Factors affecting ICT adoption among rural users: A case study of ICT Center in Iran

Rural ICT centers are the initiative of the third millennium and widen the accessibility horizons of information and Communication Technology among disadvantaged groups of societies, and play a significant role in rural development processes. Adoption of new technology in rural Iran has been the main challenge and focal point of all agricultural extension activities since the modernization era of the 1950s. Consequently the rapidly growing gap between urban and rural economy has reinforced the critical role of ICT in creating an equal society. Identifying the factors which foster adoption of ICT is among the important challenges of alleviating digital divide. ICT centers attract different groups within rural communities and create a forum for unprivileged rural settlers to learn about and to use computer and internet. This paper attempts to identify the factors influencing the adoption of ICT in rural Gharn Abad's ICT center of Golestan Province. The sample included 218 individuals, who were selected by stratified random sampling method. Survey method was used, and data was analyzed by correlation as well as multiple regression techniques. Based on the results, the existence of ICT center itself, with various funding sources, reinforced the adoption regardless of the users' economic status. At the same time, the other factors such as individual, social, the households' informative & communicative, as well as the innovation related factors were found influential. This case study could be used as a sample for planning, establishing, and developing the ICT centers in the other similar situations.     

Convergence and determinants of ICT development in case of emerging market economies

This paper aims to examine the convergence of ICT development in the case of 27 emerging market economies (EMEs) using annual data from 2000 to 2018. First, by employing Phillips-Sul (PS) panel convergence test, the results not only support the evidence of convergence in ICT development but also find convergence in the composition of ICT development known as ICT access and ICT use. Second, the study identifies factors such as per capita income, human capital, and FDI which significantly affect ICT development. Third, results based on stochastic conditional convergence reveal that EMEs countries are not only converging among themselves but also ‘catch-up’ to the OECD countries.     

ICT for healthy and active aging: The elderly as first and last movers

While ICT hold great potential for healthy active aging, use among seniors is still low. Then, it becomes crucial to understand adoption patterns to inform policies aimed at bridging the “grey digital divide”. Using microdata from a representative sample of the Spanish population in 2015, discrete choice modelling is employed to explore the take-up of both standard and new ICT-based health monitoring devices. Findings indicate that there is no “grey digital divide” for wearable ICT; however, such a gap appears for apps. Moreover, the elderly are less willing to get advice from their physicians on these tools regardless their experience with them. Such results suggest the importance of promoting ICT for health, among the elderly, as new improved generations of the standard gadgets to which they are used. Future research should try to study the potential of wearable devices among seniors.     

The non-linear relationship between ICT diffusion and financial development

This research investigates the linear and non-linear effects of information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion on financial development for 81 countries over the period 1990–2015 by employing the generalized-momentum method (GMM) and panel smooth transition regression (PSTR). Some main conclusions are presented as follows. First, comparing the different effects of ICT on financial development between the high-income group and the middle- & low-income group, telephone and Internet positively influences both groups’ financial development, whereas mobile cellular causes a negative effect in high-income countries, but a positive effect in middle- & low-income countries. Second, the growth of the Internet and telephones raises the financial development in all regions, while mobile cellular growth positively affects financial development only in Africa. Finally, strong evidence appears that the PSTR models capture the smooth non-linear effects of ICT diffusion on financial development, in which the effect of ICT diffusion on financial development is positive in the lower level of ICT diffusion, but turns negative in the higher level of ICT diffusion.     

Measuring convergence of China's ICT industry: An input-output analysis

The convergence of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry is ubiquitous phenomena, which can be classified from the supply/demand side or complementary/substitute relation. According to the classification, the paper measures the convergence of China's ICT sectors based on its 2002 input-output (IO) table, including five manufacturing sectors and two service sectors. Then, using IO table cross-entropy updating technique, the paper investigates the convergence evolution of four ICT manufacturing sectors from 1997 to 2002. The research finds the following conclusions. In 2002, the supply side convergence of manufacturing sectors was higher than that of service sectors, while service sectors featured a higher degree of the demand side convergence. The year of 2002 witnessed high complementary convergence between some China's ICT manufacturing and service sectors. During the period from 1997 to 2002, the supply side convergence dominated the convergence of China's ICT industry, while the demand-side convergence experienced little structural change.     

