TY - CHAP

T1 - Software and Web-Based Tools for Sustainability Management in Micro-, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

AU - Johnson, Matthew

AU - Halberstadt, Jantje

AU - Schaltegger, Stefan

AU - Viere, Tobias

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Recently, new approaches to organizational level sustainability management and reporting have emerged in the form of software and web-based applications. At first glance, it appears that such software and web-tools are applicable in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they offer user-friendly and cost-effective alternatives to assess, manage and report on company-wide sustainability activities. Nevertheless, it remains academically and practically uncertain if such technological advancements will be adopted by a great number of SMEs. Using the Individual-Technology-Organization-Environment (ITOE) model as a theoretical framework and empirical data from a recent survey with 1,250 German SMEs, this paper investigates various firm-internal and external factors that might influence managers’ decisions to adopt or reject this new technology. This paper reveals which factors might play a role in the adoption of such web-tools in SMEs. In addition, this paper proposes a conceptual framework of an IT-assisted sustainability analysis and reporting scheme for micro-enterprises and startups. Based on existing software for larger enterprises, the paper describes the main content and potential layout of such a web-based tool.

AB - Recently, new approaches to organizational level sustainability management and reporting have emerged in the form of software and web-based applications. At first glance, it appears that such software and web-tools are applicable in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they offer user-friendly and cost-effective alternatives to assess, manage and report on company-wide sustainability activities. Nevertheless, it remains academically and practically uncertain if such technological advancements will be adopted by a great number of SMEs. Using the Individual-Technology-Organization-Environment (ITOE) model as a theoretical framework and empirical data from a recent survey with 1,250 German SMEs, this paper investigates various firm-internal and external factors that might influence managers’ decisions to adopt or reject this new technology. This paper reveals which factors might play a role in the adoption of such web-tools in SMEs. In addition, this paper proposes a conceptual framework of an IT-assisted sustainability analysis and reporting scheme for micro-enterprises and startups. Based on existing software for larger enterprises, the paper describes the main content and potential layout of such a web-based tool.

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

KW - small and medium-sized enterprises

KW - Sustainability management

KW - Individual-technology

KW - organization-environment framework

KW - Quick-check

KW - Web-based tools

KW - Small and medium-sized enterprises

KW - Sustainability management

KW - Individual-technology-organization-environment framework

KW - Quick-check

KW - Web-based tools

UR - http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-23455-7_14

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-23455-7_14

DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-23455-7_14

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 978-3-319-23454-0

T3 - Progress in IS

SP - 259

EP - 274

BT - Advances and New Trends in Environmental and Energy Informatics

A2 - Gómez, Jorge Marx

A2 - Sonnenschein, Michael

A2 - Vogel, Ute

A2 - Winter, Andreas

A2 - Rapp, Barbara

A2 - Giesen, Nils

PB - Springer International Publishing AG

CY - Cham

ER -