Unpacking Empowerment in ICT4D Research

Information and communication technology is said to provide paths to empowerment, yet the current ICT4D literature weakly conceptualises how this occurs. This article questions the conceptual alignment between the empowerment concept and the actual empowerment outcome attained through technology. We use Alsop and Heinsohn’s measuring empowerment framework and Zimmerman’s individual empowerment framework to analyse the missing links between empowerment and technology within current ICT4D research. We argue that research on empowerment in ICT4D needs to (1) be more specific about what type of empowerment takes place; (2) take into account both agency level changes and socio-institutional structures, (3) consider the dual effect of both empowerment and disempowerment.