A Taxonomy of IT Usage to Support the Implementation of Environmental Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Sustainability, in recent years, has become a major concern for businesses worldwide. Many forward looking businesses have thus begun implementing sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. Although there exists rich viewpoints and theoretical deliberations on the merits, enablers, and barriers of implementing SSCM practices, little discussion has so far been reported in the scholarly literature on how IT systems can be used to provide support for effective implementation of these practices. In this research-in-progress paper, we propose a taxonomy of IT usage sophistication that businesses may demonstrate towards supporting implementation of their SSCM practices. The taxonomy is built on six distinct dimensions drawn from SSCM literature analysis. Finally, some implications for management are highlighted and the current status of our ongoing research involving the progress we are making in organising interviews with senior level managers chosen from large Australian organisations to evaluate and refine the proposed taxonomy is reported