Green Business Process Management -- A Definition and Research Framework

The concepts of both business process management (BPM) and Green IS are on the agenda of IS researchers. BPM has a long-lasting legacy from enterprise resource planning and business process re-engineering. Green IS is still a young topic, although significant research progress has been made in recent years. However, in terms of combining the two aspects, there is still a lack of research. While there are some initial papers, concepts, and thoughts about this subject, a clear definition is missing. In this paper, we examine the literature concerning the research streams of Green IS and BPM and combine it with the initial research on Green BPM. Consequently, we present a definition for Green Business Process Management as well as a multidimensional framework for further research. We argue that research should focus on dimensions we could derive from literature in order to close the gaps in the field of Green BPM.