The Impact of ICT Investments on Human Development: A Regression Splines Analysis

Abstract

Despite the worldwide growth in investments in information and communication technology (JCT), few studies have investigated the complex interactions between components of JCT investments and different dimensions of human development. The purpose of this study is to explore the conditional impacts of JCT investments (Hardware, Software, Internal Services Spending and Telecommunication) on two dimensions of Human Development (Standard of Living and Health) within three contexts (classified as High, Medium and Low income countries). To carry out the study, archival data concerning JCT investments and human development for 51 countries with the largest JCT markets were collected for the period 1994 to 2003. The study utilized a novel approach called regression splines to analyse the data. Results suggest, among other things, that: (1) the impact of investments in the different JCT components varies with context; (2) impacts are in many cases conditional and complex; and (3) the direction of impacts of JCT investment on Standard of Living may be different from the corresponding directions of impacts on Health. It is therefore necessary for policy makers or IS executives to do in-depth tradeoff analysis between the different components of JCT investment to determine appropriate allocations.

Moderating Effect of Environmental Factors on eHealth Development and Health Outcomes: A Country-Level Analysis

“…These reports are considered to be reliable sources and many authors have used these data in their research. For example, Digital Planet Report is used by Mithas et al [10] and Bankole et al [28] to study the impact of IT expenditure on quality of healthcare system of a country (using WHO statistics). In addition, Global Competitiveness Report and e-Government Survey Report are used by many researchers to apply into various areas [20,29,30].…”

“…Many previous studies [10,31] used LER, to measure the quality of healthcare systems. However, as suggested by Bankole et al [28], LER will be more useful in considering the impact over a long term. To evaluate the impact of eHealth on LER, it may require a longer period to be considered.…”

Influence of Constant Returns to Scale and Variable Returns to Scale Data Envelopment Analysis Models in ICT Infrastructure Efficiency Utilization

“…Investments in ICT can be thought of as consisting of four facets: hardware, software, internal (investments in labour) spending and telecommunication investments respectively (WITSA, 2008;Bankole et al, 2013). For the purpose of this study we shall look at only three of these aspects which are readily measurable for Infrastructure Utilization.…”

“…This supports the notion that should there be in increase in ICT Infrastructure in this region, whether properly controlled or not, there will be a corresponding increase in educational attainment and Adult Literacy rates. This will bring about an increase in quality of life and Human Development with respect to the Nations HDI Bankole et al, (2011d). stated that the Human Development Index (HDI) is used to assess the quality of life in a nation and is based on three components: Standard…”

Does ICT maturity catalyse economic development? Evidence from a panel data estimation approach in OECD countries

“…ICTs, specifically internet access, enhance human capabilities by assisting in communication and information acquisition. Following this approach, an extensive body of empirical study has investigated the effect of ICT on economic development ( Asongu and Le Roux, 2017 , Bankole et al, 2013 , Palvia et al, 2018 ). In these studies, proxy variables, such as human development ( Ashraf et al, 2015 , Asongu and Le Roux, 2017 , Budd and Ziegler, 2017 , Walsham, 2017 ), quality of life ( Chiao and Chiu, 2018 , Kadijevich et al, 2016 ) and well-being ( Ganju et al, 2015 , Palvia et al, 2018 ), have been used to define economic development.…”