Invited keynote given at the IEEE 21st International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD 2017) in Wellington, New Zealand, 26 April 2017.

1. TheComplexitiesofSustainabilityandDesign:
Howsustainableareoursystemsdesigns?
Canwedesignsystemsforsustainability?
Jan Recker
QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology

6. Can we design
Information Systems
that help greening the
planet?

7. Energy + Informatics < Energy
Watson, R.T., Boudreau, M.-C., and Chen, A.J. "Information Systems and Environmentally Sustainable Development:
Energy Informatics and New Directions for the IS Community," MIS Quarterly (34:1) 2010, pp 23-38.

13. Why prescriptive knowledge/
design can help.
▪ The research paradigm is
about problem solving;
it is about presenting
solutions through
systems and IT
artifacts, broadly
defined as constructs,
models, methods, and
instantiations.
▪ […]
▪ Design science is at the
center of innovation
creation and solution
building.
▪ Goes 2014 MISQ Editorial
Comments
▪ design‐science research
can produce both
knowledge and change
(Simon 1996)

14. Why I believe
Technology and Systems Design can help.
Paulo Goes, 2014:
MISQ Editorial
Comments
Herbert Simon,
1996
The research paradigm is about problem
solving; it is about presenting solutions
through systems and IT artifacts,
broadly defined as constructs, models,
methods, and instantiations. […] Design
science is at the center of innovation
creation and solution building.
Design‐science
research can
produce both
knowledge and
change.
Design Science is a creative
research paradigm that
informs multiple audiences:
‐ Researchers: principles
and mid‐range theories
‐ Practitioners: (product
and process) instantiations
Gregor and Hevner,
2013

15. Malhotra, A., Melville,
N.P., and Watson, R.T.
"Spurring Impactful
Research on
Information Systems
for Environmental
Sustainability," MIS
Quarterly (37:4) 2013,
pp 1265-1274.
The Void of
Ir-relevance…

16. Gholami, R., Watson, R.T., Hasan,
H., Molla, A., and Bjørn‐Andersen,
N. "Information Systems Solutions
for Environmental Sustainability:
How Can We Do More?," Journal of
the Association for Information
Systems (17:8) 2016, pp 521‐536.
…looks still
pretty void to me…

17. “… too few information systems (IS) academics
engage in impactful research that offers
solutions to global warming despite the fact
that climate change is one of the most critical
challenges facing this generation. […]
Unfortunately, from submissions of our call for
papers presenting IS solutions for environmental
sustainability, we found only one paper worthy
of publication. […] Too few people are working
on green IS given its importance, and fewer
still are publishing papers about IS solutions
that could contribute to dealing with climate
change.“
Gholami, R., Watson, R.T., Hasan,
H., Molla, A., and Bjørn‐Andersen,
N. "Information Systems Solutions
for Environmental Sustainability:
How Can We Do More?," Journal of
the Association for Information
Systems (17:8) 2016, pp 521‐536.

18. Do “Sustainable
(aka Green) Systems”
exist?

21. What always puzzled me
Seidel, S., Recker, J., and vom Brocke, J. "Sensemaking and Sustainable Practicing: Functional Affordances of Information
Systems in Green Transformations," MIS Quarterly (37:4) 2013, pp 1275‐1299.

22. What is “Sustainable
Systems Design”?

23. Behavior [of individuals/systems/processes] that
meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future stakeholders to
meet their own needs

25. Stakeholders in #Dieselgate
▪ EPA:
– We must reduce the outlet of NOx from cars for
health‐reasons.
▪ Society‐at‐large:
– We must avoid global warming.
▪ VW:
– We must sell cars.
▪ Buyers:
– We want cars that are… cheap. Good. Well‐
branded. Efficient. Green.
▪ IFIP:
– We must foster an ethical and professional
systems development profession.

26. #01
The volume and magnitude of stakeholders is much
larger in sustainable design.
Sustainability requirements might span goals or
interests of not only certain designers, end users, or
organizations but also policy‐makers, society or the
planet as a whole. Moreover, across these different
stakeholders, sustainability goals may also conflict.
Complexity
Who are our relevant
Stakeholders?

