Triangulating IMF–ADB–G20 frameworks to diagnose uneven digital adoption in Bandung's MSMEs: evidence from a second-tier global South City

Despite Indonesia's position as Southeast Asia's largest digital economy, systematic assessments of digital transformation at the subnational level—particularly in second-tier cities—remain remarkably scarce. This study addresses this gap by proposing and validating a triangulated diagnostic framework that integrates three internationally recognized measurement approaches: the International Monetary Fund's sectoral contribution model, the Asian Development Bank's input-output linkage analysis, and the Group of Twenty's policy enablers framework. Applied to Bandung, Indonesia's creative industry hub, we surveyed 170 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across five key sectors and conducted 10 follow-up semi-structured interviews to contextualize quantitative findings. Our findings reveal a systematic intra-firm digital divide: while 47.1% of MSMEs consistently use digital tools for marketing and payments, only 17.6% do so for human resources, 26.5% for production, and 14.7% for supply chain management. The IMF-based analysis shows the information and communication sector contributed 14.69% to Bandung's Gross Regional Domestic Product in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.28% from 2018 to 2023. However, ADB-based Leontief coefficients suggest reliance on imported digital inputs (estimated at IDR 3.99 trillion), indicating potential supply chain vulnerability. Ordered logistic regression reveals that undergraduate education is associated with back-office adoption (odds ratios 2.34–3.12, p < 0.01) but not front-office adoption. We introduce the concept of asymmetric digital adoption as an observable phenomenon requiring targeted policy interventions, though findings require validation across multiple second-tier cities. This study contributes a replicable methodology for city-level digital economy diagnosis across the Global South.