Lecturer awarded best paper at international conference
A Swansea University lecturer’s research has been named best paper in the 5th International Conference on E-Governance (ICEG 2007) for his research into broadband adoption.
Dr Yogesh Dwivedi, a lecturer in Information Systems and member of the Centre for e-Business Research in the University’s School of Business and Economics, presented his research paper entitled “Understanding factors affecting consumer adoption of broadband in India: A pilot study” at the conference.
He co-authored the study with Professor Michael Williams, also of the Centre for E-Business Research at Swansea University, Dr Banita Lal (Nottingham Trent University), Dr Vishanth Weerakkody (Department of Information Systems and Computing at Brunel University), and Sneha Bhatt, an independent researcher in Mumbai, India.
The aim of the research was to provide an initial understanding of the factors affecting the adoption of broadband Internet in a developing country, and the researchers chose to look at broadband adoption in India.
The findings suggest that only three factors are significant in explaining why consumers choose to adopt broadband in India: the perceived advantage of having broadband over narrowband; the use of broadband for entertainment purposes; and the cost of subscription.
Dr Dwivedi said: “The Government of India is implementing a number of citizen-centric e-government projects at national and state level. However, the success of such projects depends upon how well citizens are aware of them, and if they have access to technology such as broadband and computers to enable them to make use of e-government applications.
“Our study provided an initial understanding of the issue and a survey instrument for further investigation of broadband adoption in Indian context. I think the value of our study prompted the best paper award within the theme Adopting E-Governance (E-Governance and Society), and I am delighted that our research was singled out in this way.”
Dr Dwivedi was also the Highly Commended Award Winner of the 2007 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the Management and Governance category, and his research is cited in a recent California Broadband Task Force’s report to Governor Schwarzenegger, which recommends several strategies to promote broadband access and usage.
For further information on the University’s School of Business and Economics visit School's website.
