Digital Technology Uses among Informal Micro-Sized Firms: Productivity and Jobs Outcomes in Senegal

Atiyas,Ä°zak and Mark Andrew Dutz

No 9573, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper explores the use of digital technologies among informal micro-sized firms in Senegal, their association with productivity, sales, exports and jobs, and the role of age and gender dimensions of enterprise owners. The study uses a new national sample of over 500 firms, of which over 90 percent are not fully formal and over 95 percent are micro-sized, employing five or fewer full-time employees. The analysis finds that using a 2G mobile phone is significantly positively correlated both with productivity and sales, and using a smartphone is associated with an additional premium relative to using a 2G. The largest statistically significant conditional correlate of productivity, sales and jobs is a more specialized internal-to-the-firm management technology proxying for management capabilities more generally, namely inventory control/point of sales (POS) software. Use of digital technologies to facilitate external-to-the-firm transactions, namely using mobile money to pay suppliers and to receive payments from customers are also statistically significant conditional correlates of productivity and sales. Using a smartphone is also positively correlated with exporting (while using only a 2G phone is not). Finally, there are significant digital divides in the use of digital technologies across age and gender groupings.

Keywords: Labor Markets; Food&Beverage Industry; Textiles; Apparel&Leather Industry; Pulp&Paper Industry; Common Carriers Industry; Construction Industry; Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies; General Manufacturing; Plastics&Rubber Industry; Food Security; Gender and Development; Energy Policies&Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-03-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-iue, nep-pay and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/68757161 ... comes-in-Senegal.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9573

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().