Creative Construction and Technoficing for a Sustainable Future
Supporting the below United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:支持以下聯合國可持續發展目標：支持以下联合国可持续发展目标：
As information technology (IT) permeates our society and its unbridled use increases, there are increasing concerns about its environmental footprint. Many environmentalists argue that IT, rather than addressing grand societal challenges such as climate change and global warming, is actually contributing to them. To address such concerns, we propose creative construction and technoficing as the two approaches to ensure that information technology is environment-friendly and its harmful environmental consequences are minimized. These two approaches emphasize building durable and simple but effective technology products, thus minimizing their adverse environmental consequences. We also offer several potential research directions and use several examples to explain why creative construction and technoficing are essential to keeping IS green. Our proposed research directions emphasize the importance of future research focusing on different perspectives that can inform how governments, organizations, and individuals can help manage limited planetary resources and remain sustainable even without the incessant need for regular product upgrades.
Professor Israr Qureshi is a leading scholar in digital social innovation, social entrepreneurship, and technology for inclusive development, internationally recognized for pioneering the concept of technoficing—the purposeful use of “good enough” and locally appropriate technologies to advance social objectives in resource-constrained contexts. His research demonstrates how simple, widely accessible digital tools can create profound social value, mobilize indigenous knowledge, and empower marginalized communities, especially across rural India. His work articulates technoficing as a strategic, context-sensitive alternative to technology-first development, emphasizing social embeddedness, capability building, and community ownership.
Professor Qureshi’s scholarship has shaped global conversations on digital social innovation, knowledge commoning, and the design of socio-technical systems for social inclusion. His widely cited contributions—including research on scaffolding and technoficing in knowledge curation, digital social innovation frameworks, and technoficing-enabled rural micro-entrepreneurship—have advanced new theoretical understandings of how technology, institutions, and local culture interact in settings of poverty, inequality, and social stratification. He has served in editorial leadership roles at MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Journal, and Business & Society. His research appears in leading outlets such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Annals, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, MIS Quarterly, Organization Studies, and Organization Science. Across his career, Professor Qureshi has advanced an integrative, human-centered vision of technology—one that foregrounds dignity, inclusivity, and social justice. His ongoing work continues to redefine how digital innovation can be mobilized to build resilient, equitable, and empowered communities worldwide.