Examining capability enhancement through mobile phone use:The case of SouthernGhana

Abstract

With near half of African population being unique subscribers of mobile phones, we are beginning to understand how people in the continent-and more broadly in the Global South-are interacting with their mobile phone in everyday life, and whether it contributes to development and to capability enhancement, following Amartya Sen's notions. Analyzing interviews on mobile phone uses in Southern Ghana based on Sen's Capability Approach and Dorothea Kleine's Choice Framework, we claim that real-life uses of mobile phones demonstrate capability enhancement, as it facilitates (1)

Assessing mobile phone use by pregnant women in Nigeria: A capability perspective

“…Furthermore, we posit that our theoretical lens together with our participatory approach to communicating with the pregnant women in Nigeria, allowed them to define themselves the capabilities they valued. Yim and Gomez () note that identifying important themes that reflect valued capabilities that result from the use of mobile phones allows researchers to develop an overview of the individual's capabilities in various contexts, without forcing any capabilities that might be considered as research bias. In our study, the participating pregnant women proffered the capabilities they consider important while accessing maternal health care, and we believe that this democratic process of identifying capabilities is well aligned to Sen's () conceptualisation of human development.…”

Is the Capabilities Approach operationalizable to analyse the impact of digital identity on human lives

“…The case studies reviewed included: How the CA was to analyze the impacts, and allowed for a broad assessment of human development, considering people’s heterogeneity, as well as evaluating individuals as an end in themselves, in the case of a “bank boat” offering public services to riverine population (Joia and Santos, 2019) How CA and affordances were used as a theoretical lens, identifying conversion factors and facilitating discussion in Kenyan study circles for ICT (Hatakka et al, 2020); How the CA coupled with global and intercultural ethics perspectives, provides a rich human-centered view of the benefits, drawbacks and ethical risks of the benefits, drawbacks and ethical risks of cloud computing for African countries (Wakunuma and Masika, 2017); The CA provided provides a theoretical lens that addresses the multiplicity and complexity of empowerment and participation of a pre-paid electricity billing system, and how it has empowered people (Dasuki et al, 2014); The CA as a conceptual good fit and “well-suited to the study of innovations (such as mobile money), support a systematic and holistic analysis and address how people are empowered by opportunities to pursue well-being goals” (Adaba et al, 2019); The CA together with Kleine’s Choice Framework to identify areas of capability enhancement, reflect on the framework used, suggest a practical research design, and address theoretical specifications deemed important in operationalizing based on mobile phone usage and whether it contributes to development and to capability enhancement in Southern Ghana (Yim and Gomez, 2018). …”

Using Mobile Phones at Work in Personal and Professional Information Processes

“…Even if mobile phones do not bring happiness, a recent study reported all respondents had confirmed that mobile phones make them happier and help them find a job more easily [1]. In another study, Yim and Gomez report that mobile phones helped respondents reduce their transport costs and improve their social relationships [21]. At the same time, mobile phones are more effective as they facilitate better communication for informal groups, beyond any control from organizations [35].…”

“…The questionnaire comprises 24 questions, with many sub-questions (items) that collected the ratings given by respondents on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = "never"; 5 = "very often" or 1 = "totally agree"; 5 = "totally disagree"), using rating names adapted to each question. Many of the items of this tool are related to information processes and information channels accessed through mobile phones, already discussed in the results of other studies [1,2,13,21,26,30,35,37,40,41,44,49], including perceptions of the behavior of managers related to the use of mobile devices at work, plus personal data covering nationality, age, gender, the highest level of education reached in a specific field. However, as this study focuses only on information processes used at work for personal or professional purposes, the additional collected data will be used in future research.…”

“…Given the large variety of apps available for today's smartphones, it is quite difficult to describe a complete taxonomy of areas in which these devices can be used. According to Yim and Gomez, mobile phones have three major intervention areas [21]:…”