Bridging the gap : Exploring elderly citizens' perceptions of digital exclusion

Digital exclusion of elderly citizens is a main contributor for poor uptake of public e-service. The situation is alarming since elderly citizens are a major target for many upcoming services provided by governments, such as online health care services. Playing an important role in a sustainable society, governments should always strive towards increased efficiency and effectivity in order for publicly founded resources to be better used. However, sustainable development of public e-services is problematic if the intended receivers of such services are excluded from, or do not want to use them. In order to address this problematic situation we need to know more about elderly citizens’ perceptions of why they are digitally excluded. We add to existing research by providing a large sample of empirical data explaining elderly citizens’ own perceptions about why they are digitally excluded. Furthermore, we present how these perceptions can be categorised and also how they relate in between. Such findings may serve as a basis for how to deal with these problems in order to enhance digital inclusion of elderly citizens, which in the long run may enhance their uptake of public e-service.IIT2019kv2