Environmental Data Management for Green Product Innovation: A Multiple Case Study on the Role of Green Information Systems

Developing innovative green products requires detailed, standardized, high-quality data across firms and supply chains; the absence of such data or asymmetric access to environmental information can compromise corporate sustainability objectives. Emerging data management technologies have significant potential to advance sustainability, yet the mechanisms through which purpose-built digital tools leverage corporate environmental data to enable green innovation remain understudied. This article investigates the role of Green Information Systems (GIS) - key digital infrastructure for managing environmental data - in fostering green product innovation in the industrial electronics sector. Using an abductive multiple-case study methodology in a multi-tier supply chain, we identify the core challenges of managing complex environmental data and evaluate the effectiveness of GIS-driven solutions. Triangulating across different data sources, we find that GIS can be used to enhance data management, transparency, and benchmarking capabilities, which then support green innovation. However, significant barriers persist, including insufficient data granularity and system-wide coverage, together with a lack of technical skills and a limited willingness to share sustainability metrics. The best practices emerging from systematic combining of theory and empirical patterns consist of strategic, dynamic, and collaborative integration of these systems. This study advances the understanding of how best-practice applications of environmental data management technologies can promote sustainability. Although GIS are crucial enablers of green product innovation, they are not sufficient on their own and require complementary capabilities and systemic approaches to realize their full potential.