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Developing a comparative framework of ICT4D initiatives in the global S outh: A critical realist approach
Author(s) -
Hussain Faheem,
Brown Suzana
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the electronic journal of information systems in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.41
H-Index - 18
ISSN - 1681-4835
DOI - 10.1002/isd2.12055
Subject(s) - information and communications technology , corporate governance , field (mathematics) , order (exchange) , value (mathematics) , knowledge management , sociology , public relations , political science , computer science , business , finance , machine learning , pure mathematics , law , mathematics
The paper aims to develop a comparative framework for ICT4D initiatives in the global South by adopting a critical realist philosophical approach. For that purpose, the research utilizes field data and observations from two information and communication technology (ICT)–driven community health care services in Rwanda and Bangladesh. The data collected were analyzed through a critical realist–based framework, and the two mechanisms that played key roles in these ICT projects were identified as follows: trust in social structures and good governance. This study suggests that both mechanisms play a greater role in Bangladesh than in Rwanda. The identified mechanisms further highlight the challenges Rwanda needs to overcome in order to achieve comparable success. Based on the analysis of those two cases, we suggest that our critical realist–based philosophical and methodological approach adds unique value to ICT4D research, and such an approach allows us to gather valuable insights on these comparable ICT4D projects. Consequently, we are able to provide the stakeholders in these projects with better insights into why the community health care services evolved the way they did and the mechanisms that determined this outcome.