Digital Divide Across the European Union

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de InformaçãoOur research analyzes the digital divide within the European Union 27 (EU-27). To achieve this objective we use multivariate statistical methods, more specifically factor and cluster analysis, to address the disparities in the digital development levels between EU countries. Our results lead to an identification of two latent dimensions and five groups of countries when it comes to the digital development. We conclude that a digital gap does, in fact, exist within the EU. Moreover our results suggest that there is a relation with the entrance year to the Union with the digital development stage, considering that newer member presents lower digital developments

Exploring the Pattern between Education Attendance and Digital Development of Countries

AbstractThere is a clear belief among academics and policy makers about the importance of ICT for sustainable development and welfare. Thus, all across the world, a variety of strategies to promote the digital development have been proposed and implemented by national and international authorities. Simultaneously, academics have been dedicating their efforts to understand what explains the international digital divide. Within the academia, one can find the education of the individuals as one of the most popular reasons for the digital divide across countries. We tasked ourselves with analyzing this last correlation between digital development and educational attendance of countries and, with data pertaining to 105 countries and we conclude that the correlation is significant and surprisingly high, emphasizing the role of educated individuals in ICT adoption at country level

Evidence for Eastern and Western European countries

Chipeva, P., Cruz-Jesus, F., Oliveira, T., & Irani, Z. (2018). Digital divide at individual level: Evidence for Eastern and Western European countries. Government Information Quarterly, 35(3), 460-479. DOI: 10.1016/j.giq.2018.06.003The current study explores the digital divide by checking the phenomenon at the individual level. It digs into the individual pattern of adoption and use of a broad set of information and communications technologies (ICT) by introducing a conceptual model combining the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) and the five-factor model of personality. By doing so it provides insights on factors affecting technology adoption and the role of personality on individual usage behavior. Most of the UTAUT2 hypotheses are supported, with performance expectancy being the strongest predictor. Openness is a significant predictor of behavioral intention, whereas for usage behavior the significant personality predictors are openness, extraversion, and agreeableness. Moreover, as data were collected in Bulgaria and Portugal, a multi-group analysis revealed significant country differences. The effect of performance expectancy, habit, agreeableness, and neuroticism on behavioral intention, as well as the effect of age on usage, are stronger for Bulgaria, whereas the effect of hedonic motivation on behavioral intention and the effect of behavioral intention on usage are stronger for Portugal.authorsversionpublishe

Understanding the digital divide: A literature survey and ways forward

The term digital divide was introduced in the mid-1990s and defined as the gap separating those who have access to new forms of information technology from those who do not. The digital divide remains an important public policy debate that encompasses social, economic and political issues. This paper presents a literature review and classification scheme for digital divide research. The review covers journal articles published between 2001 and 2010 in three types of journals: (1) Information technology & information systems, (2) Economics and business & management and (3) Social science. A classification of digital divide literature and a comprehensive list of references are provided. The results show that the digital divide is a multifaceted phenomenon, due to the many dimensions of determinant factors. Recent studies have included socio-economic, institutional and physiological factors in order to gain a greater understanding of the digital divide. Among other findings, they show that technological determinism is not sufficient to explain the emergence of the digital divide. Moreover, several types of technologies were investigated, both from empirical and conceptual standpoints. The Internet is the most commonly studied technology. The divide in access and usage are discussed at the global, social and democratic levels by employing a quantitative method, either a survey or data analysis, as the main method. However, there is less discussion in developing countries and at the level of the organization (i.e. SMEs, the private sector and the public sector). The qualitative research method could be seen as a complementary method to fill the gap in the current research. The choice of policies which have been recommended to the policy maker and national regulatory agency (NRA) are also presented and discussed at the end of this paper. Several initiatives made at the country and regional levels and by international organizations have also attempted to create a combined policy. This may suggest that the combined policy is the current trend among digital divide policies. Therefore, there is a need for future research to examine these determinants through the context of global, social and democratic divides. The results would provide some insight into how diverse people in different areas adopt ICTs. --Digital divide,Literature review,Future research

Review of corporate digital divide research: A decadal analysis (2003-2012)

The digital divide (DD) refers to the gap between individuals, companies, regions and countries in accessing and using the information and communication technology (ICT). DD research is mainly oriented towards detection of differences in the ICT use among individuals. An important part of DD research refers to the differences in ICT adoption and use among corporations. The goal of this paper is to present a review of published papers on DD among corporations. Papers from the journals indexed in SSCI that investigate corporate DD were examined in order to compare the research on corporate DD in terms of: (1) geographical area, time frame of the study, sampled corporations; (2) phenomena used as the indicators/measure of DD, inequality type, ICT adoption cycle, determinants of DD; and (3) data collection approach, data sources, sample size and methodology used for investigation of DD determinants

