Methodological approach to measuring the digital gap in internet consumption between households and organizations: regional aspect

Abstract

Importance: economic relations arising between the main economic entities – households and firms – regarding the use of the Internet. Purpose: comparative analysis of the use of Internet technologies by households and organizations in the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods in the context of Russian regions. Research design: the study proposed a methodology for assessing the digital divide between various subjects of using digital technology and tested the digital divide index of Internet consumption between households and organizations in 85 regions of Russia during the periods 2015-2019 and 2021. Results: the author proposed a methodology for assessing the digital divide between households and organizations based on the construction of an appropriate index. A comparative analysis of the use of Internet technologies by households and organizations showed that the pre-pandemic period 2015-2019 distinguished a tendency for the share of households using the Internet to exceed the share of organizations using the technology under study in context of regions of Russia. During the pandemic period this pattern was reversed for most regions of Russia, that was caused by a reduction in the share of organizations using Internet technologies.