Moderating effects of environmental factors on e-government, e-business, and environmental sustainability

Abstract

Utilizing the resource complementarity perspective of the resource based view (RBV) of a firm, and the literature on information technology (IT) and environmental sustainability as the guiding theoretical lenses, we posit that the relationships of electronic-government (e-government) development and electronic-business (e-business) development in a country with its environmental sustainability are contingent on national environmental factors (i.e., complementary assets): (1) human capital; (2) public institutions; (3) macro-economic stability; and (4) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Based on publicly available archival data from 122 countries, results showed that both e-government development and e-business development had no direct effect on environmental sustainability. However, e-government development and e-business development interacted with other variables to affect environmental sustainability. Specifically, while human capital and public institutions positively moderated the relationship of e-government development with environmental sustainability, the relationship of e-business development with environmental sustainability was contingent on them in the negative direction. Also, while macro-economic stability positively moderated the relationship of e-government development with environmental sustainability, the relationship of e-business development with environmental sustainability was not contingent on it. Finally, the relationships of e-government development and e-business development with environmental sustainability were contingent on GDP per capita in the negative direction. Our findings contribute to the theoretical discourse on the resource complementarity perspective by identifying the roles of national complementary assets and provide indications to practice on improvements in environmental sustainability by effectively managing those assets. © (2011) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.