Sources of Individual Differences in Adults' Digital Skills

Abstract

We develop an integrative conceptual framework that seeks to explain individual differences in digital skills. Building on practice engagement theory, this framework views the continued usage of digital technologies at work and in everyday life (ICT use) as the key prerequisite for the acquisition of digital skills. At the same time, the framework highlights that ICT use is itself contingent upon individual and contextual preconditions, most notably literacy skills. We apply this framework to data from two recent German large-scale studies (total N 5,281) that offer objective measures of adults’ digital skills. Findings support our framework’s view of ICT use as a key prerequisite for digital skills. Moreover, they demonstrate that literacy skills have strong associations with digital skills, largely by virtue of their indirect associations through ICT use. By comparison, regional digital cultures evince only limited explanatory power for individual differences in digital skills.