Digital Literacy as a Driver of Social Inclusion in E-Governance: A Survey of Households in Coimbatore City

Abstract

A modern administrative paradigm is becoming more characterized by the shift of the traditional bureaucratic system towards complex digital systems of governance. Although the "Digital India" campaign has greatly contributed to the development of technical infrastructure to deliver of services to the citizens, the actualization of inclusive governance is subject to the adaptive ability of the citizenry. This study explores how digital literacy can be one of the key determinants in social inclusion in e-governance with emphasis on the households of Coimbatore City, which is a major tier-II industrial and technological centre in the state of Tamil Nadu. Based on the Capability Approach presented by Amartya Sen, the research approach conceives digital literacy not as a technical proficiency but as a key individual conversion factor that facilitates citizens in changing digital resources to produce substantive liberty and engagement consequences. The stratified random sampling method was used to sample 384 households in the five administrative zones of Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation. The study uses a two-step Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method to examine the correlations among the five domains of the DigComp 2.1 framework of Information and Data Literacy, Communication and Collaboration, Digital Content Creation, Safety, and Problem Solving, and the indexes of social inclusion, such as civic participation and independence in exercise of rights. The results indicate that digital innovation is useful in increasing the quality of e-government services that, in its turn, can increase the quality of participatory decision-making in the formation of a public policy. Nevertheless, the findings also highlight that there remains a second-level digital divide in the sense that socio-economic factors like education, occupation, and age introduce significant differences in the capacity to transact in the digital arenas. The structural model shows that the most effective predictors of the civic engagement and institutional trust are safety awareness and information literacy. Finally, the paper finishes off with the evidence-based suggestions on how to make critical digital literacy a significant part of the civic education curriculum and implement the principles of universal design to make e-governance a means of fair social change and not a means of further marginalization.