Leading People into a Better Future through Information System Interaction and Engagement. Digital Nudging Research in the Context of Business Trip Ridesharing

Climate change has become one of the most significant challenges humanity faces. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, not only will natural disasters strike considerably more frequently and severely, but whole swaths of land will become uninhabitable and infertile as farmland. It is apparent that long-term approaches like reaching net-zero with new technologies are important, but so are short-term measures to avoid tipping points and passing points of no return. The transport sector accounts for nearly a quarter (23%) of energy related-emissions, and 40¿60% of these transport-related emissions stem from commuting and business traveling. One short-term approach to lower transport emissions is ridesharing: When two or more commuters team up, significant emissions can be saved. As a result, business trip ridesharing (BTRS), the sharing of individual vehicles for commuting and business trips among employees, has gained increased attention from organizations and academia alike. BTRS shares similar adoption challenges like ridesharing and shared-mobility overall: From individuals¿ prevalence to solving the matching and allocation problem of shared resources. This thesis investigates the role that Green Information Systems (Green IS) can play to support BTRS adoption. Six studies address this objective: Study #1 analyzes the current ridesharing service landscape, providing a taxonomy and archetypical business models to understand the status quo. Studies #2 and #3 focus on evaluating employees¿ anteceding factors for BTRS, covering motivational, behavioral, and organizational facets. Studies #4 and #5 broaden the research perspective by introducing the nudge theory and digital nudging as potential interventions to foster BTRS adoption. Study #4 provides a blended environment framework, providing guidance for researching interventions that target both analog and digital-oriented behavior. Study #5 introduces critical ethical concerns that arise with digital choice architects manifold opportunities to persuade¿and potentially manipulate¿IS users. Green IS that facilitate BTRS aims for sharing rides and ongoing Green IS usage, representing a blended environment context. Thus, Study #6, applies the blended environment framework and finds support for the beneficial interaction between a Green IS and the adoption process of sharing rides in the real world. The findings suggest that both the digital and the analog user experience must be taken into concurrent consideration. In sum, this thesis highlights three aspects when considering IS as behavior change support systems in blended environments: What is the desired outcome, what are potential antecedents, and what is under an individual¿s perceived behavioral control. This thesis concludes with the proposition of a behavior change research framework in blended environments, important theoretical and managerial implications, and seven avenues for future research.