Human-Information Interaction

Cultural, Economic, and Social Capital and Information Poverty: The Mediating Role of the Digital Divide

Document Type : Research

Authors

Fatemeh Bohlool 1
Mansoor Koohi-Rostami 2
Nozar Hosseini-Alvand 1

1 PhD Student, Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

2 Department of Information Science and Knowledge, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/hii.2026.138054.1020
Abstract
Purpose: This study examined the relationships between cultural, economic, and social capital and information poverty, with particular attention to the mediating role of the digital divide among citizens.
Method: A quantitative, cross-sectional correlational survey was conducted among citizens aged 18 years and older in Ahvaz, Iran. Using multistage random sampling, 310 questionnaires were collected, of which 300 valid responses were retained for analysis. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling. Indirect effects were tested using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples and 95% confidence intervals.
Findings: Cultural and economic capital were significantly associated with a more favorable digital status, whereas social capital was not. A more favorable digital status was significantly associated with a more favorable information status, indicating that a lower digital divide was associated with lower information poverty. Cultural and social capital had significant direct relationships with information poverty, whereas the direct relationship of economic capital was not significant. The indirect effects of cultural and economic capital on information poverty through the digital divide were significant, while the indirect effect of social capital was not.
Conclusion: The findings reveal distinct pathways linking different forms of capital to information poverty. Cultural capital is associated with information poverty through both direct and digital pathways, economic capital primarily through the digital pathway, and social capital primarily through a direct pathway. Thus, the digital divide appears to function as a differentiated rather than universal mechanism linking offline social inequalities to information poverty.

Keywords

Information poverty
Digital divide
Cultural capital
Economic capital
Social capital
Information inequality
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Human-Information Interaction
Volume 13, Issue 2
Spring 2026
Pages 113-136