Marco Benvenuto – UNISALENTO, Centro Ecotekne Pal. C – S.P. 6, Lecce – Monteroni, CAP 72023 – ITALY
Francesco Vincenzo Sambati – UNISALENTO, Centro Ecotekne Pal. C – S.P. 6, Lecce – Monteroni, CAP 72023 – ITALY
Carmine Viola – UNISALENTO, Centro Ecotekne Pal. C – S.P. 6, Lecce – Monteroni, CAP 72023 – ITALY
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.S.P.2019.95
5th International Conference – ERAZ 2019 – KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, Budapest – Hungary, May 23, 2019, SELECTED PAPERS
Published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia
Conference partners: Faculty of Economics and Business, Mediterranean University, Montenegro; University of National and World Economy – Sofia, Bulgaria; Faculty of Commercial and Business Studies – Celje, Slovenia; Faculty of Applied Management, Economics and Finance – Belgrade, Serbia;
ISBN 978-86-80194-21-9, ISSN 2683-5568, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.S.P.2019
Abstract
Introduction: The increasing age, the presence of different diseases that affect the health of
individuals and the new opportunities of access to information are changing the process of acquisition
of data on health status. Very often, the process of autonomous research of information leads to wrong
self-diagnosis with consequent repercussions on health expenditures (e.g.: unnecessary hospitalization)
and, generally, on sustainability of health systems.
Scope: This work aims to examine the influence of Digital Divide and Internet Usage (DD/IU) on autonomous
Health Information Seeking (HIC) process, in order to get useful information about its impact on
Healthcare Expenditures per Individual (HEPI). Similarly, this work aims to recognize and understand,
from an economical, organizational and technological perspective, the correlation between DD/IUHIS
and HEPI.
Methods: To discover the link between DD/IU, HIS and HEPI, we conducted a systematic literature
review in order to understand the network of behind these concepts and we applied the Panel Linear
Model (PLM) approach in a case study to prove the correlation.
Findings: By analysing the literature on between DD/IU and HIS ties have emerged between the research
topics. These findings have been also revealed by a significative impact. This suggests that,
since people live longer, the more individuals access the Internet to get information on health status,
the more effective the health expenditure is. All of this has repercussions on the long-term sustainability
of the health system, requiring a re-modulation of the services provided, the professionalism and the
technologies adopted.
Key words
Digital Divide, Health Information Seeking, Health-care Expenditures, Internet Usage,
Internet Access.
References
[1] W. H. Organization, ‘World health statistics 2018: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable
development goals’, Geneva, 2018.
[2] Y. N. Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. London: Vintage, 2019.
[3] OECD, How’s Life in the Digital Age? OECD, 2019.
[4] G. Gravili, M. Benvenuto, A. Avram, and C. Viola, ‘The influence of the Digital Divide on
Big Data generation within supply chain management’, Int. J. Logist. Manag., vol. 29, no.
2, pp. 592–628, 2018.
[5] Marco Benvenuto, Carmine Viola, and Francesco Sambati, ‘A New Social and Technological
Paradigm to Assess Chronic Patient Management Process: Preliminary Results’,
Manag. Stud., vol. 5, no. 6, 2017.
[6] M. R. Giovagnoli et al., ‘Diagnostic and therapeutic path of breast cancer: Effectiveness,
appropriateness, and costs – Results from the DOCMa study’, Clin. Interv. Aging, vol. 10,
2015.
[7] L. Gastaldi and M. Corso, ‘International Journal of Engineering Business Management
Smart Healthcare Digitalization: Using ICT to Effectively Balance Exploration and Exploitation
Within Hospitals Regular Paper’, pp. 1–13, 2012.
[8] V. N. Slev, P. Mistiaen, H. R. W. Pasman, I. M. V. Leeuw, C. F. van Uden-Kraan, and A. L.
Francke, ‘Effects of eHealth for patients and informal caregivers confronted with cancer:
A meta-review’, Int. J. Med. Inform., vol. 87, pp. 54–67, Mar. 2016.
