What constitutes EMIS for sustainability reporting? A classification approach, using a systematic literature review

Abstract

Due to an extensive amount of environmental impacts by industrial processes, the demand for information about firm’s caused environmental impacts increases by different stakeholder groups. An uprising and sophisticated form of environmental performance information distribution is sustainability reporting (SR), although it is a complex task. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are supposed to support and enable SR, however the adoption and diffusion of specific EMIS for the task of SR is rather low. One reason may be that scholars missed their chance to provide tangible and precise definitions for EMIS as well as features and characteristics of this class of IS. In order to understand and define what really constitutes EMIS for SR, we first use a well-known IS classification pattern to find general features of IS. We then use this classification pattern in a systematic literature review and analyze present knowledge for characteristics of EMIS for SR. The outcome is twofold. First we derive an EMIS for SR specific classification pattern. Second, we point out what is already known about EMIS for SR and which topics should be addressed in further research.