On institutional rationality and decision making in adopting green ICT strategies

The growing emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) is identified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as an issue of grave concern. Accordingly, the EU has set ambitious targets for reductions in GHG emissions. The years to 2020 will see increasing regulative, normative and socio-cultural pressures on all organisations to adopt Green Strategies that leverage the direct and enabling effects of Green ICT to reduce, monitor and report on GHG emissions. Hence, the contexts in which decisions are made in organisations must begin to take into account the triple bottom line of economic sustainability, social sustainability and environmental sustainability. This paper argues that while bounded rationality adequately informs decision making around, for example, competitive strategies aimed at profit maximization, accounting for social and environmental concerns requires a different approach. We maintain that in the coming decade broader perspectives on decision support need to adopted, ones that are informed by an institutional rationality which encompasses social, environmental and financial dimensions.