Making ICT infrastructure, appliances, and services more accessible and affordable in rural areas

Asserts that policy interventions must consider information and communication technology (ICT) and its users as a socio-technical system through which equitable access to ICT translates into sustainable benefits for rural residents. Infrastructure, appliances, and services influence the delivery of affordable ICT, and governments must provide innovative methods for ICT access in rural areas. Public agencies help develop infrastructure where incentives for private investment prove insufficient; public policy encourages demand for telecommunications through such mechanisms as universal access/universal service funds or support for low-cost devices. In developing economies worldwide, companies deliver financial services and new sources of income outside of conventional bank branches, through mobile phones and nonbank retail agents, and new services offer critical information for farmers to improve their livelihoods. The technical aspects of delivering content and services which rural users value reveal the influence of partners engaged in providing the service, the regulatory environment, business model, and the networks, infrastructure, and devices available

A Meta-analysis of Social Commerce Adoption Research

Social commerce is a subset of e-commerce that utilises social media to facilitate interaction between sellers and consumers. Over the last number of years, the subject of social commerce has attracted significant attention from many researchers as they attempt to understand the factors affecting its adoption by consumers. A review of results from existing studies suggests inconsistent results for many relationships. Hence, this research has conducted a meta-analysis of 65 studies and synthesized the findings from existing studies in order to estimate the cumulative correlation coefficient (β) and significance (p). The investigation found that behavioural intention, trust, perceived usefulness, and social support are frequently examined dependent variables, that are strongly influenced by a number of independent variables. The findings in this study suggests that perceived usefulness, hedonic value, social commerce constructs, subjective norms, informational and emotional support are important for encouraging social commerce adoption. This research highlights various antecedents that have been theoretically examined in different social commerce studies that explore the effect size through meta-analysis