e-Government development and environmental performance: Unravelling the dual mediation of regulatory enforcement and citizen participation in China

Empirical evidence on whether and how e-government development affects environmental performance remains scarce. This study aims to examine the relationship between e-government development and environmental performance, and explore its mechanism of action. Using panel data from 30 provinces in China (2007–2022), it has been confirmed that e-government development can promote environmental performance. Regulatory enforcement and citizen participation both play partial mediating roles, and the effect size decreases under mediation. This study deepens our understanding of the relationship between e-government development and environmental performance, and provides policy recommendations for promoting the digital transformation of environmental governance. Points for practitioners e-Government development can significantly improve environmental performance. The key transmission mechanism is improvement of regulatory enforcement and increased citizen participation. The government is recommended to focus on developing intelligent modules for environmental regulation to reduce enforcement costs while improving the citizen participation function to maximize the synergies of digital governance.