Digital divide in Hong Kong secondary education : a cultural capital perspective

Abstract

The proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICT) has brought many promises to reduce inequalities, enhance learning, and improve the well-being of underprivileged students. Such visions, however, are hindered by the persistence of digital divide. While the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated this digital divide, the topic remains underexplored in the education domain. Likewise, although the concept of cultural capital has been widely applied in educational research, few studies have connected this theoretical lens to students’ use of digital technology. Acknowledging the importance of ICT to students’ educational and well-being outcomes, this research holistically investigates digital divide in Hong Kong secondary education from a cultural capital perspective. Drawing on van Deursen et al. (2017) and van Dijk (2005, 2020), this study demonstrates that Bourdieu’s (1986) cultural capital concept, using Tan’s (2017, 2020) operationalization, is relevant to explaining the digital divide in education. Using the 2012, 2015, and 2018 Hong Kong PISA data encompassing a wide range of cultural capital, ICT usage, well-being, and educational outcome variables, the respective variable-centered (multilevel modeling) and person-centered analyses (latent profile analyses) illustrate a multifaceted linkage between cultural capital and digital divide. Despite parental emotional support and students’ educational expectations being positively associated with educational and well-being outcomes, institutionalized cultural capital produces mostly non-significant results. Objectified cultural capital displays discrepant findings: home educational resources were only positively associated with well-being, whereas number of books at home was only positively associated with educational outcomes; cultural possessions also exhibited negative associations. Various embodied cultural capital variables also reported discrepant results. Practical use of the Internet was positively associated with educational and well-being outcomes, yet other ICT applications showcased a more nuanced picture. Gaming was positively associated with educational outcomes but negatively associated with student well-being, whereas schoolwork-related ICT applications were not necessarily beneficial to learning, along with discrepant findings in other leisure ICT applications. Latent profile analyses consistently identified three profiles of ICT engagement at low, moderate, and high levels. Students with moderate ICT engagement displayed moderate-to-high well-being and high educational outcomes, whereas those with low and high ICT engagement featured worse well-being and educational outcomes, respectively. The complexities of cultural capital qua digital divide are evident in further interaction analyses. Although higher cultural capital positively moderated the association between ICT usage and well-being, the reverse could exist for educational outcomes. Students with higher cultural capital did not necessarily engage in more capital-enhancing activities. Rather, higher cultural capital was associated with a higher likelihood of high ICT engagement vis-à-vis the optimal, moderate ICT engagement. Overall, this thesis reveals the complexities of digital divide qua cultural capital: (i) more cultural capital/ICT engagement is not always better; (ii) relative, synergizing, offsetting, and quadratic effects could exist; (iii) merely considering academic outcomes is insufficient; and (iv) contextual understanding is crucial. Possible explanations of these findings based on Confucian culture, Bourdieu’s three forms of capital and theory of practice, and parental mediation are offered for further theoretical development.