The Rural-Urban &apos;Digital Divide&apos; in New Zealand: Fact or Fable?

Howell, Bronwyn

doi:10.1080/08109020110072207

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Prometheus

Volume 19, Issue 3

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The Rural-Urban 'Digital Divide' in New Zealand: Fact or Fable?

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Author(s): Bronwyn Howell

Publication date (Print): September 2001

Journal: Prometheus

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Digital Divide, Electronic Commerce, New Zealand, Rural-URBAN

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Abstract

Much electronic commerce literature addresses the potential existence of digital divides between different classes of users. While many studies document users reported perceptions of disadvantage or cite infrastructure availability benchmarks, few studies quantify the extent of such divides in actual uptake and usage of electronic communications tools. This study seeks to quantify the extent of perceived rural-urban digital divides among businesses in New Zealand. Yellow Pages business register data are analysed to determine business uptake of e-mail and websites by location. The results challenge conventional perceptions of disadvantage on the basis of geography alone. Indeed, some provincial areas demonstrate higher uptake of business e-mail than their urban counterparts. Smaller and more remote provincial centre businesses are more likely to be using e-mail than their counterparts closer to the metropolitan centres. Those centres most remote from New Zealand's traditional commercial centre demonstrate higher uptake than those closer. Explanations based upon disadvantages such as poor telephony infrastructure appear inadequate in accounting for these observations. Rather, we contend that while infrastructure may play some part in the explanation for low rural hinterland uptake, the results of this study are consistent with economic determinations of the optimal time to invest in new technologies. Specifically, higher provincial and rural communication costs are a significant factor in encouraging higher and earlier levels of provincial and rural e-mail adoption, and the optimal time to invest in website adoption depends more upon firm size, local economic conditions and product than infrastructure quality and business location.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (publisher-id): cpro20

Journal ID (archive): CPRO

Title: Prometheus

Subtitle: Critical Studies in Innovation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 0810-9028

ISSN (Electronic): 1470-1030

Publication date (Print): September 2001

Volume: 19

Issue: 3

Pages: 231-251

Article

Publisher ID: 10032424 Coden ID: Prometheus, Vol. 19, No. 3, September 2001, pp. 231-251

DOI: 10.1080/08109020110072207

SO-VID: 8d31b77d-88e0-4346-b4b6-2196425ff71a

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

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Figures: 0, Tables: 0, References: 17, Pages: 21

References

OECD. . 2000. . The Economic and Social Impacts of Electronic Commerce . , Paris : : OECD. .
2000. . US Department of Commerce, Digital Economy 2000 . , Washington, DC : : Department of Commerce. .
NOIE (National Office for the Information Economy). . 1999. . National Bandwidth Inquiry: Final Report . , Canberra : : NOIE. .
Lentz R. G.. 2000. . 'The E-volution of the digital divide in the US: a mayhem of competing metrics'. . Info . , Vol. 2((4)): 355––77. .
Ministry of Economic Development. . 2000. . Electronic Commerce: Strategic Importance, Key Issues and Way Forward . , Wellington : : Ministry of Economic Development. .
Ministerial Inquiry into Telecommunications. . 2000. . Final Report . Wellington :
Anderson D.. 2000. . 'No closing the gap in rural telecommunications'. . Rural News . , 4 September;
1999. . Electronic Government. Briefing to the Minister of State Services and Minister for Information Technology . Wellington :
Information Technology Advisory Group. . 1999. . The Knowledge Economy . , Wellington : : ITAG. .
Atkins T.. 2000. . Telecommunications: Use, Constraints and Potential in Rural Areas . , Wellington : : Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. .
NOIE. . 2000. . The Current State of Play . , Canberra : : NOIE. .
Ministry of Economic Development. . 2000. . Statistics on Information Technology in New Zealand 2000 . , Wellington : : Ministry of Economic Development. .
Ministry of Economic Development. . 2000. . Electronic Commerce in New Zealand: A Survey of Businesses on the Internet . , Wellington : : Information Technology Policy Group, Competition and Enterprise Branch. .
de Boer D. Boles, Evans L. and Howell B.. 2000. . The Stale of E-New Zealand . , New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation Research Paper. .
Barua A., Whinston A. and Yin F.. 2000. . Not All Dot-coms are Created Equal: An Exploratory Investigation of the Productivity of Internet-based Companies . , Austin , Texas : : Centre for Research in Electronic Commerce, University of Texas at Austin. .
Evans L.. 2000. . 'Telecom's "Kiwi Share": do consumers still need it?'. . ISRC Competition and Regulation Times . , Vol. 2:

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] OECD. . 2000. . The Economic and Social Impacts of Electronic Commerce . , Paris : : OECD. .

[2] 2000. . US Department of Commerce, Digital Economy 2000 . , Washington, DC : : Department of Commerce. .

[3] NOIE (National Office for the Information Economy). . 1999. . National Bandwidth Inquiry: Final Report . , Canberra : : NOIE. .

[4] Lentz R. G.. 2000. . 'The E-volution of the digital divide in the US: a mayhem of competing metrics'. . Info . , Vol. 2((4)): 355––77. .

[5] Ministry of Economic Development. . 2000. . Electronic Commerce: Strategic Importance, Key Issues and Way Forward . , Wellington : : Ministry of Economic Development. .

[7] Ministerial Inquiry into Telecommunications. . 2000. . Final Report . Wellington :

[8] Anderson D.. 2000. . 'No closing the gap in rural telecommunications'. . Rural News . , 4 September;

[9] 1999. . Electronic Government. Briefing to the Minister of State Services and Minister for Information Technology . Wellington :

[10] Information Technology Advisory Group. . 1999. . The Knowledge Economy . , Wellington : : ITAG. .

[11] Atkins T.. 2000. . Telecommunications: Use, Constraints and Potential in Rural Areas . , Wellington : : Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. .

[12] NOIE. . 2000. . The Current State of Play . , Canberra : : NOIE. .

[13] Ministry of Economic Development. . 2000. . Statistics on Information Technology in New Zealand 2000 . , Wellington : : Ministry of Economic Development. .

[14] Ministry of Economic Development. . 2000. . Electronic Commerce in New Zealand: A Survey of Businesses on the Internet . , Wellington : : Information Technology Policy Group, Competition and Enterprise Branch. .

[15] de Boer D. Boles, Evans L. and Howell B.. 2000. . The Stale of E-New Zealand . , New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation Research Paper. .

[16] Barua A., Whinston A. and Yin F.. 2000. . Not All Dot-coms are Created Equal: An Exploratory Investigation of the Productivity of Internet-based Companies . , Austin , Texas : : Centre for Research in Electronic Commerce, University of Texas at Austin. .

[17] Evans L.. 2000. . 'Telecom's "Kiwi Share": do consumers still need it?'. . ISRC Competition and Regulation Times . , Vol. 2: