Abstract: 

Environmental sustainability is one of the main challenges of the 21st century that must be addressed with joint efforts. Information systems that provide data and insights into the status of the environment are considered valuable to better handle sustainability concerns. In addition, digital technologies are changing the dynamics of interaction within business environments, making the concept of digital business ecosystem highly relevant. Despite these premises, the studies about sustainability within the Information System (IS) field of research are scant and are proceeding at a slow pace compared to the urgency of the matter. Moreover, sustainability studies have been rarely conducted from an ecosystem perspective.

Therefore, in addressing these gaps, I plan to conduct a qualitative research project by following the big data project AquaCloud in the Norwegian aquaculture industry over all the years of my PhD programme. In my two first articles, I plan to investigate how competitors can address the breadth of sustainability by overcoming data governance and standardization problems that arise in a joint initiative where there is a common goal but individual interests as well. In my last paper, I will compare AquaCloud with another data lake initiative in order to validate, extend or revise the findings and contributions of my first paper. Building up a collaborative data governance model and a framework for the development and adoption of standards within digital ecosystems, I will contribute at both theoretical and practical level.