Title: An analysis of diffusion process of mobile phone services in rural India

Authors: Abhay Jain; B.S. Hundal

Addresses: Department of Commerce, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India ' Department of Commerce and Business Management, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab 143005, India

Abstract: Fast technological developments with advance mobile phone services have become a critical issue for the rural areas. Though the advance technological mobile phone applications have ubiquitously been offered to the rural markets in India, the widening gap between rural and urban teledensity despite all measures has raised a serious concern for the policy makers. This study tries to explore the ground realities for low adoption of mobile phone services in rural areas by taking Roger's diffusion of innovation theory to study the diffusion process. The empirical results reveal that the determinants of diffusion process i.e. perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility, observability, trialability, perceived trust, time and social system have significant impact on the adoption of mobile phone services whereas complexity affects the adoption of mobile phone services negatively.

Keywords: diffusion process; mobile phone services; rural areas; India; mobile phones; cell phones; technology adoption; diffusion of innovation theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2013.053325

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2013 Vol.7 No.2, pp.126 - 143

Received: 28 Jun 2012
Accepted: 31 Oct 2012
Published online: 17 Apr 2013 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article