A119.
Rice, R. E.,
& Pearce,
K. E. (in press). Divide and diffuse: Comparing
digital divide and diffusion of innovations perspectives on mobile
phone
adoption. Mobile Media &
Communication, 3(3),
401-424.
Integrating digital
divide and diffusion of innovations
approaches, this study analyzes individual-level and market-level
influences on
the eight-year cumulative adoption of the mobile phone in one
developing country.
Considering each year separately, as tests of the typical digital
divide model,
age, education, economic condition, Internet access and household size
were
significant divides in all years; employment, marital status and
urbanness were
so only in about half the years, and sex in none of the years. However,
a
diffusion of innovations approach revealed some differences in
demographic
influences on mobile phone adoption across three adoption categories.
Changing
mobile phone market conditions were associated with varying adoption
levels,
and GDP per capita correlated with percent adoption except during the
global
economic crisis.
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