Title: An empirical assessment of ICT diffusion in Africa and OECD

Authors: Kallol K. Bagchi, Godwin J. Udo

Addresses: Department of Information and Decision Sciences, College of Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA. ' Department of Information and Decision Sciences, College of Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA

Abstract: In the present study we examine those factors that affect the diffusion of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Africa and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over a period of over 21 years. A dynamic comparison highlights the major differences in ICT diffusion between developing and developed nations. A large set of data from the World Bank was used; a pooled regression analysis shows that economic development, education/training, and infrastructures play a significant role in ICT diffusion. It was further observed that the effects of some factors could be similar whereas effects for some other factors could be different for developed and developing nations. The results further indicated that mobile phone and mainline telephone diffusions are substitutive in OECD nations but complementary in African nations.

Keywords: OECD; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; Africa; Europe; Asia; United States; USA; United Kingdom; UK; pooled regression analysis; diffusion factors; technology relations; technology trends; World Bank; economic development; education; training; developing countries; telephones; mobile phones; cell phones; ICT; information technology; communications technology; information management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJITM.2010.030459

International Journal of Information Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.9 No.2, pp.162 - 184

Published online: 17 Dec 2009 *

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