uwcisa 7 th biennial research symposium october 22, 2011 california state university at northridge...

UWCISA 7th Biennial Research SymposiumOctober 22, 2011

California State University at Northridge

Glen L. Gray

David W. Miller

Iowa State University

Won Gyun No

Identifying Value-Added

Roles for Internal Auditors

in Green IT Activities

FACE CHANGE OVER TYPICAL WORK WEEK

Wednesday

Mad as hell!

Saturday

Oh-Oh!

Monday

Oh God, help me!

Sunday

Here we go again!!!

Friday

TGIF! Love my Friday!

Thursday

The end of the week is in sight.

Tuesday

Stay away from me!

AGENDA

Introduction

Research questions

Research method

Research results

Limitations and future research

INTRODUCTION

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Organizations

Stakeholders increasingly demand that organizations act in responsible ways to address the social, economic, and environmental issues.

Increasing pressures

Organizations are increasingly obliged to have strategies and

operations that consider environmental issues and the environmental impact of their

activities.Need to accomplish CSR

goals while controlling operating

costs

Many organizations neglect the critical roles played by IT in CSR.

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Organizations

Stakeholders increasingly demand that organizations act in responsible ways to address the social, economic, and environmental issues.

Increasing pressures

Organizations are increasingly obliged to have strategies and

operations that consider environmental issues and the environmental impact of their

activities.

Green IT

Green manufacturi

ng of IT

systems

Green disposal

of IT systems

Green use of IT

systems

Green design

of IT systems

Acknowledged as a critical element of an firm’s efforts to reduce its environ-mental impact.

Many organizations neglect the critical roles played by IT in CSR.

Evaluating Corporate Social Responsibil-ity/Sustainable Development (IIA 2010)

• Three broad functions for internal audi-tors in CRS activities: auditor, facilita-tor, and consultant.

Need to accomplish CSR goals

while controlling operating costs

Gap in prior literature

What green IT initiatives organizations are imple-menting.

What the roles of internal auditors are, and should be, in assessing the effec-tiveness of those initia-tives.

Jenkin, Webster, and McShane (2011)

This study examines:

RQ1: What is the scope of green IT activities implemented at organizations?

RQ2: In what green IT roles should internal auditors be involved?

RQ3: What are the current roles of internal auditors in their organization’s green IT activities?

RQ4: Do organizational Green IT activities and green IT roles should internal auditors be involved vary by industry classification and by organization size?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

RESEARCH METHOD A Web-based green IT survey

Developed based on variety of sources.

Technical green IT questions: EPA (2007), Lamb (2009), and Velte et al. (2008)

Publication from accounting firms: Deloitte (2007), Ernst & Young (2010), and KPMG (2010)

Demographic and other questions: Gray et al. (2010) and IIA (2010)

Modified based on the pilot test (members of local IIA and ISACA chapters).

A total of 28 questions

A Web-based green IT survey


Technical green IT questions: EPA (2007), Lamb (2009), and Velte et al. (2008)


Demographic and other questions: Gray et al. (2010) and IIA (2010)



RESEARCH METHOD

A Web-based green IT survey


Technical green IT question: EPA (2007), Lamb (2009), and Velte et al. (2008)


Demographic questions and other questions: Gray et al. (2010) and IIA (2010)



Variables for the statistical analysis

Industry classification

‘Less polluting industry’ versus ‘More polluting industry’

Natural resources (SIC 1xxx) and utility & transportation (SIC 4xxx)

Organization size

‘Small organization’ versus ‘Large organization’

Median split based on the number of internal auditors (i.e., 7)

RESEARCH METHOD

Participants

Members of the North America IIA jurisdiction who classified themselves as internal auditors

A total of 652 individuals participated in the survey.

141 did not completed the survey.

Final sample:511 valid responses

RESEARCH RESULTSDEMOGRAPHICS

RESEARCH RESULTSRQ1: SCOPE OF GREEN IT ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED AT ORGANIZATIONS


RESEARCH RESULTSRQ2: GREEN IT ROLES THAT INTERNAL AUDITORS SHOULD BE INVOLVED



RESEARCH RESULTSRQ3: CURRENT ROLES IN ORGANIZATION’S GREEN IT ACTIVITIES


RESEARCH RESULTSPAIRED SAMPLES t TEST

Examine whether there is a gap between green IT activities that internal auditors should be involved in and their current involvement of green IT activities.

Although internal auditors believe that they should be involved in green IT activities, their current involvement of all four activities was limited.

Limitations

Participants

A convenience sample: Caution must be exercised in generalizing the

survey results.

Mainly from two countries: 82.5% of the respondents from the United

States or Canada.

Simple classification

Industry classification: Less polluting industry versus More polluting

industry

Organization size: Small organization versus large organization

Future research

Why is the current involvement of internal auditors relatively

low and narrow?

Is the auditor involvement in the other countries higher or

lower?

Why there were significant “Not Sure” responses to many of the

survey questions.

Are the auditors just ignoring green IT pronouncements in their

organization or is the organization doing a poor job of communicating

green IT policies?

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

uwcisa 7 th biennial research symposium october 22, 2011 california state university at northridge...

Documents

organizations green

green manufacturing

scope of green

systems green use

systems green disposal

systems green design

initiatives organizations

pressures organizations