The impact of customer information sharing on service quality: a moderated mediation model of environmental innovation and digital technology capability

Abstract

This study examines how customer information sharing enhances service quality in service firms through the mediating role of environmental innovation, and how this process depends on the firm's digital technology capability. Drawing on the extended resource-based view (ERBV) and dynamic capabilities view (DCV), structured information sharing (SIS) and unstructured information sharing (UIS) are conceptualized as external knowledge resources. Survey data were collected from UK service firms. A moderated mediation model was employed to test the effects of SIS and UIS on service quality via environmental innovation, and the moderating role of digital technology capability on these indirect relationships. Results show that environmental innovation significantly improves service quality. UIS is positively associated with environmental innovation, while no significant unconditional effect. However, digital technology capability strengthens the indirect effects of both SIS and UIS on service quality through environmental innovation, with the SIS effect becoming significant only at higher levels of digital technology capability. This study positions environmental innovation as a quality-relevant internal mechanism that connects customer information sharing to service quality in service firms. It distinguishes between structured and UIS, showing that unstructured inputs more readily stimulate environmental innovation, while structured data require stronger digital technology capability to become effective. By integrating the ERBV and DCV, the study advances understanding of how customer information and digital technology capability jointly enable sustainability-oriented service quality improvement.