More-than-voice use of mobile at the bottom of the pyramid: Analysis of motivational and contextual drivers to mobile use among low-income users in South Asia

Over the last decade, mobile communication has become increasingly available, affordable and accessible even to the poor and disadvantaged at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) in developing countries. This unprecedented connectivity at the BOP introduces not only an untapped group of media users for communication researchers, but also a new hope among development practitioners of fostering social change through innovative mobile-based intervention services. Despite the mounting interest, however, little is known about how individuals at the BOP adopt and use mobile phones.;This dissertation investigates the factors influencing mobile use behaviors at the BOP in South Asia, with a particular interest in their motivational drives behind the utilization of mobile phones for services other than voice calls. Guided by the well-established technology adoption theories, including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the dissertation examines the cognitive process behind mobile use involving technological utility (perceived usefulness), social influence (subjective norms) and contextual conditions (perceived behavioral control). The study also extends the model with multiple antecedents addressing 'what makes a mobile useful' and 'what contributes to the enabling conditions' pertinent to the context of the BOP users. Furthermore, pointing out the limitations of the adoption theories in their tendency to overlook socio-demographic effects, the dissertation examines whether and where such demographic effects intervene in the motivational process.;Based on a large-scale multi-country random survey conducted in South Asia by LIRNEasia (N=4,023), the dissertation empirically validates the proposed model using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It also takes a novel approach to define a multi-dimensional effect of socio-demographic factors using a two-step cluster analysis method and compares the path differences between the sub-groups. In addition, it provides a supplementary analysis to explore the moderating role of mobile efficacy in the actualization of the behavioral intention to mobile use behavior.;The dissertation finds that, first, the western-oriented technology adoption theories successfully explain the formation of behavioral intentions (BI), but they fail to explain the full process of the actualization of behavioral intentions that lead to more-than-voice mobile use among the BOP owners. Second, socio-demographic factors partially moderate the degree of different effects of the motivational factors, indicating that the poor is not a homogenous mass and there exist considerable differences in their cognitive evaluations relating to their socio-demographic conditions. Third, in exploring the additional factors affecting the behavioral intentions to behavior path, the study suggests a tentative finding on the interaction effect of mobile efficacy and behavioral intention on the actualization of BI among the BOP mobile owners.