Breaking bad habits: A field experiment about how routinized work practices can be made more eco-efficient through IS for sensemakingPaper accepted for publication in Information & Management

27 February 2023

Kenan Degirmenci a,  Jan Recker b
a School of Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia
b Faculty of Business Administration, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20148 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract
We conducted a field experiment to compare the effects of information system (IS)
supporting reflective disclosure and information democratization on the sustainability
footprint of a routine organizational work practice, paper printing. We find that both
sensemaking processes lead to employees reducing their printing; however, the processes are
interchangeable and do not mutually reinforce each other’s effects. This finding contrasts a
latent assumption of prior research about a co-dependence between reflective disclosure and
information democratization, and suggests organizations have a choice in how they can
design and use IS to help employees make sense of different possibilities for more eco-
efficient work.

Keywords:Green IS, sensemaking, reflective disclosure, information democratization, field
experiment

Link to the paper.