Broadband Internet Adoption Research Articles

Broadband Adoption and Usage Behavior of Malaysian Accountants

This study examines the factors affecting the adoption of broadband Internet in a developing country context by focusing on Malaysia. The data relating to these factors was collected using a survey approach. The findings of this paper suggest that constructs such as relative advantage, utilitarian outcomes, service quality, and primary influence are important factors affecting Malaysian accountants’ broadband adoption and Internet use behaviour. The paper proceeds to outline the research limitations and implications.

Broadband expectations and the convergence of ranks

Broadband Internet service to widely held to be a significant contributor to economic development and global competitiveness, and comparison of adoption rates across countries are common. This paper presents evidence that the relative broadband Internet adoption ranks across the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (“OECD”) countries are converging to the wireline telephone adoption ranks in the mid 1990s. This was a time when wireline telephone service had reached maturity, but before consumers began to abandon traditional telephone services for mobile services and Internet telephone technologies. As such, in the absence of better data on household adoption, wireline telephone rank is a useful proxy for a country's ultimate fixed-line broadband penetration rank. Having such an educated guess available regarding broadband rank should reduce the amount of anxiety over rankings, since similar rankings across the two services implies suitable broadband performance. Large departures, alternately, may be a cause for concern or delight. Like prior analyses, the findings suggest that the adoption of communications services is largely an economic and demographic issue.

How Connected are Pakistanis?

Pakistanis have been using the internet for more than a decade now and yet there is little or no independent academic research data that explores broadband internet adoption and usage profiles of internet users in the country. This paper looks at slow and unequal broadband internet adoption patterns in the country using survey data collected from three cities (Karachi, Lahore and Quetta) of Pakistan based on various socio-economic demographics while the author was a research student at University of Strathclyde. The data presented in this paper illustrates that household with lower income and education levels are far well below the average rate of adoption of broadband in the country. In contrast household with high income and education levels are far above the average rate of adoption of broadband internet. This paper explores this uneven access and illustrates the disparity to participate online between households with different economic and educational levels. The discussion section in the paper considers this problem of slow adoption and uneven access and the future impact of being disconnected for the younger generation Pakistanis. The aim of the paper is to present this empirical research data and raise awareness about the situation for further research and effective ICT policies and strategy to be adopted at national levels if we are to reap the future benefits of ICTs in the country.

Forecasting broadband Internet adoption on trains in Belgium

Thanks to the massive success of mobile access devices such as netbooks or Apple’s iPhone 3G, Internet on the move has become one of the prominent features of today’s information society. With the emergence of wireless and mobile communication networks, the railroad industry is now catching up on this new technology in their battle with low-cost operators to bring more productivity and entertainment possibilities to its passengers. With millions of daily commuters as potential service users, this transport branch offers high business opportunities. However, while most field trials and research effort have mainly focused on the enabling technology, little research effort has been conducted to forecast the demand-side. This article tries to fill this gap by presenting original results gathered from a large-scale survey amongst 1324 regular train travellers. By means of the Product Specific Adoption Potential method, we predict the potential market penetration of wireless Internet services onboard trains and estimate the size and nature of five adopter segments in terms of socio-demographics, drivers and thresholds, willingness to pay, applications and quality of service. We will discuss the practical implications of these insights in order to develop viable business models, set up introduction strategies and build out user-driven infrastructure networks.

Understanding Factors Affecting Consumer Adoption of Broadband in India

The aim of this study is to provide an initial understanding of the factors affecting the adoption of broadband Internet in a developing country context, in this instance India. In order to achieve this aim, this study identified and examined various attitudinal, normative and control factors and their possible influence upon broadband adoption. The data on these variables was collected using a survey approach. The findings of this article suggest that relative advantage, hedonic outcomes and cost are significant factors for explaining consumers’ behavioral intentions to adopt broadband in India. The article also outlines the limitations of this study, and directions for future research.

Factors affecting consumers' behavioural intention to adopt broadband in Pakistan

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine various attitudinal, normative and control factors affecting the adoption of broadband internet by consumers in a developing country by focusing on Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachA survey approach was employed to achieve the overall aim of this study. The empirical data concerning the attitudinal, normative and control variables were collected using a questionnaire. A regression analysis was performed to test the role of various variables on consumers' behavioural intentions (BIs) to adopt broadband internet in Pakistan.FindingsThe findings of the study suggest that primary influence, facilitating conditions, resources, cost, perceived knowledge and perceived ease of use were all significant factors for explaining consumers' BIs to adopt broadband.Originality/valueThe primary value of this paper lies in extending the current understanding of broadband adoption, by providing insights from a developing country perspective. This has been achieved by synthesising and empirically testing previous research on broadband adoption conducted from a developed country (i.e. the UK) perspective.

Broadband adoption in Pakistan

The aim of this study is to provide a context for understanding the factors affecting the adoption of broadband internet in a developing country context, in this instance, Pakistan. In order to achieve the stated aim, this study identified and examined various attitudinal, normative and control factors to provide insights into broadband adoption. The data on these variables was collected using a survey approach. A self-administered questionnaire was sent between October and December 2006 to 275 consumers, with a total of 237 responses obtained from the respondents. The findings of this paper suggest that primary influence, facilitating conditions resources, cost and perceived ease of use are significant factors for explaining behavioural intentions to adopt broadband in Pakistan. The paper also outlines the theoretical contributions, implications for practice and limitations of this research.

Adoption of Broadband Internet in Korea: The Role of Experience in Building Attitudes

Although many countries are attempting to build an information infrastructure and accelerate the adoption of broadband Internet access technology, the results are not always satisfactory. The focus of earlier research on the diffusion and adoption of broadband Internet access has been primarily on the construction of a national-level infrastructure or on macro-level factors such as government policies, market competition and the density of population. This research highlights the individual-level factors affecting the adoption of broadband access, integrating various views on the adoption and diffusion of technology, including the technology acceptance model, theory of planned behaviour and diffusion of innovation model. An extended technology acceptance model incorporating the notion of perceived resources is proved to be relevant in the adoption of broadband technologies. It was found that innovation attributes, such as compatibility, visibility and result demonstrability, have an impact on constructs in the extended technology acceptance model such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived resources. These results also support the idea that congruent experiences and opportunities in adopting a new technology affect user attitudes through the three extended technology acceptance model constructs above. This research suggests that efforts should be made to expand the compatible experience base of broadband Internet in order to facilitate its adoption and use. This paper also provides an extensive review of the adoption behaviour of individuals by incorporating different views and theories.