27. #02
In systems design, the concept of an environment is not
necessarily related to natural environments – systems
have an inner and outer environment. Moreover, a
system’s complexity must match the complexity of the
environment in which it operates.
Artifacts must also adapt or cope with variations in the
outer environment.
Complexity
What is the relevant
Environment?

29. #03
Sustainability is the capacity to meet the needs of the
present without compromising the needs of the future.
This implies a consideration of the relationship between
people and nature as it evolves over time. This leads to
staggered design objectives, e.g., creating information
systems that (1) not worsen, (2) reduce, or (3) reverse
environmental ill‐effects.
Complexity
How do we design
for the Future?

30. Present
Need
Future
Need
Fit with INNER
environment
Allow for changing role
of stakeholders
Provide affordances
for current
stakeholders
Provide
affordances for
future
stakeholders
Fit with OUTER
environment
Promote sustainability fit:
Conservation (will not consume or compromise)
&
Restoration (allow return to equilibrium)
&
Resilience (be able to withstand and recover …)
DESIGN
Baskerville, R., Pries-Heje, J., and Recker, J. "Principles for Re-Designing Information Systems for Environmental Sustainability," in: ICT for
Promoting Human Development and Protecting the Environment: WITFOR 2016, F.J. Mata and A. Pont (eds.), Springer, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2016, pp.
14-25.

32. #01
A new, prescriptive, abstract‐level theory that informs
designs principles for the development of a class of
information systems, which can be called Green IS, as
encompassing those kinds of information systems that
assist individuals and/or organizations to perform
environmentally sustainable work practices and make
environmentally sustainable decisions.
Suggestion
Create a Grand Design Theory
to guide technology design
efforts.

33. OutcomeassessmentActionformationBeliefformation
Recker, J. "Toward A Design Theory for Green Information Systems," in: 49th Hawaiian International Conference on Systems Sciences, IEEE,
Kuaui, Hawaii, 2016, pp. 4474‐4483.

34. Situating & Improving
existing solutions
Hilpert, H., M. Schumann, and J. Kranz (2013) "Leveraging Green IS in
Logistics: Developing an Artifact for Greenhouse Gas Emission Tracking",
Business & Information Systems Engineering (5)5, pp. 315‐325

35. Reflecting on the state of
knowledge
▪ We searched all papers on “sustainable
systems”, across all sorts of
publication databases
▪ We found 416 in total since 2010; 74
that presented some sort of artefact.
– 36 of these were able to measure and report
environmental data.
– Only 6 of these can be used to change
people’s attitudes and beliefs.
– Only 11 of these allowed the users to
actually make green actions or decisions.

36. Of course it’s possible.
Seidel, S. et al. "Design Principles for Sensemaking Support Systems in Environmental Sustainability Transformations," European
Journal of Information Systems (In Press) 2017, doi: 10.1057/s41303-017-0039-0.

37. Degirmenci, K., and Recker, J. "Boosting Green Behaviors through Information Systems that Enable Environmental Sensemaking," 37th
International Conference on Information Systems, Association for Information Systems, Dublin, Ireland, 2016.

38. #02
Overcome limitations of single‐project, single‐objective
and mono‐method research by embarking on larger‐
scale research that combines design and evaluation,
that combines knowledge for action and knowledge for
explanation & prediction.
Suggestion
Plan and execute
programmatic, pluralistic
research on Sustainable
Systems.

39. Theorize, Build, & Evaluate
The
knowledge
contribution
Theorizing the
transformative role of
IS for environmental
sustainability.
The design
contribution
Demonstrating how
IS‐enabled solutions
can be engineered.
The impact
contribution
Evaluating scope,
volume and also
boundaries of
consequences.

