Devendra Potnis

Culture's consequences

This study broadens our understanding of the gender digital divide in India.Cultural factors create economic barriers for Indian women to own a mobile phone.Financially independent women cannot own some of the most inexpensive mobile phones. Economic barriers play the most significant role in precluding women from owning ICTs in developing nations. This qualitative study explores the factors responsible for creating economic barriers for 245 women in India, which prevent them from owning a mobile phone. Study findings reveal the specific ways in which cultural factors like (i) the long power distance between men and women, (ii) the gender role defined by Indian society for women, (iii) womens attitudes of avoiding uncertainty, and (iv) collectivistic practices, create economic barriers for the financially independent study participants. Due to the unfair economic disadvantages generated by the above cultural factors, it becomes challenging for the participants earning a little less than

Catalytic Innovation in Microfinance for Inclusive Growth: Insights from SKS Microfinance

2 a day to own some of the least expensive mobile phone handsets worth

Mapping the evolution of e‐Readiness assessments

15 or so on installments of

Beyond Access to Information: Understanding the Use of Information by Poor Female Mobile Users in Rural India

1 a month.

Cell-Phone-Enabled Empowerment of Woman Earning Less than

Microfinance offers a means for reaching the poor who are left out of the formal financial sector. A fundamentally new way is needed to create a scalable and sustainable business model to meet this unmet need: a catalytic innovation. Our study focused on Swayam Krishi Sangam (SKS), an archetype of a catalytic innovator. The insights gained from our 3-year longitudinal study led to the proposed framework for a catalytic innovator encompassing five factors: customer focus on the poor and social entrepreneurship for the social mission. operational innovation, information technology, human capital management for scaling, and financial sustainability.

1/Day

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a mapping of the evolution of the United Nations (UNs) e‐Readiness assessments. The mapping highlights underlying assumptions and frames a set of recommendations for new secondary indicators to strengthen e‐Readiness indices.Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory case study applies triangulated document review for the analysis.Findings – The UNs e‐Readiness assessments have evolved from a focus on Member State governments as “controllers of information and services” to “facilitators of information”. The mapping highlights the dynamic nature of understanding of e‐Government and the role of information and communication technologies in transformation efforts. It also allows for new understanding of the influence of context‐dependent imperatives, rankings, views and suggestions on Member State efforts to leverage technology toward the realization of transformation agendas. Framing assumptions for issue‐based UN surveys pose a series of limitations ...

Applying Information Science Lens for Advancing Critical Research on IT Adoption: Insights from Continued Usage of Mobile Phones by Poor Women in Rural India

Digital inclusion research has focused overwhelmingly on access to information. But access to information by itself is of limited value unless the intended beneficiary has the capacity to use it. It is the use of information that delivers the benefits. However, in information and communication technologies for development literature, there is little empirical work on the process by which use of information delivers benefits. This study fills the gap by studying information use by poor female mobile phone users in rural India. It identifies six stages in the information use process and models them.

Managing Gender-Related Challenges in ICT4D Field Research

Cell phones are the fastest spreading information technology (IT) in the developing world, with a penetration rate of over 61%. Hence, there is a growing interest among governments, investors, banking industries, and retail giants like Wal-Mart to exploit this emerging channel of communication for offering services and expanding businesses to more than 3 billion poor consumers earning less than

A comparative study of Contents of e-Government service websites of Middle East and North African (MENA) countries

2 per day. In response, a number of micro (individual), meso (community), and macro (regional/ national)-level research inquiries and consumer surveys have investigated what makes cell phones a desirable and affordable technology for people earning less than

A pan-India footprint of over-indebtedness of microfinance borrowers from an exploratory survey

2 per day. These multidisciplinary studies and market surveys have revealed links between access to cell phones and socio-economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations from developing nations