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Determinants of ICT adoption: evidence from firm-level data

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 43; Issue: 26 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00036841003724411

1466-4283

Stefanie Haller, Iulia Siedschlag,

Firm Innovation and Growth

Abstract We analyse factors driving inter- and intra-firm diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) using data from Irish manufacturing firms over the period 2001 to 2004. We find that the path of ICT diffusion has been uneven across firms, industries and space, which is consistent with the theory of new technology adoption. Our results suggest that firms that are larger, younger, fast growing, skill-intensive, export-intensive and firms located in the capital city region have been relatively more successful in adopting and using ICT. We find positive technology spillovers from firms that have adopted ICT located in the same industry and region. Acknowledgements This work makes use of data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ireland, which is CSO copyright. The possibility for controlled access to confidential micro data sets on the premises of the CSO is provided for in the Statistics Act 1993. The use of CSO data in this work does not imply the endorsement of the CSO in relation to the interpretation or analysis of the data. This work uses research data sets which may not exactly reproduce statistical aggregates published by the CSO. We are grateful to George Hussey, Don Forde and Richard McMahon from the CSO of Ireland for valuable data-related assistance. The article has been screened by the CSO to ensure that no confidential information is revealed. Financial support from the EU's RTD Sixth Framework Programme (contract no. CIT5-028818) is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Frances Ruane, John Fitz Gerald, Seán Lyons, Frank Barry, Roberta Capello, Holger Görg, Mary O'Mahony, Paul Gorecki, the editor Mark Taylor, an anonymous referee and participants at research seminars at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Bocconi University in Milan, Università delle Marche at Ancona, Centre for European Economics Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, the annual conference of the Royal Economic Society at Warwick University and the annual congress of the European Economic Association in Barcelona for helpful comments and suggestions. Notes 1 The share of ICT exports in total exports in Ireland is the highest among the European Union's 27 member states (European Commission, Citation2009). 2 Karshenas and Stoneman (Citation1993), Geroski (Citation2000) and Stoneman (Citation2002) provide excellent surveys of new technology diffusion models. 3 The intensity of ICT use is measured by two variables: the number of ICT elements adopted and the share of employees using the Internet. 4 In this article, we use the terms enterprise and firm interchangeably. 5 NACE Rev. 1.1 Sectors 15–36. Sector 23 (manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel) is excluded for reasons of confidentiality. We also exclude Sector 16 (tobacco) as this sector is dropped in several regressions due to the small number of observations together with the homogeneity of observations. 6 We are unable to identify stock and order effects as our data set does not contain the initial adoption dates. 7 We are able to do this without losing another year of our short panel because the explanatory variables come from the CIP that collects information for all firms with more than three employees in every year. For those epidemic effects based on the share of firms with a website, we are able to use lags without losing a year of data, because the CIP also collects information on whether firms have a website or not since 1999. For those epidemic effects based on the number of firms that accept online orders, we have information for 2001 as this relates to monetary information collected for the year before the survey on e-commerce and ICT is conducted. 8 There is evidence for Ireland and a number of other countries that more productive firms are more likely to select into exporting both internationally (The International Study Group on Exports and Productivity, Citation2008). 9 When we estimate these regressions for the subsample of foreign-owned firms, the coefficient on the export intensity is not significant. 10 Results are not reported but are available from the authors on request.