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The Role of ICT for Sustainable Development: A Cross-Country Analysis

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Abstract

The study conducts a country-level examination of the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on sustainable development. Sustainable development is an agenda that global countries are determined to achieve. The ubiquitous nature of ICT and the benefits it accrues make it an inevitable choice to address the sustainable development agenda of nations. The literature on the influence of ICT on sustainable development at a global level is scant and the available literature provides ambiguous results on the relationship. This study conceptualizes sustainable development as three dimensions—economic, social and environment and supports the contention using secondary panel data analysis. A dataset comprises of 80 countries during the years 2000–2016. A Seemingly Unrelated Regression Estimation method helps in understanding the simultaneous relationship of ICT with the three described dimensions. To explore the relationship further, mediation analysis was conducted to understand the relationship of ICT with each dimension of sustainable development in the presence of the other dimensions. The results indicate that ICT has a significant positive influence on the dimensions of sustainable development of a nation. However, further examination with the mediation analysis reveals that ICT has a strong influence on the economic dimension and the spillover effects from economic dimension result in the realization of environmental and societal dimension of sustainable development. The results indicate that the unprecedented diffusion of ICT across remotest countries of the world is a ray of hope to address the agenda of sustainable development. However, the utmost attention must be taken to balance the three dimensions of sustainable development. The policy makers need to keep a critical eye on the environmental dimension and develop policies that incentivize the use of environmentally friendly technologies to ensure minimal or no impact on the environment and thereby ensure ICT as a catalyst for sustainable development.

Résumé

Cet étude examine, au niveau des pays, l’impact des technologies de l’information et de la communication (en anglais : Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs) sur le développement durable. Le développement durable est une agenda que les pays globales sont déterminés à atteindre. La nature omniprésente de l’ICT et les avantages qu’en dérivent le rendent un choix inéluctable afin d’adresser les agendas de développement durable des pays. La littérature concernant l’influence de l’ICT sur le développement durable à niveau globale est cependant maigre, et le peu de littérature qu’existe ne donne que des résultats ambigus sur cette relation. Cet étude conceptualise le développement durable sur trois dimensions – économique, sociale, et environnementale—et corrobore son assertion en analysant des donnés secondaires individuelles temporelles, utilisant une base de données comprenant 80 pays pendant les années 2000-2016. Une méthode d’estimation de régression apparemment indépendante aide à comprendre les relations simultanées de l’ICT avec ces trois dimensions. Pour mieux explorer ces relations, on a utilisé une analyse de la médiation pour comprendre la relation de l’ICT avec chaque dimension du développement durable en présence des autres dimensions. Les résultats indiquent que l’ICT a une influence significativement positive sur les dimensions du développement durable des nations. Cependant, un ultérieur examen utilisant l’analyse de médiation révèle que l’ICT a une forte influence sur la dimension économique, et que les répercussions de la dimension économique aboutent à la réalisation des dimensions environnementales et sociales du développement durable. Les résultats indiquent que la diffusion sans precedent de l’ICT à travers même les pays les plus lointains est un lueur d’espoir pour l’implémentation de l’agenda du développement durable. Cependant, il faut être très attentifs à équilibrer les trois dimensions du développement durable. Les décideurs politiques sont censés d’apporter un regard critique sur la dimension environnementale, et développer des politiques qui incitent l’utilisation des technologies respectueuses de l’environnement pour assurer un impact environnementale minimale ou nul, ainsi assurant que l’ICT soit un catalyseur du développement durable.

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Notes

  1. https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm.

  2. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/life-sciences-health-care/deloitte-uk-connected-health.pdf.

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The authors acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of this paper.

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  1. Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kozhikode, India

    Parvathi Jayaprakash & R. Radhakrishna Pillai

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Jayaprakash, P., Radhakrishna Pillai, R. The Role of ICT for Sustainable Development: A Cross-Country Analysis. Eur J Dev Res 34, 225–247 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00369-1

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