Comparison of Chinese and Korean companies in ICT global standardization: Essential patent analysis

The latecomers from Asia—China and Korea—started to participate in information and communication technology (ICT) global standardizations as they accumulated technological capabilities. We observed the current situation of ICT global standardizations in those countries by analyzing the mobile communications standards, WCDMA and LTE, and derived interesting findings and meaningful implications from the analysis. First, this paper provides evidence of the differences in Chinese and Korean standard strategies; China is creating its own standard whereas Korea goes with global standardization. Second, this paper shows the subsequent results of the different strategies. In detail, we conducted an analysis based on (declared) essential patents in WCDMA and LTE. The results indicate that China and Korea hold a significant number of essential patents and their numbers compete with those of leading countries. However, the analysis shows that Korea accumulated domestic knowledge that enables the country to actively participate in standardization,but China still heavily relies on foreign knowledge, probably because China is attempting to create its own standard and accumulating knowledge takes a long time despite its efforts.Our findings have several implications for leading countries and other following countries.     

跨组织大规模协作:特征、要素与运行机制

基于模块化技术的作用,资产专用性下降,垂直一体化企业被分解,全球价值链得到重构,跨组织大规模协作则逐渐成为组织间合作的重要形式,成为维基经济中财富创造的新引擎。它使企业能够利用群体智慧与自组织作为有力的杠杆来削减成本、快速创新,与顾客、合作伙伴共同实现价值的创造,从而顺利地构建起21世纪的商业平台。本文就跨组织大规模协作这种新型生产组织形式的特征、实现要素以及运行机制进行探讨,旨在为我国的企业发展与变革提供启示。     

Regulatory inertia versus ICT dynamics: The case of product innovations

This article conjectures that the legacy industry-specific regulation that has governed the telecommunications sector for a long time is in basic conflict with the dynamics and product innovations that characterize the modern information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Reasons for the failure of legacy regulation to promote product innovations are explained and proposals for alternatives, such as deregulation and regulatory reform are discussed. Both regulation and competition policy are more difficult for ICT than for other sectors. Therefore both, regulation and competition policy may need reforms in order to deal with new problems. The most drastic and most realistic alternative to legacy-type regulation remains deregulation and a move to competition policy. Symmetric regulation, smart regulation, quasi-Coasean approaches and subsidies all have some limited applicability to specific situations, but are all associated with complications that have to be resolved, while competition policy is a comprehensive alternative. Last-mile access and gatekeeper access are analyzed as two main areas of legacy regulation, which are in danger of being exported to other ICT areas. Such exports may negatively affect the dynamics of the ICT industry. Rather than being exported, legacy regulations should be reduced in order to enhance product innovations.     

The impact of ICT patents on economic growth: An international evidence

This study aims to examine the impact of inventions, measured by the number of new patents, on economic growth. Specifically, we focus on patents in the ICT sector for a global sample of 43 economies, comprising 26 advanced and 17 emerging market economies in the period 1998 to 2016. We use a two-step system GMM to control for potential endogeneity in the data. Our results are threefold. First, total patents have mutually causal effects with economic growth, but there is no evidence of an impact of total patents on manufacturing sector growth. At the same time, ICT patents have a unidirectional causal impact on both, overall economic growth, and the growth of services and manufacturing. Second, the impact of total patents on economic growth is stronger in advanced economies. At the same time, ICT patents have a positive significant impact on the growth of advanced economies and a negative significant effect on the growth of emerging economies. Third, in the long-run, ICT patents have a positive significant impact on economic growth, while total patents do not.     

ICT capital and labour productivity growth: A non-parametric analysis of 14 OECD countries

This paper uses a new set of country data for 14 countries, members of the OECD, and a non-parametric approach to provide new evidence on the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on labour productivity growth between 1995 and 2005. For the first time, in the present paper a bootstrap approach for the decomposition of labour productivity change, proposed by Kumar and Russell (2002), is employed. This approach permits to conduct statistical inference on the parameters of interest, and to analyse the effects of ICT technologies on capital accumulation. The results confirm the role of ICT as a general purpose technology that needs organisational and business process changes to fully exploit its growth opportunities. The paper also finds out, by applying a non-parametric test, that ICT technologies positively contribute to the generation of convergence clubs in the evolution of labour productivity. Finally, the empirical evidence offers some basic guidance for future policy intervention in supporting ICT capital investments.     

