Impact of Macro-level Regulations on Micro-level (Individual) Use of ICT: A case of mobile services in India

Recognizing the need for citizen participation to solve large-scale problems such as climate change induced environmental degradation, governments in developed nations have begun supporting systems facilitating such collaboration. The critical need for such systems in developing countries has inspired this research. Using design science research methodology, meta-requirements for system design were extracted from relevant kernel theories, design principles inferred and a prototype instantiated. A total of 104 participants (55 male, 49 female) from three villages located in Guntur District, India, interacted with the prototype and completed a survey questionnaire, which was followed by focus group discussions and 31 semi-structured interviews. Results revealed that in spite of 100% access to personal mobile phones, user interaction with the prototype was less than 20% and attributed to limitations imposed by a fragmented and highly competitive mobile ecosystem characterized by conflicting billing plans, wide variation in device affordances and interoperability problems between competing networks. Analysis of data further suggests that the access and use of mobile technology at the micro-level (individual) is an informative indicator of the impact of the macro-level, regulatory policies promulgated by the government. As a workaround to the observed limitations, this research proposes a design that 'piggybacks' on extant channels of communication. And as an aside, this research also delineates how the juxtaposition of the ICT policies - aimed at creating a market state - with the social welfare policies - aimed at safeguarding a welfare state - has led to unintended consequences.