A technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework based on the scientific research directions for risk in sustainable water resources management

Abstract

Abstract The issue to study how water can be used in a way to meet sustainability through risk management has become increasingly complex given that many keywords in different aspects are involved. This study started with trend analysis, followed by bibliometric analysis, and eventually built a conceptual TOE framework. In the trend analysis, water conservation and water crisis were the top-mentioned words, suggesting the need to address the public concern for these issues. In the bibliometric analysis, 37% of the articles were published in the last three years, and environmental science and technology was the major field of the articles. An approach of a technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework was proposed to link and group the keywords from the articles, referred to as risks, in the categories of technology, organization, and environment. By calculating the score of each keyword in the categories to quantify their degree of impact, the three risks that had the highest scores were statistical analysis (belonged to the category of technology), climate change, and uncertainty (both belonged to the category of environment). In the category of technology, statistical analysis, sustainable development, and water quality represented the most important risks. As water management, governance, and water markets were critical in the category of organization, climate change, uncertainty, and flood represented the keys in the environment category. This study is expected to provide valuable information regarding the research trends important to achieve sustainability of water resource management in both conventional and academic studies in the last decade.