The Digital Divide: Current and Future Research Directions - MISRC ...

survey showed these students seldom engaged in online shopping. The interviews
illuminate the fact that many of those within traditionally disconnected groups may not
have the capability to make credit card payments at e-commerce storefronts. This
illustrates the need for new technical design mechanisms to facilitate the online shopping
experience of different groups of people.
In addition to more appropriate interface design and functionality, another way to
bridge the divide may be to provide other technologies that would help users bypass the
traditional means of access. Zhang and Wolff [2004] develop an economic cost model to
examine the feasibility of providing broadband Wi-Fi Internet access to rural and remote
areas using a variety of emerging technologies such as high-gain antennas, dynamically
steerable beam-forming antennas and multihop routing. The results show that using these
technologies to develop innovative mechanisms to reach new users can result in a cost-
effective way to deliver these services to remote geographic areas. Wareham et al.
[2004] used cross-sectional survey data to study the diffusion of mobile communications.
They propose that disconnected groups in the U.S. may benefit from the migration from
voice-based wireless devices to data-centric mobile computing devices.
Even though the involvement of for-profit businesses in efforts to bridge the
divide is attractive [see e.g., Prahalad, 2005], there is evidence that some businesses may
have an incentive to not see the divide bridged. Riggins [2004] develops an economic
analytical model of pricing and quality choices by a firm that sells in two channels
simultaneously ⎯ an online channel and an offline channel. He shows that the digital
divide artificially segments the marketplace allowing the seller to more efficiently market
its goods to different consumer segments. In this case, retailers simultaneously selling in
both channels may prefer to not see the divide bridged. Interestingly, he also shows
conditions under which bridging the divide may result in less consumer choice for those
being helped into the online community. Another study that examines potential negative
effects of bridging the divide using the sociology theoretic perspective is Littlejohn et al.
[2005]. By conducting a case study of online pharmacies, the authors note that
experienced Internet users could easily find potentially unscrupulous drug providers over
the Internet. They point out that this may result in an increase in illegitimate drug usage
and abuse. While the authors note that the typical stereotypes of the socio-economic
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