Reconciling “doing good” and “doing well” in organizations’ green IT initiatives: A multi-case analysis

Organizations considering green IT initiatives seek to reconcile two significant goals: environmental sustainability (“doing good”) and business profitability (“doing well”). These two purposes, however, are not necessarily aligned and can engender a dilemma in which investing to achieve environmental sustainability may threaten business profitability to some extent. Thus, this research builds on the theoretical perspective of corporate ecological responsiveness and proposes three types of strategic drivers for green IT initiatives (economic, authority, and moral drivers). How various types of organizations may be motivated by these green IT initiative drivers will affect whether organizations can reconcile the objectives of environmental sustainability and business profitability. We further deduce findings from multiple case studies of eight organizations in China and Singapore. The findings illustrate that the characteristics of any given organization influence why various driving factors affect their green IT initiative decisions. Additionally, “doing good” and “doing well” are reconciled when organizations consider the short-term investment and long-term benefit, design appropriate strategy, and receive severe external pressure. We also discuss contributions to research and practice.