GROUNDED THEORY IN ICT4D RESEARCH

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) has emerged as a separate research stream in its own right over the last three decades. However, a persistent concern in the f ield is whether ICT4D research is able to serve the very people whose lives get affected by it. This paper argues that most of the studies in ICT4D field are suffering from hegemony of the theoretical perspectives developed in very different contexts, often in developed countries. Researchers are not often immersed in the field either because of the limited exposure or for lack of understanding about how to interpret the cultural nuances in the least developed or the developing countries. The differences in philosophies of knowledge, language, cultural practices, social norms, power and politics all can affect how people accept and use different technologies and to what extent public policies are going to be successful. This study illuminates why grounded theory is a more suitable philosophical approach (ontological, epistemological, methodological, and axiological) for capturing the subtleties that may emerge in ICT4D research and successfully implementing the policy recommendations.