干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Digital oases and digital deserts in Sub-Saharan Africa

Arid

DOI	10.1108/JSTPM-03-2015-0013
	Digital oases and digital deserts in Sub-Saharan Africa
	Wentrup, Robert; Strom, Patrik; Nakamura, H. Richard
通讯作者	Wentrup, R
来源期刊	JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY MANAGEMENT
ISSN	2053-4620
EISSN	1758-5538
出版年	2016
卷号	7 期号:1 页码:77-100
英文摘要	Purpose - This paper aims to investigate whether Sub-Saharan African countries are catching up with the rest of the world in terms of online usage. Online service usage is an important component of the discourse of the "digital divide", an emblematic term for the inequality of information and communication technology access. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a quantitative analysis of internet and Facebook penetration coupled with economic strength (GDP/capita), literacy and degree of rural population. Findings - The findings reveal a heterogeneous pattern with a few African countries being digital oases and close to European levels, whereas the majority of the countries are still digital deserts. A strong correlation is found between economic strength and internet penetration. A generalist picture that Sub-Saharan is on the trajectory of closing the digital divide is an imprecise reflection of the reality. Research limitations/implications - It is argued that instead of measuring supply-side data, which has been the trend till now, the use of demand-side elements such as online service usage tells more about digital inequalities between countries. Practical implications - The research encourages internet firms to open up their eyes for Sub-Saharan Africa as an investment opportunity with an untapped gap of online usage. Social implications - The three-billion internet users on the planet are unevenly spread and under-represented in Africa. By drawing a heterogeneous online usage landscape, digital policy can be accurately steered toward countries with the largest needs. Originality/value - There is a paucity of research going into the depth of online usage in Africa. The paper is a contribution to fill that gap.
英文关键词	Internet Africa Facebook Online services Digital divide
类型	Article
语种	英语
收录类别	ESCI
WOS记录号	WOS:000382561000005
WOS关键词	ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHY ; DIVIDE ; INFORMATION ; URBANIZATION ; TECHNOLOGY ; CYBERSPACE ; NETWORKS ; BUSINESS ; SERVICES
WOS类目	Management
WOS研究方向	Business & Economics
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/331589
作者单位	[Wentrup, Robert; Strom, Patrik; Nakamura, H. Richard] Univ Gothenburg, Sch Business Econ & Law, Ctr Int Business Studies, Gothenburg, Sweden
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Wentrup, Robert,Strom, Patrik,Nakamura, H. Richard. Digital oases and digital deserts in Sub-Saharan Africa[J],2016,7(1):77-100.
APA	Wentrup, Robert,Strom, Patrik,&Nakamura, H. Richard.(2016).Digital oases and digital deserts in Sub-Saharan Africa.JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY MANAGEMENT,7(1),77-100.
MLA	Wentrup, Robert,et al."Digital oases and digital deserts in Sub-Saharan Africa".JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY MANAGEMENT 7.1(2016):77-100.