Internet Adoption, Digital Divide, and Corruption: Evidence from ECOWAS Countries

This paper aims to extend the existing literature on Internet adoption and corruption by analyzing the factors impacting the digital divide and assessing the impact of Internet adoption on corruption reduction in the Economic Community of West African States (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo). The study uses fixed and random effect panel data techniques covering 17 years (2003-2019), to exploit the times series nature of the relationship between the digital divide and its determinants. In addition, it aims to assess the impact of internet adoption along with other control variables on corruption. The estimation results show that per capita income, human capital, age, population density, government effectiveness, political stability, and the rule of law significantly affect the digital divide in ECOWAS. The findings reveal also that internet adoption affects positively the level of corruption control; the impact of an increase in internet users of 1% implies an increase in corruption control between 0.05% and 0.06%.