The Role of Modern Technology in Promoting Human Development in Emerging Economies

Research Purpose Human development spurs progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by enabling the capabilities, productivity, and resilience needed to meet economic, social, and environmental targets. Promoting human development facilitates achieving SDGs. Giving attention to factors that spurred human development in the right direction propagates education, health, and economic prosperity and, as such, achieves SDGs. Hence, the determinants of human development are central to SDGs. This study examines the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and access to electricity on human development in selected emerging economies. Design/ Methodology/ Approach Following the modernisation theory, the relationship between ICT, access to electricity and human development is assessed within an econometric second-generation panel unit root test, cross-sectional dependence test, slope heterogeneity, a panel-corrected standard error model, a Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test, and a threshold model between 2000 and 2022. Findings The findings reveal the crucial importance of ICT and access to electricity on human development in emerging economies. ICT spur human development and suggests that it remains one of the key drivers in the transitory economies, as they support human development in education, health, and social protection and, as such, improves quality of life. Meanwhile, the ICT-human development nexus could break down when access to electricity is not commensurate with ICT. The finding shows that access to electricity has a direct and significant impact on human development in emerging economies. In addition, there is unidirectional causality from ICT to human development and from access to electricity to human development. Within the threshold regression, the result reveals that ICT and access to electricity spur human development at lower and upper regimes. The policy implication is that when access to electricity is not commensurate with ICT, heavy reliance on ICT can create vulnerabilities when systems fail or when communities cannot adapt without digital solutions and as such, it may have a negative impact on human development. The study recommends that ICT penetration and usage should be encouraged since small improvements in ICT access can produce significant gains in human development. Also, energy policies and electrification programs should be strengthened as a foundation for sustainable improvements in human well-being. Originality/ Value/Practical Implications The study stressed that the criticality of access to electricity and ICT is central to human development in emerging economies.