Internet adoption and usage patterns in Africa: Evidence from Cameroon

Thierry Pénard, Nicolas Poussing, Blaise Mukoko and Georges Bertrand Tamokwe Piaptie

Technology in Society, 2015, vol. 42, issue C, 71-80

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to understand what factors stimulate or hinder the adoption and usage of the Internet in Africa. We adopt a micro-econometric approach and use household survey data from Cameroon. Our results show that young and educated individuals are more likely to use the Internet in Cameroon. The probability of using the Internet is also higher for male, as well as for English-speaking and computer savvy individuals. Moreover, Internet users are more likely to have family abroad. We also find that Internet usage patterns differ across gender, age and education. For instance, older generations are less likely to use the Internet as a leisure activity (video, game, music). College educated people are also more likely to go online to search information than to have entertainment usage. These results provide evidence of digital divide in the Internet access, but also in the usage patterns on the African continent in particular in African countries that are at the early stages of Internet diffusion.

Keywords: Internet adoption; Internet usage; Digital divide; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X15000329
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Internet adoption and usage patterns in Africa: Evidence from Cameroon (2015)
Working Paper: Internet adoption and usage patterns in Africa: Evidence from Cameroon (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:42:y:2015:i:c:p:71-80

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2015.03.004

Access Statistics for this article

Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown

More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().