Challenges In Less Developed Countries- Bibliography

Richardson, J. W. (2011). Challenges of adopting the use of technology in less developed countries: The case of Cambodia. Comparative Education Review, 55 (1), 088-029. doi:10.1086/656430

Description: Using Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory this article identifies the barriers, challenges and success of adopting technology in Cambodia. Although focused on the adoption by teacher trainers, this is transferable for any educator looking to adopt technology especially in a less developed country. Findings from data revealed that there were many challenges for these trainers to adopt new technologies from; hardware incompatibility, complexity, language barriers, lack of electricity and internet access, computers, minimal to no practice opportunities and little understanding of the advantages of the new technologies.

By referring findings and examples to the five attributes of Rogers' theory the author identifies the struggles that developing countries face when adopting new technologies, struggles that developed countries such as New Zealand can not identify with. Six categories were used to place participants in regards to their adoption of new technology, these being; early adopters, late adopters, reinventors, discontinuers, rejecters, undetermined. It was found that "different adoption groups were uniquely influenced by the five innovation characteristics" (p.27). Using Rogers' (2003) model captured the voice of the end user which as the author notes, has had less voice in past research.

Evaluation: This article highlights challenges that come with adopting new technologies in less developed countries. Qualitative data provided a voice for people on the ground not just figures, but a personal voice into their struggle. Detailed findings are supported throughout with examples from data to support a more holistic approach. These findings were analysed against the Diffusion of Innovation theory which the author identified as being an effective theory for framing success and barriers in the adoption of new technology. Cambodia's struggle, is a struggle that is shared in many ways to that of Brunei and their people. Brunei has many barriers to overcome and by using Rogers' model similar to this study I will be able to frame my own success and barriers to the adoption of the wiki in my own research.