Digital responsibility, skills and environmental awareness for digital sustainability

This study investigates how digital competencies and environmental awareness interact to shape eco-friendly digital practices, contributing to the field of digital sustainability. Drawing on a representative sample of adult internet users in the United Arab Emirates (N = 1016), it explores (H1) whether individual responsibility predicts environmentally conscious digital practices; (H2) whether environmental awareness moderates the effect of perceived digital competence on behavior; and (H3) whether sustainable digital behaviors are associated with perceived digital competence, with awareness as a moderator. Using linear and moderated regression analyses, the findings confirm that individual responsibility is a significant predictor of pro-environmental digital behavior, and that perceived digital competence is positively associated with such behavior, an association that is modestly strengthened, rather than enabled, by environmental awareness. The reverse association, from behavior to perceived digital competence, is not moderated by awareness, pointing to an asymmetrical pattern that the cross-sectional design does not allow us to interpret causally. By integrating digital inequality frameworks with environmental psychology, this study advances the understanding of digital sustainability as a site where perceived competence and responsibility jointly shape sustainable digital engagement.