Study of the digital divide evaluation model for government agencies–a Taiwanese local government’s perspective

Many countries have devoted increasing attention to information infrastructures. However, a gap in digitalization exists among different government agencies, causing unequal opportunities for accessing infrastructures, information, and communication technologies. This paper, based on Gowin’s Vee structure, is an empirical study of the digital divide in the context of local governments in Taiwan. A model for identifying and measuring aforementioned digital divide is constructed in this paper. We first refer to the grounded theory to draft a framework for measuring the digital divide in local governments. Then, through the use of a questionnaire distributed to experts implemented alongside the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), we generate five dimensions (including ICT infrastructure, human resources, external environment, internals of organization, and information) and 42 measures. Finally, we measure the actual levels of the digital divide in local governments with the resulting digital divide evaluation model. This paper aims to generate results that can serve as a reference for government agencies (at all levels) in the formulation of their digitalization strategies. Moreover, the digital divide evaluation model constructed in this study goes beyond existing measures and may serve as a reference for academics in the examination of methods to narrow the digital divide in various levels of governmental bodies. Taken together, the features of integration, comprehensiveness, and wide applicability of this proposed model can be considered the theoretical contributions to digital divide and local government hierarchy research.