Les déterminants de l’adoption de l’internet en Afrique : cas de 17 pays

Presented at GLOBELICS 2009, 7th International Conference, 6-8 October, Dakar, Senegal.Parallel session 4: Adoption des TICs en AfriqueWhat are the factors that favor or slow down the use of the Internet in Africa? In order to answer this question, research has multiplied over the past years. This study proposes a two level hierarchical modeling of the explanatory factors of the Internet adoption in Africa. The data used come from the E-access and Usage survey realized by the network Research ITC in Africa (RIA) in 2007; this type of survey is as the same method of collection were simultaneously used in 17 African countries. The results of the model show the significant role of the urbanization in the explanation of the individual decisions of adoption of the Internet, thanks to a greater development of Internet infrastructures in urban areas. Also, more the rate of completion of the primary education is high in a country; more the people who live there use the Internet. They also reveal that an individual will have a larger probability to use the Internet if its household has a computer or Internet connection. Moreover, the individual characteristics (the sex, the age, the level of education, and the belonging to a social network) are the underlying factors of the Internet adoption. Indeed, a man is more likely to use the Internet than a woman; this chance is larger if he is young (16 to 30 years) or if he reached at least the secondary education level or if he is member of a social network