Applicability of resource‐based environmental studies in Green IT
| Published date | 09 August 2013 |
| Date | 09 August 2013 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-02-2013-0003 |
| Pages | 269-286 |
| Author | Rabiah Eladwiah Abdul Rahim,Azizah Abdul Rahman |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Applicability of resource-based
environmental studies
in Green IT
Rabiah Eladwiah Abdul Rahim and Azizah Abdul Rahman
Department of Information Systems, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to review the firm’s resources, as identified by the researcher in
previous environmental studies, from the theoretical lens of a resource-based view (RBV). This will
help to identify the firm’s resources for the future Green IT studies.
Design/methodology/approach – The objective was first achieved by reviewing the environmental
resources for the firm’s performance. The approach uses literature reviews of environmental studies
having related keywords in literature databases. Using content analysis approach, the authors selected
ten empirical environmental studies and developed the typology of the firm’s environmental resources.
The frequently highlighted constructs are then discussed in the context of Green IT.
Findings – This review shows the importance of continuous innovation, stakeholder integration,
shared visions and early adoption which were frequently highlighted in RBV studies. The literature
studies concerning Green IT also point out the importance of these resources for Green IT
performance. Drawing upon this, it is also believed that these firm resources identified from
environmental literature are also applicable in Green IT context.
Research limitations/implications – Some limitations of this study have been encountered and are
as follows: First, the search was performed within a limited time frame. Second, different search terms
might have yielded more results. Third, the classification of the firm’s resources might be different from
the point of view of others. Nonetheless, the authors believe this review can be used as a guide for future
integrative resource-based Green IT studies. Future confirmatory studies could empirically validate
these relationships. The role of mediating and moderating variables that could enhance Green IT
practice can also be further investigated. This could contribute to the knowledge concerning the
application of RBV in the Green IT context.
Originality/value – The paper helps to shed light on a firm’s resources for environmental capability
coming from different industries, which contributes towards an understanding of these theories from
wider perspectives, including environmental sustainability, in the IT context.
Keywords Sustainability,Green IT, Resource-based view,Natural resource based view,
Resource management, Natural resources
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
Socialacceptance and stakeholderpressures number amongthe reasons for the movement
towards green initiatives in business firms (Mollaet al., 2008; Ija b etal., 2012) . Literature
suggests that researchers should investigate green issues through the lens of the
resource-based view (RBV) (Christmann, 2000; Dowell et al., 2000; Hart, 1995). This is
because the identification of resources towards environmental performance has
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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This research is funded by Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia under the Fundamental
Research Grant Vot 4F125.
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 15 No. 3, 2013
pp. 269-286
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-02-2013-0003
Resource-based
environmental
studies
269
increasingimportance for businessfirms nowadays. Both internaland external factors are
evidently crucial to competitive success (Hansen and Wernerfelt, 1989). In fact, many
contributions have attempted an integration of the internal and external perspectives
underthe banner of the “resource-based”view of the firm (Barney, 1991;Wernerfelt, 1984).
Barney (1991) introducedthe RBV with the perspective that valuable,costly-to-copy firm
resources and capabilities provide key sources of sustainable competitive advantage.
Meanwhile, competitivestrategy should give way to cooperative action (Bilimoria et al.,
1995) in the interests of social legitimacy (Hart, 1995). This strategy and competitive
advantages are rooted in capabilities that facilitateenvironmentally economic activities,
however the RBV omits this environmental dimension (Hart, 1995). The natural
resource-based view (NRBV) emerged by suggesting the utilization of organizational
strategic resources for the generation of capabilities of pollution prevention,
product/service design and sustainable development. It was argued that, by this
approach, firms will achieve competitive advantages through cost reduction of
differentiation, preemption and future position (Hart, 1995). From the literature, various
valuable, rare and inimitable organizational resources were studied from the lens of the
RBV perspective.However, even though the RBV andNRBV have been used in this field
on a numberof occasions, there has still been no effortto date to comprehensively evaluate
differenttypes of resources thatcould improve a firm’s performance.The aim of this paper
is identifystrategic resources related to firm’sperformance in order to derive suggestions
for environmental sustainability in the information technology (IT) context (which is
known as GreenIT). More specifically, we aim to answer two questions,namely: what are
the strategic environmental resources for the firm’s performance? And how does
importanceof these resources featurein the Green IT context? Thispaper reviews how the
RBV andNRBV can be useful in environmentalstudies, categorizesselected resourcesand
discusses its applicability in Green IT research.
Literature review
RBV and NRBV
The RBV argues that firms possessresources, a subset of which enables them to achieve
competitive advantages, and a further subset of which leads to superior long-term
performance(Barney, 1991; Grant, 1991). Empiricalstudies of firm performance usingthe
RBV have found differences, not only between firms in the same industry (Hansen and
Wernerfelt, 1989)but also within the narrower confines of groups withinindustries (Cool
and Schendel,1988). This suggeststhat the effects of individual,firm-specific resources on
performance can be significant (Mahoney and Pandian, 1992). According to RBV, the
resources include all assets, capabilities, organizational processes, firm attributes,
information, knowledge, etc. controlled by a firm that enablethe firm to conceive of and
implement strategiesthat improve its efficiency and effectiveness (Daft, 1983, ascited in
Barney, 1991). There are four conditions of the resources which are valuable. These are
namely: the sense that it exploit opportunities and/or neutralizes threats in a firm’s
environment; that it is rare among a firm’s current and potential competition; that it is
imperfectly imitable; and that there cannot be strategically equivalent substitutes
(Barney, 1991). Firm resources can be conveniently classified into three categories,
namely: physical capital resources, human capital resources and organizational capital
resources. These attributes that do enable firms to conceiveof and implement strategies
that improveits efficiency and effectivenessare regarded as firmresources (Barney, 1991).
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