The digital divide: a literature review and some directions for future research in light of COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose Coronavirus (COVID-19) has exposed the digital divide (DD) like never before and has made it a hot topic of actuality. In this paper, a state of the art of research studies that dealt with the three levels of the digital divide and highlight its shortcomings in light of COVID-19 are presented. Design/methodology/approach An integrative literature review was conducted, summarizing the rich literature on the digital divide by presenting its key concepts and findings. This study then provides suggestions for future research in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings It can be concluded that the digital divide is insufficiently exposed and examined by researchers. In fact, in recent years, very few research studies have focused on the first-level divide. Moreover, much of the literature has analyzed the second digital divide (in terms of e-skills) in the strict sense and at the national level. This review also shows that the existing studies on the third level-digital divide deal only with the individual results of using the Internet. Finally, future research on the three-level digital divide should study more digital inequality related to emerging technologies is proposed. Research limitations/implications This paper draws up a state of art, which has important theoretical and practical implications in the effectiveness of full transformation to digitalization. Originality/value The present study contributes to digital inequality research by summarizing key concepts and findings from the literature of the three levels of the digital divide. It highlights the unexplored research topics on some dimensions of DD which were behind the digital transformation failure in many countries and provides insights on future research directions in light of COVID-19.

Investment in digital infrastructure: Why and for whom?

“…The financial incentives to route fibre optic cables to sparsely populated difficult to access locations will be small, reducing the incentive to connect those areas. This is consistent with the findings of Aissaoui (2021), Riddlesden, Singleton (2014), andTranos, Mack (2016) who stress that remote and rural areas are underserved and have poorer quality connections.…”

“…Remote and rural areas are underserved and have poorer quality connections to the internet (Aissaoui 2021, Riddlesden, Singleton 2014, Tranos, Mack 2016. For example, in the US, less than half of indigenous people residing on reservations and tribal lands have access to high speed broadband due to providers' reluctance to build ICT infrastructure in less populated areas (Early, Hernandez 2021).…”

“…Broadband provision and digital skills are not equally distributed within or between countries leading to a range of digital divides. Three digital divides are identified in the literature (Aissaoui 2021). The first is the access divide between those who do and do not have access to the internet.…”

“…The second is the use divide between those who do and do not have the digital skills and knowledge to use ICTs. The third level is the performance divide between those who can and cannot mobilise digital resources to achieve their aims and gain offline outcomes (Aissaoui 2021). While much of the digital divide literature focuses on the second and third levels, the first divide persists; for example, 21 million people lack broadband access in the US (Rodriguez, Bates 2020).…”

Digital literacy and online child abuse among primary school children in Langata Sub-county, Nairobi City County in Kenya

“…The real origin of the term Digital divide is not known but it was advanced and began to be widely used in the mid-1990s to describe the disparity between households that have access to the Internet and households that do not have access to the Internet (Light, 2001;Pigato, 2001). However, this divide continues to persist today in the wake of COVID-19 (Aissaoui, 2021). Catalysts for bridging the digital divide on what former US Vice President Gore called the information superhighway was the notion of ICTs as global education and economic equalizer (Cerf, 2019).…”