Understanding consumer behaviours: A study of ICT expenditure and digital access divide in Spain

This paper examines the digital access divide in Spain, with a particular focus on the impact of socio-economic factors, territorial disparities and public policies on household investment and access to information and communication technologies (ICT). The analysis, which is based on panel data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (2016-2022), employs robust econometric models and spatial distributions of expenditure or investment in ICT. This paper presents a particularly interesting context around the digital access divide in Spain. While rural and depopulated areas face significant barriers to full participation in the digital economy, due to lack of infrastructure and an ageing population, coupled with a reluctance to invest in ICT. There is relatively universal access to mobile and internet in Spain.The findings further demonstrate that younger, higher-income individuals are more likely to overcome these barriers, while gender disparities in ICT ownership and investment persist. The study underlines the importance of targeted policies to address the digital divide, particularly through enhanced telecommunications infrastructure and digitalisation efforts by advocating investment in smart infrastructure, digitisation of the workplace, and comprehensive digital skills training, which are essential to foster an inclusive and sustainable digital transformation across all regions.