Development divide vs digital divide – cross country study

The Pakistan Development Review, 2007

There can not be two opinions on the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for economic development. However, real disparities exist in access to and use of ICT across countries. The digital divide is a complicated matter of varying levels of access, basic usage, and applications of ICT among countries and peoples. Using the Gompertz Technology Diffusion model, this paper attempts to measure the contribution of factors such as affordability, knowledge, infrastructure, human capital, trade openness, and economic and social environment in the technology diffusion process, specially in the case of information-poor countries.

2011

Fast growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has facilitated access to information as well as communication across the world. However, penetration of ICT is not homogeneous in the developed and developing countries consequently there is an increase in the information gap between these regions. There may be several reasons for asymmetrical dissemination like GDP, education etc. but education plays an important role in the penetration of a new product or technology. Therefore, in this paper an attempt is made to present a comparative growth of enrollment at different levels of education and linkages between levels of educational attainment and diffusion of ICT indicators. The paper is divided into two sections (i) to analyse enrollment trends at primary, secondary and tertiary level and (ii) to investigate relationship between levels of educational attainment and diffusion of ICT indicators; Internet user, Internet user and personal computers per 100 populations in Br...

2007

The world is witnessing a new digital economic order which may be quantified by the diffusion of information technology and globalization process. The current information technology gap (digital divide) between developed countries and developing countries is huge. Improvements in information technology (measured by the digital opportunity index) usually open up an opportunity for national/regional growth and development. There is a need for scientific investigation on the digital divide, digital opportunity index and their consequences. This paper presents a critical analysis of existing digital divide and its trends, it also investigates the relationship between the digital divide and the digital opportunity index. A mathematical model based on analysis of the growing digital divide is presented as a possible tool for combating and eradicate the digital divide gap which is only possible if developing and poor nations take advantage of the digital opportunities that can transform them into global competitive partners in digital knowledge economy.

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2011

The global digital divide as a concept is intuitively understood by most academicians, politicians and public policy makers. However, to date little empirical work exists to explain differences in per country access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The research that does exists places heavy influence on the impact of country wealth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, on the diffusion of ICTs. While GDP per capita certainly influences the diffusion of ICTs within a country, it is not the sole determinant of a country's location versus other countries vis-a-vis the global digital divide.

The technology gap between the information rich (people with easy access to information and the information poor (people with less access to information) has always been there especially in the developing countries. With the surge of information and communication technologies saturating the society, it becomes imperative to establish if the gap has been made more elaborate by these new media technologies that propel digital communication. Using analytical and interpretative approach to library resources, this qualitative study established that access to the Internet is the ultimate link to global information and news. The technology used to access the Internet is quite irrelevant, the important thing being that a person or a nation shares information with the rest of the world. Couple this with the fact that a sizeable number of people using a variety of information and communication technologies have a reasonable access to the Internet, and then the digital divide is getting blurred. Nevertheless, as long as individuals have different economic status, differ in digital literacy level, have varied access to communication technologies there will always be some form of divide since access to information can hardly be equal. Provision of broadband high speed Internet and digital training are therefore recommended to further shrink the digital divide.

This study focuses attention upon groups of countries at varying levels of development (high, medium and low), determines what types of information technology policies have been implemented within them and shows where such countries are in the various technological indices to indicate the level at which the digital divide can be said to exist in the various regions of the world with special emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. It provides a window for policy makers to determine the impact of such policies upon economic growth and development in these groups of countries. It can ultimately determine their interconnectivity with the rest of the world and the significance of that digital divide.

Journal of Asian …, 2003

Access to new information and communication technologies (ICT) remains extremely unequally distributed across and within societies. While there have been a good deal of popular discussions about this "digital divide", not much is known about the quantitative significance of its various determinants. By undertaking a set of crosscountry regressions, the paper finds that income, education, and infrastructure play a critical role in shaping the divide. Based on this analysis, the paper also offers some policy suggestions as to how to promote wider diffusion of ICT in poorer societies.

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2014

The research purpose is to identify the correlates of technology utilization for the world and major world regions, while screening for spatial bias. Conceptual theory is induced which posits that levels of technological utilization are based on social, economic, government, and societal openness factors, while recognizing that geographic proximity can be influential for this utilization; the model's endogenous factors are posited to account for proximity. Regression findings worldwide for broadband internet subscribers indicate that the important correlates are tertiary education and innovation capacity. The disaggregated findings provide a more refined view. For Europe, significant determinants are judicial independence and innovation capacity, while for Asia they are tertiary education, foreign direct investment, and innovation capacity. For combined Africa-Latin America, higher education, press freedom, and foreign direct investment are most significant. The empirical findings lead to a more complex theoretical model that distinguishes determinants for developed and developing nations. The study suggests that a nation's governmental policies be tailored to the distinctive factors that apply for that nation's developed or developing region and/or its continental region. For planners and policy makers, the study suggests that use of spatial analysis can contribute to greater understanding and more accurate investigation of digital divides.

Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology

The rapid development and diffusion of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) have fundamentally changed many aspects of life and societies around the world. ICTs, especially the Internet, have affected the way we all live, communicate, work, study, and socialize in many ways. Today, ICTs have become an integral part of the developed countries. ICTs have the potential to support economic growth, to provide opportunities, and to increase democracy in developing countries. Yet, many developing countries have not been able to take advantages of the opportunities offered by ICTs. There are significant differences between developed and developing countries in terms of accessing and using the ICTs. That is defined as global digital divide. There are also different types of digital divide within a country, such as the gender divide, the age divide and the income divide. The main aim of this paper is to explore the digital divide in a developing country, Turkey, and to highlight some approaches to bridge it.

This research paper assesses the impact of ICTs (which includes the Internet, mobile phone, pager, personal computer, and telephone) on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in developing countries in 2005. It found a significant relationship between GNI per capita (in PPP international dollar) and adoption of each ICT (mobile phone, personal computer, and telephone) but not for Internet technology adoption. In addition, it identifies factors that developing countries need to consider in the adoption and application of ICTs for economic development.