IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i11p8766-d1158679.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Systems Thinking Approach to Improve Sustainability in Software Engineering—A Grounded Capability Maturity Framework

Author

Listed:
  • Gopalakrishnan Sriraman

    (School of Computing Science and Engineering, VIT Bhopal University, Sehore 466114, India)

  • Shriram Raghunathan

    (School of Computing Science and Engineering, VIT Bhopal University, Sehore 466114, India)

Abstract

Sustainability has become a critical issue for the software industry as the environmental impact of software development and use increases. To address this issue, organizations need a framework for developing and accessing sustainable software practices. In this study, we reviewed the existing literature, models, and practices in this domain as well as carried out surveys and interviews to understand the reality, practices, and challenges on the ground. We identified a set of research questions to discover why sustainability is important, what actions can be taken to improve it, and how and when they can be implemented. This study highlighted the limitations of existing models and the need to address the research gaps. Existing research is limited by a narrow focus on specific domains such as the environment and energy or a specific phase of software development. We aim to address these through the proposed comprehensive software sustainability capability framework (SSCF), which provides a “ready reckoner”, allowing any organization to assess their current software sustainability and the capabilities and metrics they could focus on to improve sustainable software maturity. This paper also provides detailed assessment criteria, metrics, and a roadmap that can be used by any software organization to enhance their sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Gopalakrishnan Sriraman & Shriram Raghunathan, 2023. "A Systems Thinking Approach to Improve Sustainability in Software Engineering—A Grounded Capability Maturity Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8766-:d:1158679
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8766/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8766/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meir Russ, 2021. "Knowledge Management for Sustainable Development in the Era of Continuously Accelerating Technological Revolutions: A Framework and Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-32, March.
    2. Jakub Swacha, 2022. "Models of Sustainable Software: A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, January.
    3. Christian Fuchs, 2008. "The implications of new information and communication technologies for sustainability," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 291-309, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cristian Fagarasan & Ciprian Cristea & Maria Cristea & Ovidiu Popa & Adrian Pisla, 2023. "Integrating Sustainability Metrics into Project and Portfolio Performance Assessment in Agile Software Development: A Data-Driven Scoring Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-25, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Umlai, Mohamed, 2023. "ICT sector, digitization and environmental sustainability: A systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2022," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Mohammadreza Akbari & John L. Hopkins, 2022. "Digital technologies as enablers of supply chain sustainability in an emerging economy," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 689-710, December.
    3. Roya Gholami & Alemayehu Molla & Suparna Goswami & Christopher Brewster, 2018. "Green information systems use in social enterprise: the case of a community-led eco-localization website in the West Midlands region of the UK," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 1345-1361, December.
    4. Abolhosseini, Shahrouz & Heshmati, Almas & Altmann, Jörn, 2014. "The Effect of Renewable Energy Development on Carbon Emission Reduction: An Empirical Analysis for the EU-15 Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 7989, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Cédric Gossart, 2015. "Rebound effects and ICT : a review of the literature," Post-Print hal-01258112, HAL.
    6. Roya Gholami & Alemayehu Molla & Suparna Goswami & Christopher Brewster, 0. "Green information systems use in social enterprise: the case of a community-led eco-localization website in the West Midlands region of the UK," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    7. Matthias Fischer & Harald Heinrichs, 2018. "Dimensions, Dialectic, Discourse. Three Political Perspectives on the Sustainability of the German Healthcare System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Stefan Milojević & Marko Milašinović & Aleksandra Mitrović & Jasmina Ognjanović & Jelena Raičević & Nebojša Zdravković & Snežana Knežević & Malči Grivec, 2023. "Board Gender Diversity and Banks Profitability for Business Viability: Evidence from Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Koc, Kerim & Ekmekcioğlu, Ömer & Işık, Zeynep, 2023. "Developing a probabilistic decision-making model for reinforced sustainable supplier selection," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    10. Igor Kotenko & Konstantin Izrailov & Mikhail Buinevich & Igor Saenko & Rajeev Shorey, 2023. "Modeling the Development of Energy Network Software, Taking into Account the Detection and Elimination of Vulnerabilities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-40, July.
    11. Per Fors & Thomas Taro Lennerfors, 2018. "“We Started Building Green IT Back in the 1970s”: Making Sense of Sustainable ICT through Organizational History," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, July.
    12. Jiaping Zhang & Xiaomei Gong & Zhongkun Zhu & Zhenyu Zhang, 2023. "Trust cost of environmental risk to government: the impact of Internet use," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 5363-5392, June.
    13. Daniel J. Veit & Jason B. Thatcher, 2023. "Digitalization as a problem or solution? Charting the path for research on sustainable information systems," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(6), pages 1231-1253, August.
    14. Shobande, Olatunji A. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "The Critical Role of Education and ICT in Promoting Environmental Sustainability in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Panel VAR Approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    15. Cédric Gossart, 2015. "Rebound effects and ICT : a review of the literature," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01258112, HAL.
    16. Luis Miranda-Moreno & Naveen Eluru & Martin Lee-Gosselin & Tyler Kreider, 2012. "Impact of ICT access on personal activity space and greenhouse gas production: evidence from Quebec City, Canada," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(5), pages 895-918, September.
    17. Amélie Bohas & Laïd Bouzidi, 2012. "Towards a Sustainable Governance of Information Systems: Devising a Maturity Assessment Tool of Eco-Responsibility Inspired by the Balanced Scorecard," Post-Print halshs-00740765, HAL.
    18. Mahlia, T.M.I. & Tohno, S. & Tezuka, T., 2012. "History and current status of the motor vehicle energy labeling and its implementation possibilities in Malaysia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 1828-1844.
    19. Alfonso Siano & Francesca Conte & Sara Amabile & Agostino Vollero & Paolo Piciocchi, 2016. "Communicating Sustainability: An Operational Model for Evaluating Corporate Websites," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, September.
    20. Zakia Batool & Sajjad Ali & Abdul Rehman, 2022. "Environmental Impact of ICT on Disaggregated Energy Consumption in China: A Threshold Regression Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8766-:d:1158679. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.