Policy semantic networks associated with ICT utilization in Africa

Information and communications technology (ICT) research finds that greater utilization of ICTs leads to economic growth. This effect has led developing countries to implement initiatives to increase available infrastructure and its use. While ICT policy is a likely facilitator of increased ICT use, analysis of policy documents has been limited due to the difficulties of manual content analysis. Semantic network analysis of policy documents enables the identification of concepts associated with greater ICT use, which contributes to theory and offers policy guidance. This study combined text analysis with structural equation modeling to identify the semantic correlates of greater ICT utilization for 605 policy documents across 51 African countries. Our findings show that more abstract, analytical content is associated with greater ICT utilization, consistent with a communication and information processing model.