oa Kennis, ICT-gebruik en organisaties

Knowledge, ICT-use and organisations. A regional perspective

The central question in this article is how the increase in ICT-use in industries and organisational changes are related to changes in the knowledge structure. On the basis of a theoretical survey some hypotheses are formulated and subsequently empirically tested. Thereby a regional perspective is used. It is considered whether developments occur in each region in the same manner. We test theories of spatial con- and divergence, raised in the ICT-era. The research uses municipal data on education, ICT-use and innovativeness in the period 1997-2002. A first hypothesis assumes a positive relationship between ICT-use and an upgrading of the educational structure. This hypothesis is confirmed. Related to this a second hypothesis assumes that this upgrading will occur especially in the more peripheral areas. This hypothesis is also, although weakly, confirmed. A third hypothesis assumes a positive relationship between organisational changes and an upgrading of the educational structure. This hypothesis is not confirmed however. Also the fourth hypothesis, assuming that with organisational changes, upgrading will occur especially in centrally urban areas, is lacking support. The complexity and missing univocality of the (spatial) developments implicate a refining of recent ‘grand theories’ and a better specification of relationships.