The Diffusion of the Internet in a Pro-IT Cultural Environment: A Content Analysis of the Singapore Experience

Despite the magnitude of the Internet phenomenon, relatively few studies investigate the factors influencing its diffusion. This paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the forces that influence the diffusion of the Internet in Singapore. A push-pull framework that incorporates the political, technological, economic, and social factors is developed as the basis for examining this phenomenon. Based on this framework, a content-analytic approach is used to analyze the messages conveyed in Singapore\u27s two local English-medium newspapers. The results show that both push and pull forces predominated in the early stages of Internet diffusion. However, as time went by, the pull forces predominated over the push forces. The results also show that factors such as building telecommunication infrastructure, having on-line information and services, and creating business opportunities were important in the diffusion of the Internet in Singapore