Publication: ICT Use, Innovation, and Productivity: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Date
2016-10
ISSN
Published
2016-10
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper examines empirically the
links between adoption of information and communications
technology (ICT), defined as usage by firms, innovation, and
productivity using firm-level data for a sample of six
Sub-Saharan African countries: the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
Although adoption of information and communications
technology in these countries is still lagging behind OECD
countries, there is significant heterogeneity on adoption
rates across the countries. Kenya has the largest adoption
rate of computer, software, and Internet usage. The
Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania experience lower
adoption rates. The degree of internationalization of the
firm, use of technology, and extent of competition are
important factors explaining firm-level use of ICT. The
results of the estimates suggest that ICT use is an
important and robust enabler of product, process, and
organization innovation across all six countries. However,
the final impact on productivity depends on the degree of
novelty of the innovation introduced by the firm.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Cirera, Xavier; Lage, Filipe; Sabetti, Leonard. 2016. ICT Use, Innovation, and Productivity: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7868. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25313 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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