Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2592
Exports for your reference manager
Do mobile phones help expand social capital? An empirical case study
[journal article]
Abstract
The rapid adoption of mobile phones, particularly in developing countries, has led a number of researchers to investigate their impact on socioeconomic activity in the developing world. However, until the recent advent of smart communication devices, mobile phones were primarily a relations manageme... view more
The rapid adoption of mobile phones, particularly in developing countries, has led a number of researchers to investigate their impact on socioeconomic activity in the developing world. However, until the recent advent of smart communication devices, mobile phones were primarily a relations management technology that enabled people to stay connected with each other. In this article, we focus on this basic function and analyze how people use this technology as a tool to expand their social capital. We use a dataset containing more than three billion call detail records from Rwanda’s largest telecommunication operator, covering the whole country during the period from 1 July 2014 to 31 March 2015, and combine these records with data from the fourth Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda in 2015. We found that people’s calling patterns significantly correlated with the income level of their region, which also dictated the destinations of their calls, with middle-income regions acting as a link between the richest and the poorest regions. From these results, we propose a framework for understanding the role of mobile phones in the development of social capital.... view less
Keywords
Rwanda; network analysis; cell phone; poverty; social capital; telecommunication
Classification
Sociology of Communication, Sociology of Language, Sociolinguistics
Sociology of Developing Countries, Developmental Sociology
Broadcasting, Telecommunication
Free Keywords
call detail records
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Page/Pages
p. 168-179
Journal
Social Inclusion, 8 (2020) 2
Issue topic
Digital inclusion across the globe: what is being done to tackle digital inequities?
ISSN
2183-2803
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed