How is digital exclusion manifested in the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia?

Žaneta  Lacová; Ivana  Kuráková; Mária  Horehájová; Anna  Vallušová

doi:10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO2_7

Published : 2022-06-29

Vol. 10 No. 2 (2022)

How is digital exclusion manifested in the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia?

Žaneta Lacová

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4580-1421

Ivana Kuráková

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9307-5367

Mária Horehájová

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6718-4586

Anna Vallušová

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-1102

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO2_7

Abstract

The emergence and global spread of ICT have brought about a new socio-economic challenge of digital exclusion. Over time, this challenge has become a complex societal issue with direct economic repercussions in many areas. Specifically, this phenomenon is crucial from the labour market perspective, at both the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online business and management activities have increased rapidly. These changes have highlighted the need to explore the problems of digital exclusion and/or the unsatisfactory digital skills of the labour force more deeply. Our paper aims to identify how digital exclusion is manifested in the Slovak labour market and highlight the tendencies that the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated. In the analysis, we use available aggregate-level and individual data characterising the Slovak labour market from the macro-perspective, comparing it to the other EU Member States. To gain a more composite picture from the microeconomic perspective, we use original questionnaire survey data gained from medium-sized and large enterprises in Slovakia. According to our findings, the proportion of Internet non-users in the Slovak and European populations declined considerably during the pandemic. However, we identified a risk of the durability of digitally disadvantaged groups of the population among those who are at least 55 years old, those with a low education level, and people in financial distress. Our results underline the fact that companies could help their employees cultivate their digital literacy and resilience to enable a more inclusive digital society and a better-performing labour market in Slovakia.

Keywords:

digital exclusion, digital divide, labour market, COVID-19 pandemic, Slovakia

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Lacová, Žaneta ., Kuráková, I. ., Horehájová, M. ., & Vallušová, A. . (2022). How is digital exclusion manifested in the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia?. Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 10(2), 129–151. https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO2_7

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

References

Acilar, A., Sæbø, Ø. (2021), Towards understanding the gender digital divide: A systematic literature review, Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-09-2021-0147

Adamczyk, M., Betlej, A. (2021), Social determinants of digital exclusion in an ageing society. The case of Poland, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 8(3), 122-153. DOI: 10.9770/jesi.2021.8.3(7)

Aissaoui, N. (2021), The digital divide: A literature review and some directions for future research in light of COVID-19. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-06-2020-0075

Amankwah-Amoah, J., Khan, Z., Wood, G., Knight, G. (2021), COVID-19 and digitalisation: The great acceleration, Journal of Business Research, 136, 602-611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.08.011

Antonelli, C. (2003), The Digital Divide: Understanding the Economics of New Information and Communication Technology in the Global Economy, Information Economics and Policy, 15(2), 173–99. DOI: 10.1016/S0167-6245(02)00093-8

Bach, A., Shaffer, G., Wolfson T. (2013), Digital Human Capital: Developing a Framework for Understanding the Economic Impact of Digital Exclusion in Low-Income Communities, Journal of Information Policy, 3(1), 247-266. DOI: 10.5325/jinfopoli.3.1.247

Beaunoyer, E., Dupéré, S., Guitton, M. J. (2020), COVID-19 and digital inequalities: Reciprocal impacts and mitigation strategies, Computers in Human Behavior, 111(10). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106424

Buckingham, D. (2015), Defining digital literacy – What do young people need to know about digital media? Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 10, 21-35. https://doi.org/10.18261

Chaudhuri, A., Flamm, K. S., Horrigan, J. (2005), An analysis of the determinants of internet access. Telecommunications Policy, 29(9–10), 731–755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2005.07.001

De’, R., Pandey, N., Pal, A. (2020), Impact of digital surge during Covid-19 pandemic: A viewpoint on research and practice, International Journal of Information Management, 55(12). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102171

De Haan, J. (2004), A multifaceted dynamic model of the digital divide, It & Society, 1(7), 66-88.

DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E. (2001), From the “Digital Divide” to “Digital Inequality”: Studying Internet Use as Penetration Increases, Centre for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Working Paper Series, 15, Princeton: Princeton University.

