EMPOWERMENT DIGITAL DIVIDE: CASE OF INTERNET ADOPTION IN UGANDA’S RURAL - URBAN AREAS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.211.1567Abstract
Over the years the concept of digital divide has shifted from having to do with those who have access to technology and those who don't because technology has become more mobile. There is wide increase in computer access in schools and personal ownership, slight decrease in computer costs, increase in internet access and wide spread access to mobile phones and services. It is no longer an issue of lack of access but being empowered to optimally use the technology or internet. Taking a rural-urban stride in Uganda‟s use of Internet, it is revealed that a regional imbalance still exists. Urban dwellers are highly empowered to use internet compared to rural dwellers as this paper will reveal. This paper therefore sets out to explore the empowerment of rural-urban dwellers to adopt Internet as an innovation taking a case of Uganda. Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to accomplish the study. Interview guides and questionnaires were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data respectively from internet café owners and users. Findings: Findings suggest that relative advantage, complexity, compatibility as well as trialbility being strong predictors of internet adoption. Relative advantage of the internet was found to be the strongest predictor of internet adoption in the rural urban areas. The concept of empowerment of users was found lacking and that explained the low scores on the trialbility concept.References
Azjen, I and Fishbein, M. (1975). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
Black, N.J., Lockett, A., Winklhofer, H. and Ennew, C. (2001), “The adoption of internet financial services: a qualitative study”, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 29 No. 8, pp. 390H8.
Chau, P.Y.K. and Hu, P.J.H. (2001), ``Information technology acceptance by individual professionals: a model comparison approach'', Decision Sciences, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 699H719.
Cho, J., de Zuniga, H. G., Rojas, H., and Shah, D. V. 2003. Beyond access: The digital divide and Internet uses and gratifications. IT & Society 1(4):46–72. http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i04/v01i04a04.pdf
Davis, F. D. (1989) Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), pp.319H340.
Davis, F.D., Bagozzi, R.P. and Warshaw, P.R. (1989), “User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models”, Management Science, Vol. 35 No. 8, pp. 982H1003.
Rogers, M. E., (1995) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition Flor, A. G. 2001, ICT and Poverty: The undisputable link. Paper presented at the 3rd Asia Development Forum on Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, 11H14 June 2001, Bangkok
Gatignon, H. and Robertson, T.S. (1985), “A propositional inventory for new diffusion research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 11, March, pp. 849H67.
Internet World Statistics. (2007). World Internet Users and Population Statistics, Internet usage statistics – The Big Picture. Available: http://www.internetworldstats.com /stats.htm. (Accessed on May 15, 2007)
Karahanna, E., Straub, D.W. and Chervany, N.L. (1999), “Information technology adoption across time: a crossH sectional comparison of preHadoption and postHadoption beliefs”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 183H213.
Kautz, K. and Larsen, E.A. (2000), “Diffusion theory and practice: disseminating quality management and software process improvement innovations”, Information Technology & People, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 11H26. Kent Eriksson, Katri Kerem, Daniel Nilsson. The adoption of commercial innovations in the former Central and Eastern European markets 154 The case of internet banking in Estonia . International Journal of Bank Marketing Volume:26 Issue:3 2008.
Malhotra, Y., & Galletta, D. F. (1999). Extending the technology acceptance model to account for social influence: Theoretical bases and empirical validation. Proceedings of the 32nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 1999.
Mutula, M. S (2001) "Internet access in East Africa: a future outlook", Library Review, Vol. 50 Iss: 1, pp.28 – 34
Mutula, M. S (2008) "Digital divide and economic development: case study of subHSaharan Africa", Electronic Library, The, Vol. 26 Iss: 4, pp.468 – 489
Nielsen J. (2006). http://www.nngroup.com/articles/digitalHdivideHtheHthreeHstages. Retrieved 22/09/2015
Ostlund, L.E. (1974), “Perceived innovation attributes as predictors of innovativeness”, Journal of Consumer Research, (preH1986), Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 23
Polatoglu, V.N. and Ekin, S. (2001), “An empirical investigation of the turkish consumers‟ acceptance of internet banking services”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 156H65.
Rena, R. (2007). Information and Communication Technologies, Education and Development in Eritrea. In Allam Ahmed (Ed) Science, Technology and Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa. Inderscience Publishers, Brighton, UK, Vol. 1, 80H90.
Rena, R. (2008) The Internet in Tertiary Education in Africa: Recent Trends. International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, Vol.2. No.1,
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). The Free Press: New York.
Rogers, E.M. (1976), “New product adoption and diffusion”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 290H 301.
Rogers, E.M. (1995), Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed., The Free Press, New York, NY, 518 pp.
Rogers, E.M. and Shoemaker, F.F. (1971), Communication of Innovations: A CrossHcultural Approach, Free Press, New York, NY.
Tornatzky, L. and Fleischer, M. (1990), The Processes of Technological Innovation, Lexington Books, New York, NY.
Venkatesh, V. And Davis, F.D. (2000), “A theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: four longitudinal field studies”, Management Science, Vol.46 No 2, pp. 186H204
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., and Davis, F. D. (2003) User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27 (4), 425H478.
Wang, Q. Y. (2007). Evaluation of online courses developed in China. Asian Journal of Distance Education http://www.asianjde.org/2007v5.2.Wang.pdf , 5(2), 4H12.
Wolcott, P., Press, L., McHenry, W., Goodman, S. and Foster, W. (2001), “A framework for assessing the global diffusion of the internet”, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 50.
