When do scientists “adopt” the Internet? Dimensions of connectivity in developing areas

Marcus Ynalvez, Ricardo B. Duque, Paul Mbatia, R. Sooryamoorthy, Antony Palackal and Wesley Shrum
Additional contact information
Marcus Ynalvez: Louisiana State University
Ricardo B. Duque: Louisiana State University
Paul Mbatia: Louisiana State University
R. Sooryamoorthy: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Antony Palackal: Loyola College of Social Sciences
Wesley Shrum: Department of Sociology, Louisiana State University

Scientometrics, 2005, vol. 63, issue 1, No 3, 39-67

Abstract: Summary We examine the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the knowledge production sectors of three developing areas. Using interviews with 918 scientists in one South Asian and two African locations, we address three fundamental questions: (1) To what degree has the research community in the developing world adopted the Internet? (2) How can the disparities in Internet adoption best be characterized? (3) To what extent is Internet use associated with research productivity? Our findings indicate that while the vast majority of scientists describe themselves as current email users, far fewer have ready access to the technology, use it in diverse ways, or have extensive experience. These results are consistent with the notion that Internet adoption should not be characterized as a single act on the part of users. The rapid development of the Internet and the cumulative skills required for its effective use are equally important, particularly its impact on productivity. These findings lead us to qualify crude generalizations about the diffusion of the Internet in developing areas.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-005-0203-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
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:spr:scient:v:63:y:2005:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-005-0203-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-005-0203-5

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().