Speed of Catch-up and Digital Divide: A Study of Three Information Communication Technologies for 44 African Countries

Journal of Global Information Technology Management https://doi.org/10.1080/1097198X.2020.1792231, Gachon Center of Convergence Research, Working Paper Series, 2019-03

37 Pages Posted: 31 Dec 2019 Last revised: 12 Aug 2020

See all articles by Yu Sang Chang

Yu Sang Chang

Gachon University - College of Business and Economics

Seongmin Jeon

Gachon University - College of Business and Economics

Kudzai Shamba

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: July 12, 2019

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamics of the digital divide between two subgroups of middle-income and low-income African countries in the context of three ICT technologies. During the period of 2000 to 2015, the digital divide has been narrowing faster at the annual rate between 11.3% and 3.53% per year. Furthermore, we used the convergence analysis method to test for the speed of catch-up, and the results shows statistically valid catch-up process in both subgroups in all the three technologies and the low-income subgroups had faster speed of catch-up speed in all cases. When we combined the results from the narrowing digital divide and the speed of catch-up, we discovered that there is a positive relationship in all three technologies, as the narrowing digital divide was also accompanied by a faster catch-up process from lagging countries.

Keywords: Digital Divide, Catch-Up, Sigma Convergence, Gamma Convergence, ICT, ITU

JEL Classification: F60, F64

Suggested Citation

Chang, Yu Sang and Jeon, Seongmin and Shamba, Kudzai, Speed of Catch-up and Digital Divide: A Study of Three Information Communication Technologies for 44 African Countries (July 12, 2019). Journal of Global Information Technology Management https://doi.org/10.1080/1097198X.2020.1792231, Gachon Center of Convergence Research, Working Paper Series, 2019-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3418697 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3418697

Yu Sang Chang (Contact Author)

Gachon University - College of Business and Economics ( email )

Korea

Seongmin Jeon

Gachon University - College of Business and Economics ( email )

1342 Seongnamdaero
Sujeong-gu
Seongnam, Gyeonggi 461-701
Korea

Kudzai Shamba

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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