Complex patterns of ICTs' effect on sustainable development at the national level: The triple bottom line perspective

Abstract

Building upon the complexity theory, we explore the interaction effects of the development of key digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the national level on a country's sustainability performance. By the means of the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis on a sample of 77 countries, we show that 1) a country's ICT profile matters for national sustainability performance, not a single ICT element; 2) national sustainability performance is not (only) about the level of ICT development of a country, but about composition and a quality of its ICT profile; 3) there are multiple distinctive ICT profiles that may lead to high or low sustainability performance (social, economic or environmental) at the national level; and 4) environmental sustainability may have conflicting ICT-related antecedents in comparison to social and economic sustainability. These results offer two primary contributions to research focused on the role of ICTs in supporting (or deterring) sustainable development. First, moving away from simplified perspective of a country's ICT development by focusing on a country's ICT profile allows us to distinguish effects (both positive and negative) of different ICT elements, as well as to take synergies brought by technological convergences into account. This allows us to capture effects of ICT elements in their totality, avoiding to lose richness and comprehensiveness. Second, by focusing on the triple-bottom line sustainability, we add to the growing evidence that environmental-focused goals often conflict with those related to social and economic aspects of sustainable development.