[9] P. Norris, Digital Divide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
[10] W. Ryder, M. and Brent, ‘Affordances and Constraints of the Internet for Learning and
Instruction’, Present. to Assoc. Educ. Commun. Technol. Indianapolis, IN., 1996.
[11] S., DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., and Shafer, ‘Digital Inequality: From Unequal
Access to Differentiated Use.’, in Social Inequality, K. N. Ed., Ed. New York: Russell Sage
Foundation., 2004, p. ’355–400.
[12] P. DiMaggio, E. Hargittai, W. R. Neuman, and J. P. Robinson, ‘Social Implications of the
Internet’, Annu. Rev. Sociol., vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 307–336, Aug. 2001.
[13] R. Whitaker, The End of Privacy: How Total Surveillance is Becoming a Reality. New
York: The New Press, 2000.
[14] E. J. Wilson, ‘Closing the digital divide: an initial review. Briefing the President’, Washington
DC Internet Policy Inst., 2000.
[15] J. Cooper, ‘The digital divide: the special case of gender’, J. Comput. Assist. Learn., vol.
22, no. 5, pp. 320–334, Sep. 2006.
[16] H. Ono and M. Zavodny, ‘Gender and the Internet *’, Soc. Sci. Q., vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 111–
121, Mar. 2003.
[17] S. Dutta and B. Bilbao-Osorio, The Global Information Technology Report 2012 Living in
a Hyperconnected World. 2012.
[18] R. Broadbent and T. Papadopoulos, ‘Impact and benefits of digital inclusion for social
housing residents’, Community Dev., vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 55–67, 2013.
[19] Y. Neumark, C. Lopez-Quintero, B. S. Feldman, A. J. Hirsch Allen, and R. Shtarkshall,
‘Online health information seeking among Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel: Results
from a national school survey’, J. Health Commun., vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 1097–1115, 2013.
[20] J. Choudrie, G. Ghinea, and V. N. Songonuga, ‘Silver surfers, e-government and the digital
divide: An exploratory study of UK local authority websites and older citizens’, Interact.
Comput., vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 417–442, 2013.
[21] S. Jiang and R. L. Street, ‘Factors Influencing Communication with Doctors via the Internet:
A Cross-Sectional Analysis of 2014 HINTS Survey’, Health Commun., vol. 32, no. 2,
pp. 180–188, 2017.
[22] Y. Zhang, Z. Lin, X. Li, T. Xiaoming, Y. Zhou, and X. Zhang, ‘Factors Affecting ICT Use
in Health Communication among the Older Population in Jiangsu, China’, Libri, vol. 69,
no. 1, pp. 41–53, 2019.
[23] D. Haluza, M. Naszay, A. Stockinger, and D. Jungwirth, ‘Digital Natives Versus Digital
Immigrants: Influence of Online Health Information Seeking on the Doctor–Patient Relationship’,
Health Commun., vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 1342–1349, 2017.
[24] Y. Feng and W. Xie, ‘Digital divide 2.0: The role of social networking sites in seeking
health information online from a longitudinal perspective’, J. Health Commun., vol. 20, no.
1, pp. 60–68, 2015.
[25] A. Sato and J. Costa-i-Font, ‘Social networking for medical information: A digital divide
or a trust inquiry?’, Heal. Policy Technol., vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 139–150, 2013.
[26] K. M. Hallows, ‘Health information literacy and the elderly: Has the Internet had an impact?’,
Ser. Libr., vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 39–55, 2013.
[27] C. Shah and G. Marchionini, ‘Awareness in CIS’, Int. Rev. Res. Open Distance Learn., vol.
14, no. 4, pp. 90–103, 2013.
[28] M. Manierre, ‘Examining the Relationship Between Flexible Resources and Health Information
Channel Selection’, Health Commun., vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 22–34, 2016.
[29] Y. Croissant and G. Millo, Panel Data Econometrics with R. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2018.