The influence of the operational programme innovative economy on individuals at risk of the digital divide and their participation in the electronic economy

Dariusz Chalimoniuk1, Wojciech Pizło2
1 Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Poland, 2 Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Poland
Chalimoniuk, Dariusz (Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Poland)
Pizło, Wojciech; ORCID: 0000-0002-5212-0990 (Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Poland)
The influence of the operational programme innovative economy on individuals at risk of the digital divide and their participation in the electronic economy
Annals of Marketing Management and Economics, 2016, vol.2, nr 1, s. 13-23

Key words

information society digital divide (digital divide) Operational Programme

Abstract

The article examines the influence of the Operational Programme Innovative Economy on individuals whose participation in the electronic economy is threatened by the digital divide. The aim was to diagnose the digital divide in the context of the Information Society and to assess the level of digital divide. The empirical material was a survey on a sample of 1,487 questionnaires, 1,402 of which were ultimately accepted and analysed. The sample consisted of individuals benefiting from the Operational Programme Innovative Economy – Measure 8.3, Counteracting Digital divide – eInclusion. The article presents the essence of the information society by looking at the ideas of A. Toffler, D. Bell, M. Castells, M. Bangemann and T. Goban-Class, as well as the nature of the digital divide and e-Inclusion. It was found that, after joining the programme, beneficiaries significantly increased their use of Internet encyclopedias (from 52 to 75.1%), as well as participation in online courses. Respondents also showed an increase in the use of electronic banking (the number of respondents who opened up an online bank account rose from 31.8 to 49.9%).