Mind the digital gap: The role of regional-level general and digital human capital in shaping ICT use of different types of entrepreneurs

Abstract

We investigate determinants of the frequency of ICT usage of three types of self-employed workers —self-employed with employees; independent own-account self-employed; and dependent self-employed workers— in 305 European NUTS-2 regions. Besides individual-level determinants, we also investigate the role of regional-level general human capital and of regional-level digital human capital, which capture distinct sources of regional knowledge spillovers. Our results show clear evidence for both types of spillover effects to exist. Moreover, we find that these effects also contribute to a convergence process in ICT use frequency (i) among the three types of self-employed within a given region and (ii) among regions.