This study investigated the spatial-temporal variation and trend of the Internet user percentage (IUP) at the country level in the world from 1996 to 2017. Several methods were applied including kernel density estimation, global autocorrelations, sigma-convergence detection, and hierarchical clustering. The results demonstrated that the spatial distribution of IUP at the country level showed significant positive autocorrelations indicating clustered spatial patterns rather than dispersed or random distributions. In addition, the temporal variation of the distribution disparity of IUP showed a decreasing trend at the country level during the study period. Further, sigma convergence of IUP during this period was detected according to the coefficient of variation. Last, the similarity of the IUP variation at the country level presented the spatial clustering feature with spatially contiguous countries in the world. In sum, the finding in this study indicated that Internet penetration may show the promotion of the balanced development trend over time in the world and the spatial characteristics of Internet development should be considered in the future policy globally.
AdhikariDChenY (2014) Energy productivity convergence in Asian countries: a spatial panel data approach. International Journal of Economics and Finance6(7): 94–107.
2.
AgarwalTPandaPK (2018) Pattern of Digital Divide and Convergence in Access to ICT Facilities among the Indian States. Journal of Infrastructure Development10(1–2): 37–51. DOI: 10.1177/0974930618809171.
3.
BillonMEzcurraRLera-LópezF (2008) The spatial distribution of the internet in the European Union: Does geographical proximity matter?European Planning Studies16(1). Taylor & Francis: 119–142.
4.
ChenWWellmanB (2004) The global digital divide–within and between countries. IT & society1(7): 39–45.
5.
ChinnMDFairlieRW (2007) The determinants of the global digital divide: a cross-country analysis of computer and internet penetration. Oxford Economic Papers59(1). Oxford University Press: 16–44.
6.
ClearyPFPierceGTrauthEM (2006) Closing the digital divide: understanding racial, ethnic, social class, gender and geographic disparities in Internet use among school age children in the United States. Universal Access in the Information Society4(4): 354–373. DOI: 10.1007/s10209-005-0001-0.
ConnollyMLeeCTanR (2017) The Digital Divide and Other Economic Considerations for Network Neutrality. Review of Industrial Organization50(4): 537–554. DOI: 10.1007/s11151-016-9554-8.
9.
d’HaenensLOganC (2013) Internet-using children and digital inequality: A comparison between majority and minority Europeans. Communications38(1). De Gruyter Mouton: 41–60.
10.
FantomNSerajuddinU (2016) The World Bank’s Classification of Countries by Income. The World Bank.
11.
FurceriD (2005) β and σ-convergence: A mathematical relation of causality. Economics Letters89(2): 212–215.
12.
GetisAOrdJK (1992) The analysis of spatial association by use of distance statistics. Geographical analysis24(3): 189–206.
13.
GoschinZ (2014) Regional Inequalities and Sigma Divergence in Romania. International Conference on Applied Statistics (ICAS)201310: 45–53. DOI: 10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00276-7.
14.
GrubesicTH (2002) Spatial dimensions of Internet activity. Telecommunications Policy26(7): 363–387. DOI: 10.1016/S0308-5961(02)00021-6.
15.
HarbG (2017) The economic impact of the Internet penetration rate and telecom investments in Arab and Middle Eastern countries. Economic Analysis and Policy56. Elsevier: 148–162.
16.
HargittaiEPiperAMMorrisMR (2019) From internet access to internet skills: digital inequality among older adults. Universal Access in the Information Society18(4): 881–890. DOI: 10.1007/s10209-018-0617-5.
17.
HilbertM (2010) When is Cheap, Cheap Enough to Bridge the Digital Divide? Modeling Income Related Structural Challenges of Technology Diffusion in Latin America. World Development38(5): 756–770. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.019.
18.
HoC-CTsengS-F (2006) From digital divide to digital inequality: the global perspective. International Journal of Internet and Enterprise Management4(3). Inderscience Publishers: 215–227.
19.
InegbedionHE (2021) Digital divide in the major regions of the world and the possibility of convergence. The Bottom Line34(1). Emerald Publishing Limited: 68–85. DOI: 10.1108/BL-09-2020-0064.
