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This paper reviews the literature on digital divide and e-readiness in different fields with an eye to identifying trends and gaps in prominent research areas. In this study, 411 articles, conference papers, master’s and doctoral dissertations, textbooks, and working papers on digital divide and e-readiness are classified and elaborated and their results are presented. Drawing upon this literature review and analysis of digital divide and e-readiness, several important research areas surrounding digital divide and e-readiness are discussed and examined from a critical standpoint. In the paper, a comprehensive list of references is presented and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the most complete study of digital divide and e-readiness, even in the field of IT, in terms of its references. This paper reviews the literature on the digital divide and e-readiness from three perspectives with the purpose of identifying trends and gaps in this field: definition, methodology and scale. This review reveals that most modelers do not take sound theoretical and policy concerns into consideration, rather they tend to provide an empirical summarized measure for digitalization. Also, they develop digital divide and e-readiness models by building static composite indexes from individual indicators and tend to apply dynamic models to a lesser degree. Finally, there is a lack of research in the micro level vis-à-vis macro level that the authors attempt to compensate for.

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This paper intends to offer recommendations for promoting e-learning in higher education institutions in developing countries in general, and in Iran in particular. For this, 279 recommendations were extracted through the investigation of 11 countries and 5 regions. Using content analysis, 23 recommendations were selected and then categorized into five groups: infrastructures and technology; human resources; network enablers; curriculum design; and cooperation. Afterwards, a survey was conducted and the recommendations fitting with Iran's internal situation were offered. These recommendations were prioritized on the basis of three criteria: experts' opinions, the frequency of presentation of the recommendations in various countries, and whether or not the recommendations have already been implemented in Iran. Meanwhile, with respect to their priority, they were divided into three categories: necessary and urgent, necessary and not urgent, and specific to Iran.

Evolving information and communication technologies (ICTs) have yielded new terms like “information society,” “digital divide,” and “e-readiness” which have attracted many scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. Therefore, in recent years numerous attempts have been done to develop e-readiness and digital divide models oriented toward certain objectives. In this research, these models are investigated with view to their definitions and methodologies, and their strengths and weaknesses are identified. These findings can help researchers and policymakers select the models that fit in with their objectives as well as identify the defects of previous models and rectify them in their own models. Moreover, the extensive literature review led to an integrated model which is proposed to assess the e-readiness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Such a model can serve as a basis and standard for developing comprehensive models in SMEs.

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With the advent and evolution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in general, the Internet, in particular, throughout the world, new terms such as “information society,” “digital divide,” and “e-readiness” were added to terminologies. Due to the rapid diffusion of the Internet in different aspects of human life, these concepts have attracted many scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers. In addition to much academic research done in these fields, nearly all countries have assessed their e-readiness and compared their digital divide with that of other countries, at least once. Consequently, there have been numerous e-readiness and digital divide models oriented towards certain objectives in recent years. The findings show (1) tremendous importance of the digital divide and e-readiness and (2) their complex and multi-faceted natures. Thus, effective examination and development of digital divide and e-readiness research requires a foundation in several rich literatures. Examining the e-readiness and digital divide literature in terms of their definitions and methodologies, in the current chapter, their strengths and weaknesses were recognized. Moreover, after an extensive literature survey, an integrated model was proposed for assessing e-readiness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that can be used as the basis and standard for developing comprehensive models and frameworks in these enterprises. Finally, this chapter contributes to scarce literature on e-readiness/digital divide at micro level and creates additional pool of resources that practitioners and theorists could use to further enrich and extend their analysis of this construct.