The Effect of Content on Global Internet Adoption and the Global “Digital Divide”

A country’s human capital and economic productivity increasingly depend on the Internet due to its expanding role in providing information and communications. This has prompted a search for ways to increase Internet adoption and narrow its disparity across countries – the global “digital divide.” Previous work has focused on demographic, economic, and infrastructure determinants of Internet access difficult to change in the short run. Internet content increases adoption and can be changed more quickly; however, the magnitude of its impact and therefore its effectiveness as a policy and strategy tool is previously unknown. Quantifying content’s role is challenging because of feedback (network effects) between content and adoption: more content stimulates adoption which in turn increases the incentive to create content. We develop a methodology to overcome this endogeneity problem. We find a statistically and economically significant effect, implying that policies promoting content creation can substantially increase adoption. Because it is ubiquitous, Internet content is also useful to affect social change across countries. Content has a greater effect on adoption in countries with more disparate languages, making it a useful tool to overcome linguistic isolation. Our results offer guidance for policy makers on country characteristics that influence adoption’s responsiveness to content and for Internet firms on where to expand internationally and how to quantify content investments.Internet, technology adoption, economic development, two-sided markets, network effects, technology diffusion, language, content

Information and communication technology use continuance behavioral intention: Differential effect based on socio-economic status

In the global information society, the importance of the Internet cannot be overemphasized. Unfortunately, a case in point is Africa, where, as per 2017 statistics, only 9.4 % of the population use the Internet [25]. While tremendous efforts have been made to address global Internet penetration, recent studies and statistics still indicate the digital inequality still exists today (Yu et al, 2016) and it prevents some individuals to benefit from the digital opportunities. The aim of this paper is to understand the difference in Internet use continuance by people of different economic status. The finding showed that satisfaction is the strongest precursor for Internet use continuance and it affects stronger the socio-economically advantaged groups than the socio-economically disadvantaged people. The results imply that different strategies should be adopted to bridge the digital inequality basis of socio-economic status more specifically income levels

Understanding asymmetries in ict acceptance at individual use in Poland : the UTAUT2 theory combined with attitude, privacy risk, perceived security

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementUnderstanding of the main determinants associated to Internet and Communication Technology acceptance have received attention from international bodies and researchers (Dewan & Chen, 2014; Featherman & Pavlou, 2003; Im, Hong & Kang, 2011; Ming Chi Lee, 2009; Niehaves & Plattfaut, 2014; Shareef, Kumar, Kumar & Dwivedi, 2011; Shin, 2010; Venkatesh & Bala, 2008; Venkatesh, Thong & Xu, 2012a). The reason behind the growing interest in this issue refers to the implications of digital inequalities in social development. Technology access, income, and education seem to be main of many factors that contribute the level of digital inequality. However, providing access or increasing income will still fail to resolve the problem with low level of technology use. There is no guarantee that if more availability is given to the digitally excluded individuals, that they would increase their ICT usage. The individuals’ rational about ICT acceptance or rejection is proportional to the potential risks and opportunities an individual faces at the adoption stage. Currently, understanding the role of users´ perceived risks in relation to attitude, privacy concerns and perceived security while the ICT adoption in Poland is limited. Hence, this work aims to explain the ICT usage behaviour in the specific context of Poland. To test the developed conceptual model, this study uses the data collected in one of Polish medium size cities, the capital city of region Podlasie. The role of attitude, security and privacy issues have as a would‐be predictors of ICT acceptance, is analysed via survey directed to a representative sample of individuals. Based on the theories and previous literature, this study proposes a theoretical model of UTAUT2 theory in conjunction with attitude, privacy, and security model to be used in understanding the ICT adoption process. Theoretical and practical contributions are also outlined. Parties who should be mostly interested in the results of this study are those who provide online services to wide audience and benefit when the audience uses or absorbs the information or services provided online. Therefore, the theoretical and managerial implications of presented results should be in equal interest of: individuals and organisations active online

Reappraising International Business in a Digital Arena: Barriers, Strategies, and Context for Internationalization of Digital Innovations

This dissertation builds on the eclectic paradigm to explore internationalization strategies in the burgeoning digital economy through a rigorous empirical analysis of a unique big data archive tracking international penetrations of more than 1.5 million mobile apps across 58 countries. While traditional firms internationalize by internalizing physical assets to reap location advantages from foreign markets, many digital businesses internationalize by orchestrating networks of information flows across borders. Such digital internationalization may not be constrained by cross-national distance or lack of resources as digital businesses leverage globally disperse knowledge and innovation networks to develop scale free digital innovations and seamlessly transmit them across the world via global platforms. Incorporating such unique dynamics of digital internationalization in extant literature, I extend beyond the current research focus on firm resources and internalization of physical assets to evaluate how digital businesses internalize networks across multiple locations to virtually internationalize their scale free digital innovations. First, I argue that despite lower barriers to foreign market entries in digital world, digital internationalization is still subject to user adoption barriers that emanate from differences in user preferences. However, digital businesses may overcome user adoption barriers despite their limited resources by internalizing demand-side networks, particularly users, across countries. Next, I distinguish demand-side networks based on their potential of contributing knowledge and innovation ideas to facilitate the internationalization of their digital innovations. I draw attention to the critical role of lead markets in a digital context by showing that establishing demand-side networks in lead markets can facilitate digital businesses in upgrading their innovations to penetrate multiple countries. Hence, I advocate expanding eclectic paradigm to incorporate demand-side networks in lead markets as important location advantages. Finally, as location of networks plays a pivotal role in setting the course of digital internationalization, I emphasize the need for categorizing countries across the world based on their network characteristics. I develop two indices, virtual distance and virtual clout, which measure how networks across countries differ from and connect with each other in the virtual world. My dissertation takes an initial but important step toward developing a more rigorous, quantifiable, and generalizable understanding of the new rules of digital internationalization by not only proposing important theoretical extensions but also subjecting them to sophisticated empirical investigations

Information and computer technology and the digital divide in the post-revolution Tunisia

The goal of this study is to better understand the dimensions of the digital divide in Tunisia in the context of the post-revolutionary phase. The significant role of information and communication technologies (ICT) during the revolution and in the post-revolution democracy process raises questions about the inclusiveness of the digital sphere to all Tunisian social groups and about the overall interactions with the ICT and their domestication into the Tunisian households. This study was designed to answer three main research questions: what are the implications of gender, age, and class for (1) ICT access and usage? (2) Attitudes towards ICT? And (3) ICT usage for political participation? An ethnographic semi-structured interview study was conducted in three neighborhoods of the city of Sousse in Tunisia over a two-week period of intensive field work, and was complemented by observations of the locals’ interactions with ICT during multiple visits to Tunisia. Respondents were recruited through snowball and convenience sampling. The study focused on those considered to be vulnerable social communities: women, the elderly, and socioeconomically disadvantaged Tunisians. The interview analysis revealed that demographic factors did not have a significant influence on the gaps between the users and non-users, except for age in certain instances. The concept of social capital made the difference and had a significant effect on balancing issues related to economic and cultural capitals. For most of the informants, social capital, mainly family and community members, played an integral role in domesticating the technologies and brokering techno-competencies to those without economic and educational means. On the other hand, perceived relevance and cultural values emerged as the most significant divide factors. This project makes a theoretical contribution to the literature about the digital divide by emphasizing the role of the cultural values and the social landscape in reducing or widening the gap between the connected and non-connected. This dissertation stresses on the importance of conducting more ethnographic research in small Arab world community contexts in order to reveal more culturally embedded factors that directly affect the interaction between the culture and information technologies.Radio-Television-Fil