In an era where the global community grapples with mounting environmental challenges and resource scarcity, the efficient utilization of natural resources has emerged as a paramount concern for policymakers and scholars alike. Recent investigations reveal that the integration of digital governance—a multifaceted system intertwining technological advancements with organizational and environmental factors—holds untapped potential to revolutionize natural resource management. Yet, the mechanisms through which digital governance concretely enhances natural resource utilization efficiency (NRUE) remain elusive, necessitating a nuanced exploration grounded in empirical data and advanced analytical frameworks.
Recent research conducted across China’s diverse provincial landscapes from 2018 through 2022 sheds light on the evolving contours of NRUE and its spatial and temporal dynamics. This period witnessed a general upward trajectory in NRUE, with notable disparities across regions. While eastern coastal provinces sustained consistently high efficiency levels, central and western areas displayed gradual improvements, albeit lagging behind their eastern counterparts. The spatial distribution of NRUE distinctly mirrors China’s socio-economic gradients, exhibiting a pronounced east-to-west decline, underscoring the intricate interplay between development, technology access, and resource management.
To dissect the complex causality underlying NRUE enhancement, the study applies the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) theoretical framework, integrating digital governance antecedents to build a comprehensive analytical model. Employing a dynamic Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), the research probes whether individual digital governance factors singularly influence NRUE or if their combined synergies drive substantive improvements. The findings convincingly demonstrate that no single digital governance element operates as a necessary condition in isolation. Instead, it is through intricate configurations of multiple antecedents that meaningful progress in NRUE unfolds.
The configurational analysis identifies five distinct pathways conducive to high NRUE, which coalesce into four overarching models characterized by their unique emphasis on technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions. Foremost among these is the organization-technology driven model, which pivots on the pivotal role of digital governance capacity (DGC) buttressed by comprehensive digital infrastructure development. This constellation facilitates optimized resource management by enhancing coordination and information dissemination capabilities within governing bodies.
In contrast, the technology-environment driven model highlights the primacy of digital economic development (DED), underpinned by digital technology innovation (DTI) and digital infrastructure facilitation (DIF), as accelerators of NRUE improvement. This pathway underscores how technological innovation within a conducive economic milieu can spur resource efficiency gains through enhanced productivity and reduced wastage. The interplay of technology advancement and environmental conditions thus becomes a catalyst for systemic change.
The organization-environment driven model further emphasizes the critical contribution of institutional digital governance in steering resource allocation within a supportive digital economic environment. This paradigm elucidates how governance effectiveness synergizes with external environmental factors to optimize resource utilization outcomes. Finally, the holistic synergy driven model represents the most integrative framework, wherein multiple factors spanning technological capabilities, organizational structures, and environmental contexts converge to produce sustained NRUE advancements. Within this model, pathways vary in their emphases—some foreground DGC and digital inclusion (DIN) augmented by DED, while others blend DGC with DED and DTI to intensify resource efficiency.
Across these configurations, a notable pattern emerges: the recurring presence of government-led digital governance and digital economic development as pivotal drivers in four out of five identified pathways. This recurrent theme underscores their foundational role as linchpins in the digital transformation of resource management, reinforcing the notion that governmental capacity and economic digitization jointly scaffold environmental stewardship and sustainable resource utilization.
Temporal dynamics analysis reveals that from 2018 to 2022, there is no pronounced time effect on NRUE configurations, as evidenced by stable adjusted distance and consistency metrics. However, the year 2020 marks a disruption, likely attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic’s complex social upheavals, which diminished the clarity and explanatory power of the digital governance antecedents within the models. This finding highlights the sensitivity of resource efficiency frameworks to extraneous shocks, illustrating the need for resilient governance structures capable of adapting to sudden systemic perturbations.
Spatially, the explanatory power of the configurations remains consistent across provinces, exhibiting adjusted distance values below 0.2. Nevertheless, geographical preferences emerge in configuration applicability. The eastern regions predominantly align with configurations H3 and H5, signaling a greater resonance of certain digital governance-environment interactions there. Meanwhile, central provinces mostly correspond with the H2 configuration, and western provinces align with H1 and H4. These spatial variations reflect differing regional contexts and capacities, suggesting tailored digital governance strategies may be necessary to maximize NRUE gains across disparate locales.
Methodologically, the study utilizes the Super-Efficiency Epsilon-Based Measure (Super-EBM) model to robustly quantify NRUE, facilitating nuanced efficiency comparisons that incorporate both desirable and undesirable outputs. Complementing this, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools elucidate the spatiotemporal distribution of NRUE, enabling a rich visualization of efficiency clusters and gradients. Such multi-method approaches advance the rigor and granularity of NRUE assessments, setting a foundation for more targeted policy interventions.
Despite these promising insights, the research acknowledges inherent limitations. The robustness of the Super-EBM measurement warrants further empirical validation through diverse contextual applications and expanded sample sizes. Moreover, the current indicator system requires ongoing refinement to enhance universality and precision. The TOE-based framework, while comprehensive, inevitably excludes other potentially influential factors, inviting future research to incorporate broader theoretical lenses and a more extensive variable set to deepen the explanatory depth.
Further, the study’s scope remains confined to provincial-level analyses within China, constrained by data accessibility challenges. Extending investigative frameworks to sub-provincial levels or conducting cross-national comparative studies could unveil richer, more granular understanding of NRUE dynamics and the role of digital governance therein. Finally, reliance on secondary public data sources limits interpretive scope to macro-level trends. Integrating qualitative methodologies such as interviews and participant observation promises to enrich explanatory narratives and enhance the practical relevance of findings.
In sum, the emergent portrait from this research is one of digital governance as a synergistic and contextual confluence of technological, organizational, and environmental factors driving natural resource utilization efficiency. The complexity and regional variability of these dynamics highlight the necessity for multifaceted, adaptable governance frameworks that harness digital innovation and organizational capacity in tandem with favorable economic conditions. As resource constraints intensify globally, such integrative approaches stand poised to play a decisive role in steering sustainable development trajectories.
This research thus opens avenues for future inquiry into the intersection of digital governance and resource management, advocating for expanded theoretical frameworks, diversified methodological tools, and broader geographical analysis. The pandemic-induced disturbances further spotlight the imperative for robust, resilient governance systems capable of sustaining efficiency gains amid volatility. Policymakers and stakeholders are thereby encouraged to prioritize comprehensive digital ecosystem development, blending infrastructure, innovation, and institutional capacity, to unlock the full potential of natural resources in pursuit of ecological sustainability.
The implications resonate beyond China’s provincial boundaries, offering transferable insights for global regions wrestling with similar environmental and developmental dilemmas. As digital technologies proliferate and economic digitization deepens, the lessons from this study underscore the critical need to integrate policy, technology, and environment within coherent governance architectures. This integrative vision promises not only enhanced resource efficiency but also a pathway toward enduring planetary stewardship in an increasingly digital world.
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Subject of Research: How digital governance improves natural resource utilization efficiency through technology, organization, and environment-based configurations.
Article Title: How does digital governance improve natural resource utilization efficiency? Configuration analysis based on the TOE framework.
Article References:
Zhang, S., Cao, X. How does digital governance improve natural resource utilization efficiency? Configuration analysis based on the TOE framework. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 12, 714 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04970-1
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