Experimenting in the Cloud: The Digital Divide’s Impact on Innovation
This paper builds on a National Science Foundation working paper that identified a strong association between cloud use and various types of innovation but did not consider whether 1) cloud adoption is a reliable indicator of the innovation orientation of a firm, or 2) cloud adoption enables various types of innovation. The researchers estimate propensity score matching and endogenous treatment effect models to control for innovation orientation, producing evidence to test the second explanation. Findings support an enabling effect of the cloud on innovation providing concrete evidence of the adverse impact of the digital divide.
Authors: Luyi Han, Timothy R. Wojan, and Stephan J. Goetz
Publication: Telecommunications Policy Date Published: August 1, 2023