IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodeso/v30y2014i3p297-322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overcoming the Digital Divide in Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Louis Kwaku Ohemeng

    (School of Political Studies,University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada)

  • Kwaku Ofosu-Adarkwa

    (Accra Institute of Technology (AIT), Accra, Ghana)

Abstract

The emergence of information communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries has been hailed as a major step toward a solution to the problem of the underdevelopment of many of them. Obstacles such as corruption, delays in service delivery, lack of public sector accountability, and so on can many believe be overcome with ICT: particularly, the Internet and cell or mobile phones. Consequently, governments in these countries continue to expend a lot of their meager resources on ensuring the effective development and use of ICTs. In spite of this, a major problem that these countries face is what has been described as the digital divide. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to examine the government’s attempt to address this problem including how the problem has been defined, the steps that are being taken to heal it, the implied challenges, if any, facing the government, and how it can address these challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Louis Kwaku Ohemeng & Kwaku Ofosu-Adarkwa, 2014. "Overcoming the Digital Divide in Developing Countries," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 30(3), pages 297-322, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:30:y:2014:i:3:p:297-322
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X14536970
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X14536970
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0169796X14536970?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oecd, 2001. "Understanding the Digital Divide," OECD Digital Economy Papers 49, OECD Publishing.
    2. Sridhar, Kala Seetharan & Sridhar, Varadharajan, 2007. "Telecommunications Infrastructure And Economic Growth: Evidence From Developing Countries," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 7(2), pages 37-56.
    3. Ernest J. Wilson III, 2004. "The Information Revolution and Developing Countries," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262232308, April.
    4. Falch, Morten & Anyimadu, Amos, 0. "Tele-centres as a way of achieving universal access--the case of Ghana," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 21-39, February.
    5. James, M.J., 2007. "From origins to implications : Key aspects in the debate over the digital divide," Other publications TiSEM 268eb10c-e0af-4818-8ef9-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. D. Steven White & Angappa Gunasekaran & Timothy P. Shea & Godwin C. Ariguzo, 2011. "Mapping the global digital divide," International Journal of Business Information Systems, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(2), pages 207-219.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bera, Subhasis, 2019. "Club convergence and drivers of digitalization across Indian states," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1-1.
    2. Frederico Cruz-Jesus & Tiago Oliveira & Fernando Bacao & Zahir Irani, 2017. "Assessing the pattern between economic and digital development of countries," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 835-854, August.
    3. Haytham Karar, 2019. "Algorithmic Capitalism and the Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 35(4), pages 514-537, December.
    4. Frederico Cruz-Jesus & Tiago Oliveira & Fernando Bacao & Zahir Irani, 0. "Assessing the pattern between economic and digital development of countries," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    5. She-I Chang & David C. Yen & I-Cheng Chang & Jung-Chu Chou, 2012. "Study of the digital divide evaluation model for government agencies–a Taiwanese local government’s perspective," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, July.
    6. Olimpia NEAGU, 2019. "Digital Divide Gap Convergence Across European Union: The Role Of Urbanisation," Contemporary Economy Journal, Constantin Brancoveanu University, vol. 4(1), pages 43-48.
    7. Akos Jakobi, 2013. "Space and virtuality: new characteristics of inequalities in the information society and economy," Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, Pro Global Science Association, vol. 5(1), pages 4-14, June.
    8. António Madureira & Nico Baken & Harry Bouwman, 2011. "Value of digital information networks: a holonic framework," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-30, April.
    9. Mendoza-Lozano, Frederick Andrés & Quintero-Peña, Jose Wilmar & García-Rodríguez, Jose Felix, 2021. "The digital divide between high school students in Colombia," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10).
    10. Ventura, Eva & Satorra, Albert, 2015. "A multiple indicator model for panel data: an application to ICT area-level variation," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127191, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    11. V. Sridhar, 2006. "Modelling the Growth of Mobile Telephony Services in India," Vision, , vol. 10(3), pages 1-10, July.
    12. Adel Ben Youssef & Ludovic Ragni, 2008. "Uses of Information and Communication Technologies in Europe's Higher Education Institutions: From Digital Divides to Digital Trajectories," Post-Print halshs-00937212, HAL.
    13. Muttur Ranganathan Narayana, 2008. "Telecommunication Services and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-545, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    14. repec:pri:cpanda:wp15%20-%20dimaggio%2bhargittai is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Pelzer, B. & Eisinga, R. & Franses, Ph.H.B.F., 2002. "Ecological panel inference in repeated cross sections," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2002-22, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    16. Cigan, Heidi, 2002. "The internet's contribution to progress and growth in Germany: The economic impact of the internet and the price structure of access," HWWA Reports 216, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    17. Ivan Kuyumdzhiev, 2022. "Digitization Levels - the Path of Digital Transformation of Administrative Services in Higher Education," Izvestia Journal of the Union of Scientists - Varna. Economic Sciences Series, Union of Scientists - Varna, Economic Sciences Section, vol. 11(2), pages 133-139, August.
    18. Menzie D. Chinn & Robert W. Fairlie, 2007. "The determinants of the global digital divide: a cross-country analysis of computer and internet penetration," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(1), pages 16-44, January.
    19. Larson, James F. & Park, Jaemin, 2014. "From developmental to network state: Government restructuring and ICT-led innovation in Korea," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 344-359.
    20. Maria Rosalia Vicente & Ana Jesus Lopez, 2008. "Some empirical evidence on Internet diffusion in the New Member States and Candidate Countries of the European Union," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(13), pages 1015-1018.
    21. Bertschek, Irene & Briglauer, Wolfgang & Hüschelrath, Kai & Kauf, Benedikt & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "The economic impacts of telecommunications networks and broadband internet: A survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-056, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:30:y:2014:i:3:p:297-322. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.