DIGITALIZING ACADEMIC GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY : A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR PAPERLESS SYSTEMS AND GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES

Abstract

Urban air pollution has emerged as a critical sustainability and public health challenge in metropolitan regions such as Bangkok, where recurrent PM₂.₅ pollution episodes continue to threaten environmental quality and human well-being. While policy interventions predominantly focus on transportation and industrial emissions, institutional consumption practices, particularly paper-intensive academic governance, remain underexplored as contributory factors and mitigation opportunities. The specific objectives of this study are: 1) To examine the influence of attitudes toward paperless governance, perceived digital behavioral control, and digital trust on paperless intention in the context of public university academic governance 2) To analyze the effect of paperless intention on green environmental outcomes, particularly in terms of reducing paper consumption and promoting environmentally sustainable academic practices. 3) To develop a theoretically grounded conceptual framework that explains how behavioral determinants drive paperless intention and contribute to green environmental sustainability within higher education institutions. This conceptual paper examines paperless academic governance in public universities as a sustainability-oriented approach to fostering a green environment. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior and green workplace behavior literature, the paper develops a conceptual framework that explains how attitudes toward paperless governance, perceived digital behavioral control, and digital trust influence paperless intention, which subsequently contributes to green environmental outcomes. By emphasizing the role of individual intentions enabled through digital readiness and trust, the study advances a set of theoretically grounded propositions to guide future empirical investigation. The paper contributes to sustainability in higher education by positioning paperless academic governance as a practical, institution-level strategy for promoting environmentally responsible behavior and supporting broader urban environmental sustainability efforts.