Mattering Matters: Agency, Empowerment, and Mobile Phone Use by Female Microentrepreneurs

Han Ei Chew, Vigneswara P. Ilavarasan and Mark R. Levy

Information Technology for Development, 2015, vol. 21, issue 4, 523-542

Abstract: This article attempts to enrich our understanding of the role that mobile phones play in the empowerment of women in the developing world. We adapt and explicate an innovative social psychological concept, "mattering," embed it in the literature that examines the impact of mobile phones on social development outcomes, and consider the utility of mattering for the ICT4D community. Mattering is the perception that others are aware of, interested in, and depend on us. Based on a sample of 335 female microentrepreneurs in Chennai, India, we created a valid and reliable measure of mattering and its three dimensions. Mattering was predicted by (1) entrepreneurial expectations, an element of an individual's mindset; (2) social use of mobile phones; and (3) the perceived benefits of mobile phones for maintaining business networks. Findings suggest that mobile phone use plays a significant role in contributing to female entrepreneurs' perception that they matter .

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/02681102.2013.839437

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