Information and communication technologies and firms’ export performance

Abstract

Abstract This study empirically examines the enabling role played by the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the firms’ export participation and the intensity with which they sell abroad. Using a representative panel of Spanish manufacturing firms between 2000 and 2014, we contribute to the literature by estimating a series of dynamic models that analyze the direct and indirect (via productivity) effects of ICT use on firms’ export performance. Overall, our results suggest that firms that use ICT, and in particular those that have a website, experience a direct increase in their probability of exporting, but not in their export intensity. Nevertheless, ICT increases export intensity indirectly through the productivity channel.