Dvořák, M., Rovný, P., Grebennikova, V., Famin-skaya, M. (2020), Economic impacts of COVID-19 on the labor market and human capital, Terra Economicus, 18(4), 78-96. DOI: 10.18522/2073-6606-2020-18-4-78-96

Edmunds, A. (2020), Digital exclusion: Internet access and affordability, People know how – Research briefings, October 2020. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21938.43204

Ertl, B., Csanadi, A., Tarnai, Ch. (2020), Getting closer to the digital divide: An analysis of impacts on digital competencies based on the German PIAAC sample, International Journal of Educational Development, 78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102259

European Commission (2020), European Semester: Country report – Slovakia, retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/2020-european-semester-country-reports_en (accessed 14 June 2021)

Friemel, T. N. (2016), The digital divide has grown old: Determinants of a digital divide among seniors, New Media & Society, 18(2), 313–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814538648

Gigauri, I. (2020), Organizational Support to HRM in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic Crises, European Journal of Marketing and Economics, 3, 35-47. https://doi.org/10.26417/492dnl43d

Hargittai, E. (2002), Second Level Digital Divide: Differences in People’s Online Skills, First Monday, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v7i4.942

Hargittai, E., Piper, A. M., Morris, M. R. (2019), From internet access to internet skills: Digital inequality among older adults, Universal Access in the Information Society, 18(4), 881-890. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-018-0617-5

Helsper, E. J., Reisdorf B. C. (2017), The emergence of a “digital underclass” in Great Britain and Sweden: Changing reasons for digital exclusion, New Media & Society, 19(8), 1253-1270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816634676

Kolářová, I., Bédiová, M., Rašticová, M. (2017), Job opportunities for people over 50 in the Netherlands, Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 5(1), 119-128. DOI: 10.23762/fso_vol5no1_10

Lupač, P. (2018), Beyond the digital divide: Contextualising the information society, London: Emerald Publishing Limited. DOI: 10.1108/9781787565470

Malecki, E. J. (2003), Digital development in ru-ral areas: Potentials and pitfalls, Journal of Rural Studies, 19(2), 201–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00068-2

Meyer, N., Niemand, T., Davila, A., Kraus, S. (2022), Biting the bullet: When self-efficacy mediates the stressful effects of COVID-19 beliefs, PLOS One, 17(1), p.e0263022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263022.

Nguyen, M. H., Hargittai, E., Marler, W. (2021), Digital inequality in communication during a time of physical distancing: The case of COVID-19, Computers in Human Behavior, 120(7). DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2021.106717

Ono, H., Zavodny, M. (2002), Is there a gender gap in internet usage?, SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance, no. 495.

Ono, H., Zavodny, M. (2007), Digital inequality: A five-country comparison using micro-data. Social Science Research, 36(3), 1135-1155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2006.09.001

Patey, J., Fitzhugh, H., Watson, D., Nayani, R., Baric, M., Tregaskis, O., Daniels, K., Soffia, M. (2022), Case Study Evidence: Do you really care about your staff ’s happiness? How organisations balance well-being and performance during a crisis, Briefing, January 2022, What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

Pérez-Amaral, T., Valarezo, A., López, R., Garín-Muñoz, T. (2021), Digital divides across consumers of internet services in Spain using panel data 2007–2019. Narrowing or not? Telecommunications Policy, 45(2), 102093. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2020.102093

Philip, L., Cottrill, C., Farrington, J., Williams, F., Ashmore, F. (2017), The digital divide: Patterns, policy and scenarios for connecting the ‘final few’ in rural communities across Great Britain, Journal of Rural Studies, 54, 386–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.12.002

Przytuła, S., Strzelec, G., Krysińska-Kościańska, K. (2020), Re-vision of Future Trends in Human Resource Management (HRM) after COVID-19, Journal of Intercultural Management, 12(4), 70-90. https://doi.org/10.2478/joim-2020-0052

Quibria, M. G., Ahmed, S. N., Tschang, T., Reyes-Macasaquit, M.-L. (2003), Digital divide: Determinants and policies with special ref-erence to Asia, Journal of Asian Economics, 13(6), 811–825. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1049-0078(02)00186-0Reddick, Ch. G., Enriquez, R., Harris, R.J., Sharma, B. (2020), Determinants of broadband access and affordability: An analysis of a communi-ty survey on the digital divide, Cities, 106(11). DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102904Robinson, L., Schulz, J., Blank, G., Ragnedda, M., Ono, H., Hogan, B., Mesch, G. S., Cotten, S. R., Kretchmer, S. B., Hale, T. M., Drabowicz, T., Yan, P., Wellman, B., Harper, M.-G., Quan-Haase, A., Dunn, H. S., Casilli, A. A., Tubaro, P., Carvath, R., Khilnani, A. (2020), Digital in-equalities 2.0: Legacy inequalities in the information age, First Monday, 25(7). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i7.10842

Scheerder, A., van Deursen, A.J.A.M., van Dijk, J.A.G.M. (2017), Determinants of Internet skills, uses and outcomes. A systematic review of the second-and third-level digital divide, Telematics, and Informatics, 34(8), 1607-1624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.07.007

Schejter, A., Ben Harush, O. R., Tirosh, N. (2015), Re-theorizing the “digital divide”: Identifying dimensions of social exclusion in contemporary media technologies, FACE Conference: European Media Policy 2015: New Contexts, New Approaches, Helsinki, 9-10.04.2015, re-trieved from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/86701/ (accessed 20 May 2021).

