Determinants of Internet skills, uses and outcomes. A systematic review of the second- and third-level digital divide

• Published in: Telematics and informatics Vol. 34; no. 8; pp. 1607 - 1624
• Main Authors: Scheerder, Anique, van Deursen, Alexander, van Dijk, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2017; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Determinants; Digital divide; Internet; Internet access; Internet outcomes; Internet skills; Internet use; Literature reviews; Skills; Systematic literature review; Systematic review; Internet skills; Internet use; Digital divide; Internet outcomes; Systematic literature review
• ISSN: 0736-5853; 1879-324X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2017.07.007

•This article presents a literature review on determinants of the digital divide.•Consistent digital divide terminology is missing within the literature.•The majority of determinants identified focuses on the second-level digital divide.•Sociodemographic and socioeconomic determinants are studied the most.•More attention should be devoted to the outcomes of Internet use. Recently, several digital divide scholars suggested that a shift is needed from a focus on binary Internet access (first-level digital divide) and Internet skills and use (second-level digital divide) to a third-level digital divide in which the tangible outcomes of Internet use are highlighted. A plethora of studies have been conducted to identify determinants of digital divides. Unfortunately, there is a lack of consistency in the terminology used. Moreover, terms are often not theoretically grounded. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review of digital divide determinants. The results show that the third-level digital divide was underexposed. The primary focus is on Internet use. More importantly, the identified determinants show that digital divide research is largely limited to sociodemographic and socioeconomic determinants.