40. Experiential outcomesGamified information system Instrumental
outcomes
Gamification
design elements
• Objects
• Mechanics
Extrinsic
motivation
Perceived
usefulness
Intrinsic
motivation
Perceived
enjoyment
Intention to
use gamified
information
system
Energy
reduction
through actual
system use
Target system
• User
• Task
• Technology
User-system
interaction
Perceived
ease of use
Instrumental
outcomes
Group Mean Std. error N 95% confidence interval
Lower bound Upper bound
Energy consumption
visual on 18.28 0.38 20 17.52 19.04
visual off 18.17 0.35 22 17.47 18.88
w/ audio 16.89* 0.39 21 16.11 17.68
Experiental outcomes Group Mean Std. Deviation N
Perceived usefulness
visual on 3.70 1.31 20
w/ audio 3.04 1.17 21
Perceived ease of use
visual on 4.25 1.45 20
w/ audio 4.11 0.91 21
Perceived enjoyment
visual on 4.48 1.15 20
w/ audio 3.38 1.30 21
Intention to use
visual on 3.79 1.22 20
w/ audio 2.51 1.38 21

41. #03
Develop, build and describe information systems
solution that address core challenges of environmental
sustainability – such as conservation, restoration and
resilience – rather than measuring or minimizing some
ecological footprint of some function by some users.
Overcome situatedness and limited impact.
Suggestion
Develop dedicated IS solutions for
Grand Sustainability
Challenges.

43. • The community interested in System and Technology
Design is challenged even more than other streams to
produce impactful research on grand challenges.
– Do we live up to our own ambitions?
• Building “smart” information systems could be a powerful
solution-oriented approach to environmental sustainability.
– Are we doing this well (enough)?
• We need to agree on key concepts, problem space,
solution space and relevant metrics!
– What can we learn from other fields?
Main Takeaways

45. Prof. Jan Recker, PhD
QUT Business School
Digital Innovation Research Group
Queensland University of Technology
email j.recker@qut.edu.au
web www.janrecker.com
twitter @janrecker

46. Bibliography
▪ Baskerville, R., J. Pries‐Heje, and J. Recker (2016) “Principles for Re‐Designing Information
Systems for Environmental Sustainability”, in Mata, F. J. and A. Pont (eds.) ICT for Promoting
Human Development and Protecting the Environment: WITFOR 2016, San Jose, Costa Rica: Springer, pp.
14‐25
▪ Degirmenci, K. and J. Recker (2016) “Winning the Environmental Challenge: Using Gamified
Information Systems to Reduce Energy Consumption in Electric Vehicles”, in SIG Green Pre‐ICIS
Workshop: Digital Innovation for Sustainability: Directions for Policy and Practice, Dublin,
Ireland: Sprouts
▪ Degirmenci, K. and J. Recker (2016) “Boosting Green Behaviors through Information Systems that
Enable Environmental Sensemaking”, in 37th International Conference on Information Systems,
Dublin, Ireland: Association for Information Systems
▪ Loeser, F., J. Recker, J. vom Brocke, A. Molla, and R. Zarnekow (2017) "How IT Executives Create
Organizational Benefits by Translating Environmental Strategies into Green IS Initiatives",
Information Systems Journal (27)
▪ Loos, P., W. Nebel, J. M. Gomez, H. Hasan, R. T. Watson, J. vom Brocke, S. Seidel, and J. Recker
(2011) "Green IT: A Matter of Business and Information Systems Engineering?", Business &
Information Systems Engineering (11)4, pp. 245‐252
▪ Recker, J. (2016) “Toward A Design Theory for Green Information Systems”, in 49th Hawaiian
International Conference on Systems Sciences, Kuaui, Hawaii: IEEE, pp. 4474‐4483
▪ Seidel, S., J. Recker, and J. vom Brocke (2013) "Sensemaking and Sustainable Practicing: Functional
Affordances of Information Systems in Green Transformations", MIS Quarterly (37)4, pp. 1275‐1299
▪ vom Brocke, J., S. Seidel, and J. Recker (2012) Green Business Process Management: Towards the
Sustainable Enterprise, Heidelberg, Germany: Springer