DiSTO Spain

The objective of this research is to understand if material resources in a given district of a big city can shape digital opportunities and, eventually, have an impact on the outcomes of online education. In this sense, Madrid is an interesting case study because:

• High speed internet connection is available in all the districts of the city. However, not everybody can afford the costs of this kind of connection
• During the pandemic, the Spanish government's lockdown required all students to stay home and access their education online
• In this context, it is reasonable to think that internet connection had an impact on student's educational experience and outcomes. For example, a lack of internet connection or equipment could impact a child's class attendance

The research

In order to achieve the objectives of this research, we:

• Mapped the 21 districts of Madrid using socio-economic indicators 
• Chose 4 of those districts (one for each typology, depending on households’ socio-economic resources) and administered a survey for young residents of those districts (from 15 to 20 years old).

Methodology - surveys of neighbourhoods

The first phase involved classifying the 21 districts of the city based on their level of resources and heterogeneity.

We then selected four districts with extreme values in these dimensions:

• Privileged and homogeneous (Hortaleza)
• Privileged and non-homogeneous (Chamartín)
• Impoverished and non-homogeneous (Tetuán)
• Impoverished and homogeneous (Puente de Vallecas)

In the second phase, we surveyed young people between 15 and 25 years old. For this purpose, we created four samples, one for each of the previously selected districts, aiming to make them proportional to the segments generated by the variable "parents' education level". The goal was to replicate the households' material resources that characterise the four districts. The survey received a total of 1066 responses.

Findings

Descriptive analyses suggested that:

• There was a high presence of technology in respondents’ homes, regardless of the district they lived in
• Respondents reported navigation patterns characterised by a high degree of autonomy, measured by the number of places from which internet connections were made. T indicates a high diffusion of technology and internet connectivity in different households
• There was greater prevalence of 4G or mobile connections in homes in impoverished districts. This type of connection is considered lower in quality compared to fibre or ADSL and implies a poorer internet browsing experience. Consequently, this could suggest a lower level of digital skills acquisition
• Individuals living in districts with greater resources had higher levels of digital skills. Young people living in Chamartín or Hortaleza, acquired new computer and work-related skills through internet use to a greater extent than those living in Tetuán or Puente de Vallecas

Logistic regression models were used to observe the impact of respondents’ material and digital resources on their engagement with online education.

 According to the results of these analyses, we found that:

• Parents' education level (a proxy for household resources) had a positive impact on mitigating problems related to online teaching
• Internet connection quality reduced the likelihood of encountering problems during online classes
• A higher number of connected devices in the household reduced the likelihood of perceiving internet connectivity as an obstacle to online class participation
• Accessing the internet from a variety of locations was negatively related to skills. This suggests that varied internet access should not be seen not as a sign of autonomy. Rather, results indicate that students were pressured to compensate for their poor home connections by accessing the internet elsewhere.
• Digital skills reduce the probability of having negative experiences with online education.

Funding

This research project is founded by Fundación Reina Sofia sobre Juventud y Adolescencia and supported by the department of Sociology and Communication, University of Salamanca.

Objectives

This project studied the relationship between digital inequality and access to the labour market. Specifically, we examined the impact of online job search skills on the probability of obtaining employment using digital platforms.

Spain makes for an interesting case study because:

• The country's labour market is characterised by high unemployment rates, especially in comparison with the rest of the EU (source: Eurostat)
• Using digital platforms to find work is popular among Spanish job seekers, partially due to the country's high access to the internet and high unemployment rate (source: De Marco et al., 2025)

The research

In order to achieve the research objectives, we:

• Analysed Spanish online platforms for professional social networks
• Studied candidates and recruiters that operated through these platforms simultaneously 
• Combined "classical" research tools, such as questionnaires and in-depth interviews, with  methodologies that are mostly used in computer sciences, such as those based on Big Data analysis

Methodology - interviews and surveys

We conducted 86 semi-structured interviews with job seekers and recruiters from 2020 to 2021.

For recruiters, we created a sample of 35 respondents separated into two categories: headhunters (type 1) and mixed recruiters (type 2).Type 1 recruiters focused on highly qualified workers, while type 2 recruiters focused on middle or low-qualified workers. Overall, type 1 recruiters actively searched for and contacted potential candidates, while type 2 recruiters engaged in a combination of active and passive activities, primarily reviewing applications instead of reaching out to potential candidates.

For job seekers, we created a sample of 51 candidates divided into four categories based on educational background and work experience. 

Additionally, we conducted two surveys with representative samples of Spanish jobseekers. Both surveys included sociodemographic variables, indicators of digital skills, employment search outcomes, and a specially constructed scale to measure online job search skills. One of the surveys included a burnout scale adapted to online job search processes.

Results

Noteworthy results of this project include:

• A new scale for measuring digital skills for online job search which received a positive psychometric response
  
• We identified two distinct typologies of job candidates: a) VIP candidates with highly sought-after profiles in the job market and b) "regular" candidates with common profiles. The former does not require advanced search skills to find employment, while the latter does
• Individuals with fewer material and digital resources exhibit fewer job search capabilities and are more likely to abandon their search
• Job seekers with better job search skills demonstrate an "intuition" about how algorithms sort applications on job search platforms
• Higher levels of skills were associated with a lower probability of experiencing burnout during the job search process

Funding

This research project is funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ref. RTI2018-098967-A-I00).