DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY AND HIGH-TECHNOLOGY EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS: EVOLUTION, EMERGING TRENDS, AND GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION
Abstract
The role of digital connectivity for trade competitiveness has grown, and it is having a differential impact on the performance of high-technology exports in developing economies. This study explores the patterns of change in the digital connectivity and high-technology export competitiveness of South Asian economies over the period 2000–2023 by using a quantitative longitudinal panel-data approach. The main indicators of digital connectivity were Internet usage and high-technology exports as a percentage of manufactured exports; export competitiveness. Temporal patterns and structural relationships were assessed using descriptive statistics, trend analysis, correlation analysis, pooled regression and country fixed-effects models. The findings show that while there has been a considerable increase in the use of the internet across the region, there was a large spread in the performance of high-technology exports. No Clear association of Internet use and high-technology exports was found in the alternative model specifications. Foreign direct investment, on the other hand, was the most stable positive influence, and country-specific effects accounted for a significant share of the variance observed. These results suggest that the mere connectivity is not enough to boost up Technological export competitiveness. The role of investment, productive capacity, innovation capacity, skills, and suitable institutional features in driving digital transformation and enhancing the trade benefits. The study strongly emphasizes the necessity of making efforts to strengthen the export growth in the case of technology-intensive products through integrated digital, industrial and investment policies.
Downloads
References
2.Ahmed, R. (2024). South Asian growth & development data (2000–23): Comparative analysis of economic indicators in South Asia (pre- and post-COVID) [Data set]. Kaggle.
3.Banga, R., & Banga, K. (2020). Digitalization and India’s losing export competitiveness. In Accelerators of India's Growth—Industry, Trade and Employment: Festschrift in Honor of Bishwanath Goldar (pp. 129-158). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
4.Bellucci, C., Rubínová, S., & Piermartini, R. (2025). Better together: How digital connectivity and regulation reduce trade costs. Review of International Economics, 33(3), 796-814.
5.Bouattour, M., Saadaoui, I., Kanoun, S., & Helali, K. (2026). The influence of digitalization on the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in G20 countries. Digital Economy and Sustainable Development, 4(1), 7.
6.Cariolle, J., & da Piedade, C. (2023). Digital connectedness and exports upgrading: Is sub‐Saharan Africa catching up?. The World Economy, 46(11), 3325-3344.
7.Chiappini, R., & Gaglio, C. (2024). Digital intensity, trade costs and exports' quality upgrading. The world economy, 47(2), 709-747.
8.Durmaz, A., & Yıldız, Ü. (2020). The impact of innovation in the process of high technology exports: An analysis on BRICS countries. Uluslararası İktisadi ve İdari İncelemeler Dergisi, (28), 193-202.
9.Franzè, C., Paolucci, E., & Pessot, E. (2024). Sustained value creation driven by digital connectivity: A multiple case study in the mechanical components industry. Technovation, 129, 102918.
10.Junyan, Q. I., & Yida, R. E. N. (2022). Digital Economy Development, Institutional Quality and Upstreamness of Global Value Chains. Frontiers of Economics in China, 17(1), 24.
11.Kalema, N. L. (2024). The ‘Digital Transformation for Development’anti‐politics machine: A case study on global digital development governance and public‐sector digital transformation in uganda. Policy & Internet, 16(4), 750-763.
12.Li, H., Han, J., & Xu, Y. (2023). The effect of the digital economy on services exports competitiveness and ternary margins. Telecommunications Policy, 47(7), 102596.
13.Liao, H., Wang, D., Van Assche, A., & Zhang, C. (2026). Enabling effects of digital technology on enterprise export product quality: evidence from China. The World Economy, 49(4), 836-851.
14.Nham, N. T. H., & Bao, N. K. Q. (2023). Nonlinear effects of digitalization on export activities: An empirical investigation in European countries. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 29(3), 1041-1079.
15.Ou, X., Zhao, W., Zheng, Z., & Mohiuddin, M. (2025). Towards green trade: Digital economy and export quality of green products. Research in International Business and Finance, 75, 102777.
16.Peng, C., Yang, S., & Jiang, H. (2022). Does digitalization boost companies’ outward foreign direct investment?. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 1006890.
17.Qian, J., & She, Q. (2023). The impact of corporate digital transformation on the export product quality: Evidence from Chinese enterprises. Plos one, 18(11), e0293461.
18.Rana, S., Singh, J., Mishra, V., Khan, S., Quttainah, M., & Prashar, S. (2024). How digital transformation impact firm performance? The unmet needs of Indian exporting firms. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 32(8), 1317-1335.
19.Ren, W., Lin, T., & Hao, Y. (2024). Digital intermediate product imports and firms’ export quality: evidence from China. Digital Economy and Sustainable Development, 2(1), 10.
20.Rodriguez-Crespo, E., Billon, M., & Marco, R. (2021). Impacts of internet use on trade: new evidence for developed and developing countries. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 57(10), 3017-3032.
21.Sinha, M., Tirtosuharto, D., Ray Chaudhury, A., & Basu, P. (2023). FDI, digitalization and employment: empirical evidence from developing economies. Studies in Economics and Finance, 40(4), 740-756.
22.Thang, D. N., & Van Luong, D. (2025). Effects of digital capability on digital export: international evidence. Economics and Business Letters, 14.
23.Wang, F., Guo, B., Wang, Z., & Wu, Y. (2023). The impact of digital economy on the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 20(4), 7253-7272.
24.Wang, J., & Huang, Q. (2025). The Impact of digital transformation on the export technology complexity of manufacturing enterprises: Based on empirical evidence from China. Sustainability, 17(6), 2596.
25.Zhang, H., Liu, Q., & Wei, Y. (2023). Digital product imports and export product quality: Firm-level evidence from China. China Economic Review, 79, 101981.
26.Zhang, L., Pan, A., Feng, S., & Qin, Y. (2022). Digital economy, technological progress, and city export trade. PloS one, 17(6), e0269314.
27.Zhanqi, Y. A. O. (2022). The Path and Threshold Effect of Digitalization on the Competitiveness of China’s Manufacturing Export. Frontiers of Economics in China, 17(1), 134.
28.Zhen, Y. A. N. G., Jin, C. H. E. N., & Jizhen, L. I. (2022). Global Value Chains in the Era of Digital Economy: Trends, Risks and Countermeasures. Frontiers of Economics in China, 17(1), 1.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By submitting a manuscript to IJRDO – Journal of Business Management, the author(s) confirm that the work is original and does not infringe upon any existing copyrights or third-party rights.
Authors retain responsibility for the content of their work. In cases of proven ethical misconduct such as plagiarism or duplicate publication, the journal reserves the right to take appropriate action, which may include correction or retraction, in accordance with publication ethics.
