A Sectoral Approach to the Diffusion of ICT: Empirical Evidence on Italian Firms

Abstract

It is suggested that our understanding of ICT adoption in the Italian economy can benefit from complementary insights derived from some of the most important theoretical approaches to sectorial diffusion of innovation (epidemic, probit and systemic). As regards the epidemic models the key variables are firms’ market performance indicators. Probit models call our attention to the size of user firms, their ability to utilize technology and the degree of industrial concentration. Systemic models emphasise the role played by the public sector, which is viewed as catalyst and stimulator of innovative activities in the industrial system, and by the evolution of the technological and infrastructural context in which users are active. We utilize a composite indicator, which describes the use of ICT in a sample of 1947 Italian firms in 2004 and 2005, as the dependent variable for an econometric exercise which allows to assess the importance of factors identified in the different approaches emerging from the existing literature.

Keywords: Truncated and Censored Models, Market structure and Size distribution of firms, Diffusion processes and Technology adoption

JEL Classification: C34, L11, 033