets
within sustainability phenomena is being challenged. This provides an opportunity for the IS community to
drive a more inclusive agenda on digital sustainability, one that encompasses phenomena in which the impact
of digital technologies and macro-level environmental, social, and economic objectives converge. Accordingly,
this Special Issue seeks contributions that delve into digital sustainability and encompass “the development,
deployment, and utilization of digital resources and artifacts toward improving the environment, society,
and economic welfare” (Kotlarsky et al. 2023, p. 938).

What we are interested in

We invite original and thought-provoking studies that advance and shape our understanding of digital
sustainability as an emerging research area. We are interested in studies that contribute to our
understanding of environmental and/or social sustainability, and studies that elucidate new forms of
digital sustainability. We therefore welcome studies that engage with digital sustainability by building on
theoretical foundations from the extant IS literature, as well as studies that bring insights from other
disciplines into the IS research domain. Furthermore, we seek studies that consider digital sustainability
at all levels and perspectives, in the context of developing and developed nations. We specifically
welcome submissions that integrate more than one dimension of digital sustainability—the environment,
society, and/or economic welfare. Overall, we aim to present a collection of papers that provides a
balanced, integrated, and cumulative perspective on digital sustainability.
Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Design and development considerations

• Research that investigates the processes, principles, resources or capabilities required
for the design and development of digital sustainability artefacts
• Intervention-based research that engages directly in enhancing sustainability practices
within organizations or communities through effective leveraging of digital technologies
• Studies that examine how the different inter- and intra-organizational actors involved in
digital sustainability projects engage and interact as they develop, deploy, and govern
digital solutions for macro-level sustainability agenda
• Explorations of the relationship(s) between digital objects and the physical reality they
shape/create in the context of social and environmental sustainability
Use considerations
• Research that examines how digital technologies support key organizational activities
(e.g., decision-making, resource management, and innovation processes) in the
management of macro-level sustainability challenges, such as climate change
• Theoretical and/or empirical investigations of the interplay between sustainability
initiatives and other digital agendas, such as digital transformation
• Studies of ‘computed human experiences’ with respect to sustainability, for example,
how people interact with complex environmental and social problems through
immersive technologies
• Research on the challenges and opportunities for reclaiming and rejuvenating
Indigenous cultures and knowledge as well as advancing Indigenous community
economic development through decolonized digital artefacts

Management and governance considerations

• Studies that explore the governance of digital sustainability and new ways of organizing
for sustainability in different settings. For example, where do digital sustainability
initiatives emerge and how do they unfold?
• Research on the role of different actors in the digital sustainability ecosystem and their
impact on the emergence of new digital sustainability sectors and business models
• Studies on the sustainability agenda at the community and societal levels, and the role
of digital technologies in either empowering or constraining sustainability-driven
collective actions
• Policy implications related to digital sustainability for organizations, individuals, and
societies, especially as they relate to ethical concerns and social well-being
Outcomes and consequences
• Studies that incorporate multiple aspects of digital sustainability performance to enrich
and expand our understanding of the impact of digital technologies on various
stakeholders
• Case studies and other investigations of real-world impacts (positive/negative,
planned/unintended) of digital sustainability on vulnerable or marginalized communities
• Given that the well-being of future generations is a central concern, research that
investigates alternative ways of measuring progress toward long-term sustainability
objectives and how to link these with short-term performance
• Beyond techno-optimism, identifying the key challenges presented by digital
technologies, either directly or through their use, that negatively impact sustainability
agendas, coupled with empirical insights for mitigating these challenges

What we are not interested in

We are not interested in studies that only make peripheral contributions to digital sustainability. This may
be the case when the original research design, including the data collected, was not intended to contribute
to understanding of digital sustainability, or when engagement with the concept of digital sustainability is
marginal. A possible example of the latter would be studies that append a connection to one or more
Sustainable Development Goals as a post-hoc discussion, yet the core research problem is not
substantially driven by a sustainability issue.

Given that this Special Issue aims to promote research programs that relate to the planet’s most pressing
sustainability challenges, we believe that environmental and social welfare are of utmost importance.
Therefore, we are not interested in studies concerned solely with economic welfare at the business level,
such as those on sustainable business operations or organizational sustainability. We do, however,
welcome submissions that couple economic welfare with other dimensions, such as environmental or
social welfare, especially when integrated within a broader, macro-level sustainability agenda.
We also emphasize that while related to digital responsibility (AIS, 2023) and digital resilience (Boh et al.,
2023), digital sustainability differs from these notions. Therefore, we are ONLY interested in studies on
digital sustainability. We recommend potential authors consult the recent editorial on digital sustainability
by Kotlarsky et al. (2023), which provides a conceptualization and extensive discussion of digital
sustainability and its ontological foundations.