A comparison of selected Western and Chinese smart governance: The application of ICT in governmental management,participation and collaboration

There has been increasing scholarly interest in the concepts and practices of smart governance. However, there is a lack of comparative studies of smart governance in different institutional contexts. This study develops a framework for comparing smart governance in different institutional and technological contexts. Comparative and discourse analyses are conducted to understand the similarities and differences of smart governance practices in selected Western countries and China. A key finding of this study is that different institutions have largely affected smart governance strategies, arrangements and outcomes. Smart governance is tightly linked with e-governance and e-democracy in some Western countries, while it officially emphasizes smart management and service in China. A common aspect is that the increasing use of social media, smartphones, portals, crowdsourcing platforms, and planning support systems have generally promoted smart governments and services, e-participation, and wider collaboration through both top-down and bottom-up approaches. This could lead to gradual changes in government organizations, new relations between governments, the private sector and citizens, and improvements in the city.     

The differential impact of ICT on employees: narratives from a hi‐tech organisation

This paper draws upon findings from a case study, which examined the implementation of information and communication technologies within a hi‐tech organisation. It explores how technology became embedded within the organization, altering working practices. It concludes that embedding technology needs to be undertaken at an individual level to be successful.     

ICT investment and GDP growth: Causality analysis for the case of Korea

This study investigated how investment in the industry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) has been interlocked with the GDP growth of South Korea. Based on seasonally-adjusted quarterly time-series data for the period between 1999 and 2016 available from the Korea Statistical Information Service, a Vector Error Correction model was applied for the analysis. The results revealed that ICT investment and GDP growth affected bi-directionally except for the short-run case in which only ICT investment affected GDP growth. The results explain that ICT investment plays an important role in the economic growth of South Korea in the long term; at the same time, investment size in the ICT industry increases as the economy grows. Without controlling any other factors, we found GDP increases by 0.4% when ICT investment increases by 1%. However, in the short term, only ICT leads to GDP growth. Therefore, the recent stagnation in ICT investment experienced in South Korea could negatively affect the economic growth of Korea in the short run, and hence, in the long-run, if it should become prolonged. The ICT investment strategy revealed from this study is especially useful to policy-makers who plan the economic growth in South Korea and other ICT-advanced countries because promoting ICT utilization across all sectors requires putting legal and policy mechanisms in place.     

Technology policy for the knowledge economy: Public support to young ICT service firms

Public intervention in high-tech sectors is often advocated to resolve market imperfections that may possibly limit the viability of young high-tech enterprises. Although some European countries have adopted national government support policies that explicitly target this type of firm, in Italy and in other EU countries, there are no national support measures specifically designed for them. The paper focuses on the information and communication technologies (ICT) services sector in Italy. It aims to investigate whether both horizontal general-purpose direct support mechanisms at the national level and financial support measures provided by local administrative entities (which rarely have been specific to the ICT sector) permit an efficient allocation of public funds.     

ICT interaction with trade,FDI and financial inclusion on inclusive growth in top African nations ranked by ICT development

The significance of ICT (information and communication technology) framework in efforts to attract foreign investment (FDI), sustain commerce, and boost financial inclusion for enhanced inclusive growth has revolutionized the global system recently. Furthermore, earlier researches on the connection between ICT and growth concentrated more on general expansion than on the kind of growth that is evenly distributed and has broader societal implications than merely growing the size of the overall economic pie. This study critically analyzes the connection between ICT diffusion and inclusive growth, considering the interactive impacts of trade openness, FDI, and financial inclusion on inclusive growth in top African nations ranked in terms of ICT development, so as to close the existing literature gap. An improved-GMM (generalized method of moments) technique, founded on panel data-set spanning the years 2000–2020, is used in the study. By employing PCA (principal component analysis) to measure inclusive growth, ICT diffusion, and financial inclusion indices, the study contributes to the body of prior research. The model also accounts for the heterogeneous impact of the interactive term between ICT diffusions and trade openness, FDI, and financial inclusion on inclusive growth. Overall, results indicate that while ICT diffusion, trade openness, FDI, and financial inclusion significantly and positively enhance inclusive growth at both the individual and interaction levels, inflation hinders it. The study suggests that policymakers should establish measures to advance ICT development, encourage trade openness, attract foreign direct investment, and improve financial inclusion because these measures have tendencies to support inclusive growth by opening up a number of opportunities.     

Role of formal standards in transition to the technology frontier: Korean ICT systems

According to traditional wisdom, latecomer countries improve their technological capabilities in reverse of the product cycle, that is from mature towards new technologies. However, improvement of standards capabilities in this process has not been revealed clearly. This paper confirms similar patterns for improving formal standards capabilities as for the technological capabilities, but records some possible differences in the rate of catch-up when latecomers approach the technology frontier; a forward moving position where technology leaders (typically advanced countries) develop or conceptualize new technologies before being turned into products or systems. A number of case studies of South Korean ICT systems reveal that transition to the technological frontier is increasingly related to how they target and carry out formal standardization. The common elements driving differences in rates of successful catch-up for ICT systems standards are not only limited to generic standards capabilities, but also rely on characteristics of technology trajectories, national strategic focus, and organizing for standardization.³ This implies that a nation should not be discouraged by slow progress in standards-setting during earlier stages. Once a minimum level of capabilities is achieved, a nation pro-active in standards from the beginning may attain higher rates of catch-up near the technology frontier.     

Small is big in ICT: The impact of R&D on productivity

We examine the contribution of R&D to firm productivity in a large panel of European firms and study its variation with the age, size, and sub-sector of firms. We find that R&D capital in ICT firms has a larger effect on revenue when compared to non-ICT firms. At the firm level, our results suggest that, surprisingly, smaller and older ICT firms benefit the most from R&D. Small but mature ICT firms are likely to dominate market niches, and small size may enable them to be flexible and adaptable which helps them respond to technological opportunities to develop innovative products and services. This has important implications for public policy based upon firm age.     

ICT diffusion and production in ASEAN countries: Patterns,performance, and policy directions

ICT has become an increasingly crucial catalyst for economic development, but the transition to more sophisticated technologies is a challenging process requiring prudent vision, strategy, and policy. This paper investigates the dynamics of ASEAN countries’ performance on embracing the ICT revolution for development. Several findings stand out. First, ASEAN experienced a faster pace of convergence, compared to the rest of the world, in level of ICT diffusion over the past 10 years. Second, all ASEAN countries, including Singapore – the leading player, face increasing challenges in competing with income-level peers on ICT diffusion performance. ASEAN is a global hub of ICT hardware production and a fast-growing center of ICT services exports. In terms of revealed comparative advantage, ASEAN as an economy is strong in ICT hardware but remains weak in ICT services. The paper discusses policy insights drawn from the study and proposes a strategic policy framework to guide ASEAN’s concerted efforts to embrace the ICT revolution for development.     

Trust as Networking Knowledge: Precedents from Australia

Trust, rather than being simply a resource for establishing collaborative relationships between organizations, is an essential component of their constitution. At base, trust involves interpersonal relations of a specific type. These are relations where there is sufficient probability that a person or organization with whom one is in contact will perform an action that is beneficial, or at least not detrimental, for one to consider engaging in some form of cooperation with this person or organization in the future. Trust establishes situations in which participants in collaboration have a long-term and recurrent relationship. Where trust exists, organizations are more willing to collaborate with other organizations on a more reciprocal basis. Trust is especially important when collaboration takes place between competitors because the risk of opportunistic behaviour is higher. Where organizations share resources and information openly with other participants they will seek to reduce opportunistic behaviour through the mutual understanding and goodwill of parties. However, trust is not static; it is a dynamic process that evolves according to the development of the relationship, as one in which the more long-term the relationship, the greater the trust. In this paper, we will present the impact of trust on business networks and examine how their members developed knowledge through networking.     

ICT for sustainable development: Global comparative evidence of globalisation thresholds

The objectives of this paper are to investigate the effect of ICT on sustainable development and the mechanisms through which the effect is modulated. The focus is on a sample of 140 countries around the globe for the period 2000–2019. The methodology involves the: (i) Fixed Effects estimator to control for individual heterogeneity, (ii) Driscoll and Kraay estimator to control for cross-section dependence between panels, (iii) the Mean Group estimator to take into account the averages between panel groups, (iv) the system GMM to correct for unobserved heterogeneity and simultaneity bias and (v) the instrumental variable Fixed Effects Tobit to take in to account the limited range in our dependent variable. The results show that ICT has a positive and significant effect on sustainable development. Whereas overall net effects are positive, the findings are contingent on the choice of the ICT measurement, the geographical location of the economy and the income group category. The study recommends policy makers to take into account ICT and the advantages it offers in the elaboration of measures for the sustainable development agenda.