Title: A longitudinal analysis of internet use. The case of Greece

Authors: Elias Gounopoulos; Stavros Valsamidis; Ioannis Kazanidis; Sotirios Kontogiannis

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, University of Western Macedonia, 6th National Road Kozani Grevena, 51100 Grevena, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Agios Loukas, 65404 Kavala, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Agios Loukas, 65404 Kavala, Greece ' Department of Mathematics, University of Ioannina, P.O. Box 1186, 54110, Ioannina, Greece

Abstract: Internet usage for capital enhancing activities is not considered by the Greeks necessary to their everyday life. The majority of the Greek users prefer to use it for communication, entertainment and information, while fewer are using it for electronic banking services, educational activities, etc. This paper examines the changing effect of socio-economic and demographic factors on internet use in Greece, for the years 2013 and 2015. We used multivariate analysis to analyse the micro data of the surveys, on the use of ICTs by the households and individuals, conducted by the Hellenic Statistical Authority. Our results show that internet use in Greece reflects and reproduces current social inequalities. The people who are employed, educated, live in urban areas and have higher income, benefit more from using the internet. Although the inequalities in internet use seem to decrease marginally, policy measures should adopt a targeted strategy for vulnerable social groups.

Keywords: digital divide; digital inequality; internet use; multivariate analysis; Greece.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSS.2020.111344

International Journal of Society Systems Science, 2020 Vol.12 No.3, pp.198 - 214

Received: 26 Dec 2018
Accepted: 13 Aug 2019
Published online: 23 Nov 2020 *

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