Abstract
The use of mobile telephones can provide rural communities in emerging markets with access to information and thereby can enable them to enhance their quality of life (Heeks and Jagun, 2007; Chigona et al., 2009). This argument, although it emanates from the development informatics literature, concurs with Prahalad’s (2004) Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) concept at a time when multinational companies’ current and potential interactions with the world’s poorest communities have gained significant research attention (Karani, 2006; Subrahmanyam and Gomez-Arias, 2008; Rashid and Rahman, 2009).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Agafonoff, N. (2006), “Adapting ethnographic research methods to ad hoc commercial market research”, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 115–125.
Avison, D. E. and Myers, M. D. (1995), “Information systems and anthropology: And anthropological perspective on IT and organisational culture”, Information Technology and People, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 43–56.
Burgess, S. M. and Steenkamp, J. E. M. (2006), “Marketing renaissance: How research in emerging markets advances marketing science and practice”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 23 (December), pp. 337–356.
Campbell, S. W. (2007), “Perceptions about mobile phone use in public settings: A cross-cultural comparison”, International Journal of Communication, Vol. 1, pp. 738–757.
Carroll, J., Howard, S., Peck, J. and Murphy, J. (2003), “From adoption to use the process of appropriating a mobile phone”, Australian Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 38–48.
Chakraborty, D. (2004), “The case of mobile phones in Sitakund”. i4d. Available at: http://www.i4donline.net/issue/may04/sitakund_full.htm, accessed on 25 August 2008.
Bar, F., Pisani, F. and Weber, M. (2007), “Mobile telephony appropriation in a distant mirror, baroque infiltration, creolization and cannibalism”, Discussion paper at Seminario Sobre Dessarrollo Social y Communicaciones Moviles at Americana Latina, Buenos Aires, April 2007, available at: http://arnic.info/Papers/Bar_Pisani_Weber_appropriation-April07.pdf, accessed on 20 November 2009.
Cheneau-Loquay, A. (2008), “The role played by the informal economy in the appropriation of ICTs in urban environments in West Africa”, in Proceedings of CIRN Community Informatics Conference: ICTs for Social Inclusion: Myth or Reality?, Prato, Italy.
Chigona, W., Beukes, D., Vally, J. and Tanner, M. (2009), “Can mobile internet help alleviate social exclusion in developing countries”, Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 36, No.7, pp 1–16.
Dengbuppha, J., Hammington, N. and Wilkes, K. (2006), “Using grounded theory to model visitor experience at heritage sites: methodological and practical issues”, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 367–388.
Denzin, N. K. (2001), “The seventh moment: Qualitative enquiry and practices of a more radical consumer research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 324–330.
DeSanctis, G. and Poole, M. S. (1994), “Capturing the complexity in advanced technology use: Adaptive structuration theory”, Organization Science, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 121–127.
Dey, B. L., Newman, D. R. and Prendergast, R. (2011), “An analysis of appropriation and usability in social and occupational lives: An investigation of Bangladeshi farmers’ use of mobile telephony”, Information Technology and People, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 46–63.
Dhir, A., Moukadem, I., Jere, N., Kaur, P., Kujala, S. and Yla-Jaaski, A. (2012), “Ethnographic examination of studying information sharing practices in rural South Africa”, in ACHI 2012: The Fifth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, Valencia, Spain, 30 January.
Donner, J. (2008), “Research approaches to mobile use in the developing world: A review of literature”, The Information Society, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 140–159.
El-Amir, A. and Burt, S. (2010), “Modelling in branding: A critical ethnographic approach”, Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 189–209.
Elliott, R. and Jankel-Elliott, N. (2003), “Using ethnography in strategic consumer research”, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 215–223.
Esbjornsson, M. and Juhlin, O. (2003), “Combining mobile phone conversations and driving — Studying a mundane activity in its naturalist setting”, ITS Proceedings, available at: http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:GWyTU3zdxjIJ:scholar.google.com/+Mattias+Esbj%C3%B6rnsson+and+0skar+Juhlin+2003&hl=en&as_sdt=2000, accessed on January 2012.
Hahn, H. P. and Kibora, L. (2008), “The domestication of the mobile phone: Oral society and new ICT in Burkina Faso”, Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 87–109.
Heeks, R. and Jagun, A. (2007), “m-Development: current issues and research priorities”, Short paper by Development Informatics, IPDM, University of Manchester, available at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/publications/wp/di/index.htm#sp, accessed on 21 June 2007.
Horst, H. A. and Miller, D. (2006), The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication, Oxford, UK: Berg.
Horstmanshof, L. and Power, M. R. (2005), “Mobile phones, SMS and relationships”, Humanities and Social Science Papers, Bond University, available at: http://epublications.bond.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=hss_pubs, accessed on 20 September 2009.
Isaac, H., Leclercq, A. and Des Horts, C. B. (2006), “Adoption and appropriation: Towards a new theoretical framework. An exploratory research on mobile technologies in French companies”, Systemes D’Information Et Management, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 9–48, accessed from http://www.crepa.dauphine.fr/documents/R/doc_R8ODXG.pdf, on 20 April 2009.
