Title: Measuring the impact of ICT labour on the efficiency of Turkish retail businesses: a stochastic frontier analysis

Authors: Feride Gönel; Hüseyin Taştan

Addresses: Department of Economics, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey ' Department of Economics, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: This study examines the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on efficiency in the Turkish retail trade sector using firm-level data. We employ a stochastic frontier model to analyse the effect of ICT labour and traditional non-ICT labour on productivity. Results indicate that Turkish retail firms operate with constant returns to scale and a labour-intensive technology. ICT labour has a positive effect on the technical efficiency of retailer firms, with a contribution comparable to that of non-ICT labour. Empirical results also suggest that, compared to large firms, small and medium-sized firms exhibit slightly higher technical efficiency.

Keywords: information and communication technologies; ICT; productivity; retail trade; wholesale trade; e-commerce; Turkey; small-sized firms.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2025.147180

Global Business and Economics Review, 2025 Vol.33 No.1, pp.84 - 107

Received: 08 Nov 2023
Accepted: 03 Mar 2024
Published online: 11 Jul 2025 *

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