Internet Trust: Longitudinal Evidence on Socio-Economic and Digital Adoption Behavior

Angel Valarezo-Unda, Javier Capilla, Teodosio Pérez-Amaral, Alfredo Garcia-Hiernaux and Rafael López

33rd European Regional ITS Conference, Edinburgh, 2025: Digital innovation and transformation in uncertain times from International Telecommunications Society (ITS)

Abstract: Using the 2014 – 2021 waves of Spain's ICT-H household panel, we track Internet trust for 59,648 internet users across 130,013 person-year observations. A correlated random-effects ordered-probit model shows that improvements in digital skills and first-hand use of transactional services are the strongest and most consistent predictors of higher trust, while traditional socio-economic markers play a secondary role. Once skill levels are controlled, age differences largely vanish, but women still report lower trust and the pandemic years register a notable dip, pointing to attitudinal and systemic factors that skill policies alone cannot solve. The findings highlight the need for advanced skill training, guided initial transactions and robust consumer safeguards, particularly for women and low-income users, if Spain is to close its remaining trust gap and achieve inclusive digitalization.

Keywords: Internet trust; digital inclusion; socio-economic determinants; panel data; digital skills; Eco-RETINA; Spain; ICT-H survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 D83 L86 O33 O35 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-ict and nep-soc
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