A qualitative inquiry of ICT based socio-economic development in developing countries: The case of Pakistan.

摘要

The role of information communication technologies (ICT) growth in citizens' political participation, socio-economic development, and poverty alleviation is an active area of study within information systems (IS) research in developing countries. This dissertation contributes in (1) developing an historical perspective of ICT growth, (2) identifying antecedents of ICT growth, (3) proposing extensions in `design-actuality gaps framework' (for ICT policy analysis), (4) extending dimensions of ICT based socio-economic development, and (5) in integrating relationship between ICT growth and socio-economic development. The data collection was done in three phases from December 2006 to January 2009 in Pakistan. A total of 54 officials who made or influenced government's ICT policies and 46 citizens participated. The qualitative analysis shows that government's policies play an important role in ICT growth. However, political instability and lack of citizens' involvement in policy design leads to inconsistent policies which can impede realization of the benefits of ICT growth. The findings have practical implications for government's ICT policy design and evaluation, understanding of the antecedents of ICT growth, and ICT based socio-economic development. The recommendations for ICT policy design in this research can potentially benefit governments in increasing citizens' quality of life, socio-economic development, and poverty alleviation. The validity of this research is evaluated against a set of guidelines for grounded theory research.