Defining Tech: An Examination of How the‘Technology’ Economy is Measured

Abstract

The paper conducts a comprehensive review and critical comparison of the empirical methodologies for defining the high-technology sector (or 'tech') in social science research and analysis. It consolidates both qualitative (expert-based) approaches and quantitative (threshold-based) approaches for the broader audience of researchers. In the quantitative approaches, the paper identifies two accepted metrics and two loosely defined criteria used in distinguishing tech. The paper finds a generally consistent theoretical conceptualization for how to distinguish tech from other sectors, but inconsistency and no consensus on the implementation of that theory in applied research methods. The paper proposes two steps forward for future methodologies by identifying of a set of consensus industries present across tech definitions and by arguing for a continuum-based approach to identifying technology intensity in industries, businesses, and products/services.

Pricing cloud stocks: Evidence from China

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Innovation Environment’s Role in Supporting Industry 4.0 Technology Adoption to Address Effects of COVID-19

“…However, several variables, including infrastructure, collaborative mechanisms, individual competencies and collaboration between task forces impacts organisations effectiveness to innovate [Walsh, Przychodzen and Przychodzen (2017)]. These variables place a vast amount of pressure on actors such as academia and business to be agile in adopting relevant technologies [Hooton (2018)], which depends on their knowledge base [Guinan, Parise and Langowitz (2019)]. In several instances, academic institutions who perform R&D can be considered vital in this scope to drive inter-disciplinary research, where facets of knowledge can be created and combined to address pertinent issues [Antonites and Van Vuuren (2014) Part of this infrastructure includes innovation environments such as a makerspace.…”