The greening of IT use: the impact of environmental concerns on the use of internet systems
Information Technology & People
ISSN: 0959-3845
Article publication date: 28 February 2023
Issue publication date: 9 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Internet use has a high environmental footprint that is often overlooked by end users. This paper contributes to limiting the negative environmental footprint of Information Technology (IT) use by understanding the relationship between environmental concerns and use of IT amongst users who are aware of the environmental footprint of IT use. Second, the paper argues that taking environmental concerns into account in technology acceptance studies is relevant, even in studies concerning ordinary IT (i.e. IT not commonly classified as “green” technology).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct two vignette-based surveys in two different countries: the USA and Belgium. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyse the effect of environmental concerns on the intention to use the webcam during online meetings and binary logistic regression is used to analyse the relationship between environmental concerns and reported actual use of webcams.
Findings
The higher the respondents' environmental concerns, the higher their intention to use internet systems in a more environmentally responsible way, provided the respondents are aware of the environmental footprint of internet system use. Moreover, the higher the respondents’ environmental concerns, the more likely they are to use internet systems in a more environmentally responsible way.
Originality/value
This study is the first to distinguish “Greening of IT Use” from “Greening of IT” and “Greening by IT” and to show that environmental concerns has an impact on the way end users (intend to) use internet systems, provided the users are aware of the environmental footprint of that use.
Keywords
Citation
Goethals, F. and Ziegelmayer, J.L. (2024), "The greening of IT use: the impact of environmental concerns on the use of internet systems", Information Technology & People, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 356-373. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-11-2021-0844
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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