ICT Diffusion at Developing Countries: The Role of Governance Types and Mechanisms

The diffusion process of information and communication technology for mobile telephones, personal computers and internet users seems to follow the Bass’ diffusion model in most nations, but some of the factors affecting diffusion speeds are still unidentified. We focused on three geographical regions, of mostly developing nations namely: Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Central America/Caribbean to compare diffusion speeds. We included economic wealth, social infrastructures, and governance mechanisms to measure their impact in the diffusion speed for a period of 20 years. Based on secondary data, we conclude that geographical location, financial status, social infrastructure and governance mechanisms impact diffusion speed of three ICT products (PC, mobile phones and Internet). Along with the economies, we discovered that the types of government (democratic, autocratic and communist), follow the same diffusion shape, but the speed of diffusion is greatly altered by governmental intrusion in this matter. Governance mechanisms also affect diffusion speed.