20.
KaufmanLRousseeuwPJ (2009) Finding Groups in Data: An Introduction to Cluster Analysis. John Wiley & Sons.
21.
KyriakidouVMichalakelisCSphicopoulosT (2011) Digital divide gap convergence in Europe. Technology in Society33(3): 265–270. DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2011.09.001.
22.
LiJHuangXYangH, et al. (2017) Convergence of carbon intensity in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Habitat International60: 58–68. DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2016.12.012.
23.
Lopez-SintasJLambertiGSukphanJ (2020) The social structuring of the digital gap in a developing country. The impact of computer and internet access opportunities on internet use in Thailand. Technology in Society63: 101433. DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101433.
24.
MaitiDAwasthiA (2020) ICT Exposure and the Level of Wellbeing and Progress: A Cross Country Analysis. Social Indicators Research147(1): 311–343. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-019-02153-5.
25.
MirandaLCMLimaCAS (2012) Trends and cycles of the internet evolution and worldwide impacts. Contains Special Section: Innovation in India79(4): 744–765. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2011.09.001.
26.
ModisT (2005) The end of the internet rush. Technological Forecasting and Social Change72(8): 938–943. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2005.06.004.
MubarakFSuomiRKantolaS-P (2020) Confirming the links between socio-economic variables and digitalization worldwide: the unsettled debate on digital divide. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society18(3). Emerald Publishing Limited: 415–430. DOI: 10.1108/JICES-02-2019-0021.
29.
NishidaTPickJBSarkarA (2014) Japan’s prefectural digital divide: A multivariate and spatial analysis. Telecommunications Policy38(11): 992–1010. DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2014.05.004.
30.
NorrisP (2001) Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge university press.
31.
ParkSRChoiDYHongP (2015) Club convergence and factors of digital divide across countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change96: 92–100. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2015.02.011.
32.
PickJBNishidaT (2015) Digital divides in the world and its regions: A spatial and multivariate analysis of technological utilization. Technological Forecasting and Social Change91: 1–17. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2013.12.026.
33.
PickJBSarkarAJohnsonJ (2015) United States digital divide: State level analysis of spatial clustering and multivariate determinants of ICT utilization. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences49: 16–32. DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2014.09.001.
34.
R Core Team (2016) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at: https://www.R-project.org/.
35.
RathBN (2016) Does the digital divide across countries lead to convergence? New international evidence. Economic Modelling58: 75–82. DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2016.05.020.
36.
SaraçliSDoğanNDoğanİ (2013) Comparison of hierarchical cluster analysis methods by cophenetic correlation. Journal of Inequalities and Applications2013(1). Springer: 203.
37.
SeddonJJJMCurrieWL (2017) Healthcare financialisation and the digital divide in the European Union: Narrative and numbers. Information & Management54(8): 1084–1096. DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2017.03.002.
38.
SelwynNFacerK (2007) Beyond the digital divide. Futurelab.
39.
SeybertH (2011) Internet use in households and by individuals in 2011. Eurostat statistics in focus66: 2011.
40.
SilvermanBW (2018) Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis. Routledge.
41.
SongZWangCBergmannL (2020) China’s prefectural digital divide: Spatial analysis and multivariate determinants of ICT diffusion. International Journal of Information Management52: 102072. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102072.
42.
StiakakisEKariotellisPVlachopoulouM (2009) From the digital divide to digital inequality: A secondary research in the European Union. In: International Conference on e-Democracy, 2009, pp. 43–54. Springer.
43.
TanP-NSteinbachMKumarV (2016) Introduction to Data Mining. Pearson Education India.
44.
VemuriVKSiddiqiS (2009) Impact of commercialization of the internet on international trade: A panel study using the extended gravity model. The International Trade Journal23(4). Taylor & Francis: 458–484.
45.
World Bank (2019) World Development Indicators.
46.
ZelenikaIPearceJM (2012) The Internet and other ICTs as tools and catalysts for sustainable development: innovation for 21st century. Information Development29(3). SAGE Publications Ltd: 217–232. DOI: 10.1177/0266666912465742.