Schmidpeter, B., Winter-Ebmer, R. (2021), Automation, unemployment, and the role of labor market training, European Economic Review, 137(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103808

Skvarciany, V., Jurevičienë, D. (2021), An Approach to the Measurement of the Digital Economy, Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 9(3), 89-102. https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL9_NO3_6

Śmiałowski, T., Ochnio L. (2019), Economic context of differences in digital exclusion, Acta Scientiarum Polonorum, 18(2),119-128. DOI: 10.22630/ASPE.2019.18.2.25

Song, Y., Qian, C., Pickard, S. (2021), Age-Related Digital Divide during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11285. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111285

Szeiner, Z., Mura, L., Šeben, Z., Smerek, L., Poór, J. (2021), Slovak Business in times of coronavirus pandemic in light of an empirical research, International Scientific Conference “The Poprad Economic and Management Forum 2021”, Poprad, 14.10.2021, retrieved from: https://www.manazmentpp.sk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/PEMF_ 2021_Proceedings_v19.a.pdf (accessed 25 January 2021)

van Deursen, A.J.A.M., van Dijk, J.A.G.M. (2011), Internet skills and the digital divide, New Media & Society, 13(6), 893–911. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810386774

van Deursen, A.J.A.M. (2020), Digital Inequality During a Pandemic: Quantitative Study of Differences in COVID-19–Related Internet Uses and Outcomes Among the General Population, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(8), e20073. https://doi.org/10.2196/20073

van Dijk, J.A.G.M. (2006), Digital divide research, achievements, and shortcomings, Poetics, 34(4/5), 221-235. DOI: 10.1016/j.poetic.2006.05.004van Dijk, J.A.G.M. (2020a), Closing the digital di-vide. The role of digital technologies on social development, well-being of all and the approach of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Virtual Expert Group UN Meeting on “Socially just transition towards sustainable development: The role of digital technologies on social development and well-being of all”, 4-7 August 2020, New York.

van Dijk, J.A.G.M. (2020b), The Digital Divide, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Witte, J. C., Mannon, S. E. (2010), The Internet and Social Inequalities, New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203861639

Warren, M. (2007), The digital vicious cycle: Links between social disadvantage and digital exclusion in rural areas, Telecommunications Policy, 31(6-7), 374-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tel-pol.2007.04.001

Zheng, Y., Walsham, G. (2021), Inequality of what? An intersectional approach to digital inequality under Covid-19, Information and Organization, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100341

Žaneta Lacová

zaneta.lacova@umb.sk
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4580-1421

Affiliation:

Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica Slovakia

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Dr. Žaneta Lacová earned her PhD in economics and management from the University of Lorraine (Nancy II) in France and Matej Bel University in Slovakia. She works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University and teaches economic theory. Her areas of interest include macroeconomic change (digitalisation) implications for companies and households, with a special emphasis on European economic integration issues.

Ivana Kuráková

ivana.kurakova@umb.sk
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9307-5367

Affiliation:

Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica Slovakia

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Dr. Ivana Kuráková is currently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica (the Slovak Republic). In her scientific research, she focuses on the issues of the labour market, human resources management, flexicurity, digital inequalities and the digital divide.

Mária Horehájová

maria.horehajova@umb.sk
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6718-4586

Affiliation:

Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica Slovakia

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Assoc. Prof. Mária Horehájová has been working at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, since 1996. She currently holds the position of associate professor, focusing mainly on the teaching of economic theory. She is also a co-author of several microeconomics textbooks. In addition, she deals with the role and reforms of public administration and is a co-author of a foreign publication on the decentralisation of public administration in Europe. As part of her project activities, she has recently been involved in social policy, mainly focused on caring for the elderly.

Anna Vallušová

anna.vallusova@umb.sk
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-1102

Affiliation:

Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica Slovakia

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Dr. Anna Vallušová works at the Faculty of Economics of Matej Bel University. In her research, she deals with changes in the labour market resulting from digitisation processes, emphasising the specifics of Central and Eastern Europe. She is currently the principal investigator of a research project focused on digital inequality and its consequences for the personnel work of companies. She is the author of publications dealing with the issue of inequality, the specifics of personnel work in the Central European region and corporate social responsibility. She also cooperates on the Banská Bystrica self-governing region project, the aim of which is to redesign social services for seniors