Jamal, A. and Chapman, M. (2000), “Acculturation and inter-ethnic consumer perceptions: Can you feel what we feel?” Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 365–391.
Jamison, A. and Hard, M. (2003), “The story line of technological change: innovation, construction and appropriation”, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, available at: http://people.plan.aau.dk/~bvm/PhDcoursereadings-filer/AJ-Innovation%20Construction%20and%20Appropriation%20.pdf, accessed on 20 November 2009.
Karani, A. (2006), “Mirage at the bottom of the pyramid: How the private sector can alleviate poverty”, California Management Review. Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 90–112.
Kriem, M. S. (2009), “Mobile telephony in Morocco, a changing sociality”, Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 617–632.
MacKay, H. and Gillespie, G. (1992), “Extending the social shaping of technology approach: Ideology and appropriation”, Social Studies of Science, Vol. 22, pp. 685–716.
Madon, S. (2004), “Evaluating the development impact of e-governance initiatives: An exploratory framework”, EJISDC, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 1–13.
Martinez, A., Dimitriadis, Y., Rubia, B., Gomez, E. and de la Fuente, P. (2003), “Combining qualitative evaluation and social network analysis for the study of classroom social interactions”, Computers & Education, Vol. 41, Issue 4, December, pp. 353–368.
Millen, D. R. (2000), “Rapid ethnography: Time deepening strategies for HCI field research”, in Proceeding of the 3rd Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods and Techniques, New York, USA, pp. 280–286.
O’Brien, J., Rodden, T., Rouncefield, M. and Hughes, J. (2000), “At home with the technology: Ethnographic study of a set-top-box trial”, ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 282–308.
Oksman, V. and Turtiainen, J. (2004), “Mobile communication as a social stage: Meanings of mobile communication in everyday life among Finnish teenagers”, New Media and Society, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 319–339.
Orlikowski, W. J. (1992), “The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organisations”, Organisation Science, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 398–427.
Prahalad, C. K. (2004), The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profit, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.
Rashid, A. T. and Elder, L. (2009), “Mobile phones and development: An analysis of IDRC-supported projects”, Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 1–16.
Rashid, A. T. and Rahman, M. (2009), “Making profit to solve development problems: The case of Telenor AS and the Village Phone Programme in Bangladesh”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 25, No. 9, pp. 1049–1060.
Sinha, C. (2005), “Effect of mobile telephony in empowering rural communities in developing countries”, in Conference on Digital Divide, Global Development and the Information Society, 14–16 November; electronic copy available at: http://www.irfd.org/events/wf2005/papers/sinha_chaitali.pdf, last accessed on 25 August 2010.
Spinuzzi, C. (2000), “Investigating the technology-work relationship: A critical comparison of three qualitative field methods”, in Proceedings of IEEE Professional Communication Society International Professional Communication Conference and Proceedings of the 18th Annual ACM International Conference on COMPUTER Documentation: Technology & Teamwork, 24–27 September, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Subrahmanyam, S. and Gomez-Arias, F. T. (2008), “Integrated approach to understanding consumer behaviour at the bottom of the pyramid”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 402–412.
Suchman, L., Blomberg, J., Orr, J. E. and Trigg, R. (1999), “Reconstructing technology as social practice”, American Behavioural Scientist, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 392–408.
Tashakkori, A. and Teddlie, C. (2003), Handbook of Triangulation Methods in Social and Behavioral Research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Tenhunen, S. (2008), “Mobile technology in the village: ICTs, culture and social logistics in India”, Journal of Royal Anthropology Institute, Vol. 14, pp. 515–534.
Venkatesh, A., Stolzoff, N., Shih, E. and Mazumdar, S. (2001), “The home of the future: An ethnographic study of new information technology in the home”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 28, pp. 88–96.
Walsham, G. (2010), “ICTs for broader development in India: An analysis of the literature”, Electronic Journal for Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 1–20.
Webster, C. M., Seyemore, R. and Dallenbach, K. (2010), “Behind closed doors: Opportunity identification through observational research”, Qualitative Market Research, An International Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 24–35.
Williams, R. and Edge, D. (1996), “The social shaping of technology”, Research Policy, Vol. 25, Issue 6, pp. 865–899.
Zainudeen, A., Samarajiva, R. and Abeysuriya, A. (2006), “Telecom use on a shoestring: Strategic use of telecom services by financially constrained in South Asia”, WDR Dialogue Theme 3rd Cycle Discussion Paper, electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1554747, accessed on 07 June 2010.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 Bidit Dey and Ben Binsardi
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dey, B., Binsardi, B. (2016). Appropriation of Mobile Telephony at the Bottom of the Pyramid. In: Dey, B., Sorour, K., Filieri, R. (eds) ICTs in Developing Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137469502_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137469502_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56320-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-46950-2
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)