How does adoption behavior towards ICT policies affect digital divides? Evidence from Chinese prefecture-level cities

Much has been investigated about antecedents of regional digital divides, while few have examined the impact of differential adoption behaviors toward informational and communications technology (ICT) policies. Utilizing a policy citation-based approach, this study quantifies the adoption behaviors of prefectural governments for ICT policies and further explores their effects on prefectural three-order digital divides: ICT access, ICT use, and ICT outcome. The moderating role of provincial governments' ICT policy adoption behaviors is also evaluated. By uncovering numerous implicit policy citation links in China's large-scale ICT policies, we calculate the speed, intensity, and content innovation of ICT policies adopted by prefecture- and province-level governments and inspect their spatial structures and locational dynamics. Further, the influence of these adoption behaviors' spatial-temporal heterogeneity on digital divides is examined based on non-spatial and spatial models. Our study demonstrates that digital divides and ICT policy adoption exhibit significant spatial-temporal disparities across prefectures in China, with this non-equilibrium continuing to expand over time. Prefectural cities with high ICT policy adoption speed, adoption intensity, and moderate content innovation can markedly reduce their three-order digital divides and promote digital development, which is moderated by province-level ICT policy adoption behaviors. Our research offers in-depth insight into spillovers of differentiated policy adoption behaviors and highlights several broad implications for policy innovation and generalization. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd