ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL CONSUMPTION PRACTICES IN RUSSIAN REGIONS BASED ON AN INDEX APPROACH
E.R. Kashapova, E.I. Klemasheva, V.A. Malanina, E.M. Rozhdestvenskaya
National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Business School, Tomsk, Russia
Keywords: digital environment, consumption, digital practices, spheres of life, regions, age groups, index, digital inequality
Abstract
The study aims to provide an index assessment of the spread of digitalization of consumption practices among the Russian population in the regional context. Most existing approaches to assessing digitalization take into account access to the necessary infrastructure, but do not comprehensively answer the question of the population’s participation in digital consumption practices, taking into account age, level of education and digital skills, health and other factors. We suggested the design of the Digitalization Index of Consumption Practices, which includes relevant indicators organized into five sub-indices: medical services and services of social organizations; consumption of goods and services; digital communications; education; environment. The relative weights of the indicators and domains were determined using the expert assessment method. The highest weighting factor was assigned to the “consumption of goods and services" sub-index. The calculations of the Index values were carried out using the data from the Comprehensive Monitoring of Living Conditions of the Population 2022 (CMLC-2022). High rates of digitalization of consumption practices were found in presented age groups in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and St. Petersburg, and the lowest rates were calculated for the Zabaykalsky Krai. The largest gap in digitalization practices between the age groups under 55 and over 55 is observed in the Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Republic of Tatarstan (0.187 and 0.178, respectively); the smallest - in the Chechen Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Republic of Dagestan and the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. In Federal districts, the largest difference in age groups were found for the Central and Northwestern Federal Districts (0.196 and 0.174, respectively). The revealed disparities in the development of digitalization of consumption practices across domains and ages may promote the focus of regional policy on identifying the reasons for the rareness of practices and reducing interregional differences in access to the necessary infrastructure, which corresponds to the level of research on regional digital inequality.
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