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Barriers to the use of digital government among the Arab population in Israel – A case study of digital divide

Ruben Harari et al.

Online Information Review2026https://doi.org/10.1108/oir-10-2024-0669article
AJG 1ABDC B
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Purpose This study aims to examine barriers to digital government service usage among Israel's Arab population, an Indigenous ethnic minority comprising 21% of the country's population. Despite similar Internet usage rates between Arab (88%) and Jewish (93%) populations, a significant disparity exists in digital government adoption: 36 versus 60%, respectively. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the Central Bureau of Statistics' Social Survey (2018–2022), this research analyzed a sample of 6,204 Israeli Arab citizens aged 20 and above. Findings Three main conclusions emerged: (1) The “digital divide approach” was confirmed, demonstrating that societal inequalities (education, occupation, area of residence, Hebrew proficiency, religion, age and gender) are mirrored in the digital sphere. (2) A new class of mobile-only users has emerged, facing limitations in exploiting the Internet's full potential. (3) Contrary to expectations, COVID-19 exacerbated rather than reduced digital inequality within Arab society in Israel. Originality/value The uniqueness of this research is reflected in two aspects. First, it focuses exclusively on Israel's Arab population, treating it as a heterogeneous group. Second, it examines the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the use of digital government services. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2024-0669

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/oir-10-2024-0669

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@article{ruben2026,
  title        = {{Barriers to the use of digital government among the Arab population in Israel – A case study of digital divide}},
  author       = {Ruben Harari et al.},
  journal      = {Online Information Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/oir-10-2024-0669},
}

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Barriers to the use of digital government among the Arab population in Israel – A case study of digital divide

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.