The Role of Digital Skill in Mitigating Digital Divide: Evidences From Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

Purpose: The paper makes a modest attempt to classify the Asia-Pacific countries in terms of the access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to unearth the prevalence of digital divide (if any) in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to that, the paper examines the role played by the digital skill in bridging the digital divide in the context of Asia-Pacific countries.

Design/methodology/approach: Secondary data on 43 Asia-Pacific countries for the period from 2012 to 2017 was collected from International Telecommunication Union database and World Development Indicators, World Bank. K-means clustering technique was applied to explore the natural grouping of the Asia-Pacific countries based on ICT access. The role of digital/ICT skill in narrowing the access based digital divide was investigated using panel data regression technique.

Findings: Clustering of countries suggested a significant difference amongst the Asia-Pacific countries in terms of ICT access, signifying the prevalence of digital divide. Digital skill played pivotal role in promoting ICT access and thereby reducing the digital divide during the period of the study. Per capital income level, level of education, openness of the economy and urbanization were observed to be the determining factor in reducing digital divide during the period of study

Originality: The study makes a unique attempt to explore the role of digital/ICT skill in tapering the access based digital divide in the context of Asia-Pacific region.

Keywords: ICT, Digital Divide, Digital Skill, ICT Access.