Speed of Catch-up and Digital Divide: Convergence Analysis of Mobile Cellular, Internet, and Fixed Broadband for 44 African Countries

IF 3 4区管理学 Q1 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Journal of Global Information Technology Management Pub Date : 2020-07-02 DOI:10.1080/1097198X.2020.1792231

Yu Sang Chang, Seongmin Jeon, Kudzai Shamba

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引用次数: 9

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the dynamics of the digital divide between middle- and low-income groups of 44 African countries in the context of three technologies – mobile cellular, Internet, and fixed broadband – from 2000 to 2015. At the macro level, the relative digital divide has been narrowing at the annual rates from 11.3% to 0.72%, while the absolute digital divide has been widening at the annual rates from 31.33% to 17.11%. At the microlevel, convergence analysis indicates that a catch-up process has taken place in both income groups, with the low-income group displaying a faster catch-up speed in all three technologies. Combining the findings from the macro and the microlevel of the analysis revealed a positive relationship between the increasing rates of the absolute digital divide and the annual rate of catch-up by the low-income group. The faster is the increasing rate of the absolute digital divide, the faster the speed of catch-up by the low-income group of countries becomes. Several policy implications from these findings are discussed.

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追赶速度和数字鸿沟:44个非洲国家移动蜂窝、互联网和固定宽带的融合分析

本研究考察了2000年至2015年间44个非洲国家中低收入群体在移动蜂窝、互联网和固定宽带三种技术背景下的数字鸿沟动态。宏观上，相对数字鸿沟从11.3%逐年缩小到0.72%，而绝对数字鸿沟从31.33%逐年扩大到17.11%。在微观层面上，趋同分析表明，两个收入群体都出现了追赶过程，低收入群体在所有三种技术方面的追赶速度更快。结合宏观和微观层面的分析结果显示，绝对数字鸿沟的增长速度与低收入群体的年追赶速度之间存在正相关关系。绝对数字鸿沟扩大的速度越快，低收入国家追赶的速度就越快。本文还讨论了这些发现对政策的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Global Information Technology Management INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

10.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM) is a refereed international journal that is supported by Global IT scholars from all over the world. JGITM publishes articles related to all aspects of the application of information technology for international business. The journal also considers a variety of methodological approaches and encourages manuscript submissions from authors all over the world, both from academia and industry. In addition, the journal will also include reviews of MIS books that have bearing on global aspects. Practitioner input will be specifically solicited from time-to-time in the form of invited columns or interviews. Besides quality work, at a minimum each submitted article should have the following three components: an MIS (Management Information Systems) topic, an international orientation (e.g., cross cultural studies or strong international implications), and evidence (e.g., survey data, case studies, secondary data, etc.). Articles in the Journal of Global Information Technology Management include, but are not limited to: -Cross-cultural IS studies -Frameworks/models for global information systems (GIS) -Development, evaluation and management of GIS -Information Resource Management -Electronic Commerce -Privacy & Security -Societal impacts of IT in developing countries -IT and Economic Development -IT Diffusion in developing countries -IT in Health Care -IT human resource issues -DSS/EIS/ES in international settings -Organizational and management structures for GIS -Transborder data flow issues -Supply Chain Management -Distributed global databases and networks -Cultural and societal impacts -Comparative studies of nations -Applications and case studies