The Development Gap Between the CIS and EU

Current report aims to identify major existing gaps in the five socio-economic dimensions (economic, human, openness, environmental, and institutional) and to reveal those gaps which could potentially hinder social and economic integration of neighbor states with the EU. To achieve this, the authors aim to assess the existing trends in the size of the gaps across countries and problem areas, taking into consideration the specific origin of the gap between EU15/EU12, on the one hand, and FSU republics, EU candidates and West Balkan countries, on the other hand. The paper is structured as follows: 1. A review of literature on the determinants of growth and development and the analysis of the catching up process between countries or groups of countries. 2. An analysis of the historic roots and origins of the development gap, and its evolvement over time. 3. A review of literature sources, draft analysis of primary statistical data, and qualitative explanations of gaps and divergences in selected development issues across the following socio-economic dimensions: level of economic development and convergence rates based on Real GDP (application of methodology testing ß and ? convergence to the set of countries analyzed); • quality of life and its components (poverty, inequality, health status and health care, access to fresh water and sanitation facilities, subjective perceptions of well-being); • human capital and labor market development, including level of education and public spending on education, its accessibility and quality, main differences in labor market development (employment participation rates and levels of unemployment, new jobs creation and labor protection legislation); • innovation potential, including R&D, information and communication technologies, and institutional environment; • openness and trade potential, including trade in goods and services, FDI stocks, trade regime and performance in logistics and infrastructure; THE DEVELOPMENT GAP BETWEEN THE CIS AND EU 15 CASE Network Reports No. 81 • environmental performance in terms of environmental stresses, efforts aimed at their reduction, and institutional capacity; • business climate, political institutions, and other institutional indicators (econometric analysis). 4. A test econometric analysis of development gaps across selected dimensions by using a Principal Components Method (PCM). The results are further presented in the form of ranks of countries analyzed reflecting their distances from EU15 in respective aggregate averages. Special attention is paid to gender-related development issues. Respective issues in human capital and labor market study, as well as variables included into PCM analysis were supplemented with relative gender data. Several conclusions finalize the report.EU, CIS, development gap, GDP, convergence, quality of life, human capital, innovation, environment, institutions, Principal Components Method

Modelos cuantitativos de adopción y uso de tecnologías de información y comunicación en España

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Económicas y Empresariales, Departamento de Análisis Económico, leída el 20-11-2019This paper explores the determinants of the individual´s decision to perform cross-border e-commerce (CBeC). The European Union (EU) is especially interested in the promotion of CBeC because it is an important tool in its strategy to achieve the Digital Single Market in Europe. In this paper, official data is used from a representative survey of 16,209 individuals on ICT usage by households and individuals that was carried out in Spain by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) for the year 2016. Using a standard neoclassical utility maximization framework, and logistic regression techniques, the results show that being a male is positively related to the probability of practicing CBeC. Education is positively and significantly related to the probability of being involved in CBeC with EU countries. Computer and Internet Skills are significant and positive factors in explaining CBeC (either with EU countries or with the rest of the world). The variable “how often the consumer sees other customer reviews before buying online”, has a positive effect. Foreign nationality also increases the likelihood of using CBeC. To promote CBeC in Spain measures towards developing digital skills, Internet trust and use of online information reviews of goods and services are discussed..Este trabajo explora los determinantes de la decisión individual de realizar comercio electrónico transfronterizo (CBeC). La Unión Europea (EU) está especialmente interesada en la promoción del CBeC debido a que es una herramienta indispensable en su estrategia para alcanzar el Mercado Único Digital en Europa. En este trabajo se han utilizado datos oficiales que provienen de una encuesta representativa de 16.209 individuos, sobre el uso de tecnologías de la información y comunicación en hogares y por individuos, llevada a cabo por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) para el año 2016. Utilizando el marco neoclásico de maximización de la utilidad y técnicas de regresión logística, los resultados muestran que ser hombre está relacionado positivamente con la probabilidad de realizar CBeC con países de la Unión Europea. Las habilidades informáticas y aquellas relacionadas con el uso de Internet son factores significativos y positivos para explicar CBeC (tanto con países de la Unión Europea, como con países del resto del mundo). La variable “con qué frecuencia un consumidor ve opiniones de otros consumidores antes de comprar”, tiene un efecto positivo. Tener nacionalidad extranjera también incrementa la probabilidad de realizar CBeC. Para promover el CBeC en España se proponen medidas dirigidas a desarrollar las habilidades digitales de los individuos, confianza en Internet y el uso de información de opiniones sobre bienes y servicios...Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y EmpresarialesTRUEunpu

Review of corporate digital divide research: A decadal analysis (2003-2012)

The digital divide (DD) refers to the gap between individuals, companies, regions and countries in accessing and using the information and communication technology (ICT). DD research is mainly oriented towards detection of differences in the ICT use among individuals. An important part of DD research refers to the differences in ICT adoption and use among corporations. The goal of this paper is to present a review of published papers on DD among corporations. Papers from the journals indexed in SSCI that investigate corporate DD were examined in order to compare the research on corporate DD in terms of: (1) geographical area, time frame of the study, sampled corporations; (2) phenomena used as the indicators/measure of DD, inequality type, ICT adoption cycle, determinants of DD; and (3) data collection approach, data sources, sample size and methodology used for investigation of DD determinants

Characterization of e-Government adoption in Europe

The digital divide in Europe has not yet been bridged and thus more contributions towards understanding the factors affecting the different dimensions involved are required. This research offers some insights into the topic by analyzing the e-Government adoption or practical use of e-Government across Europe (26 EU countries). Based on the data provided by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat), we defined two indexes, the E-Government Use Index (EGUI) and an extreme version of it taking into account only null or complete use (EGUI+), and characterized the use/non use of e-Government tools using supervised learning procedures in a selection of countries with different e-Government adoption levels. These procedures achieved an average accuracy of 73% and determined the main factors related to the practical use of e-Government in each of the countries, e.g. the frequency of buying goods over the Internet or the education level. In addition, we compared the proposed indexes to other indexes measuring the level of e-readiness of a country such as the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) its Online Service Index (OSI) component, the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) and its Government usage component (GU). The ranking comparison found that EGUI+ is correlated with the four indexes mentioned at 0.05 significance level, as the majority of countries were ranked in similar positions. The outcomes contribute to gaining understanding about the factors influencing the use of e-Government in Europe and the different adoption levels