The indirect and intangible impacts of a telecentre on a rural community

Abstract

The paper explores the impact of a telecentre on the community living in Bario, a small village in the highlands of Malaysian Borneo. Specifically, it addresses indirect and intangible impacts on non-users of telecentre. Thus, far most research studies have primarily focused on direct and tangible impacts of telecentre on its users whilst impact on non-users is least covered and understood. Consequently, it was equally essential to study the concept of unquantifiable intangible impacts experienced by the non-users. Sen's "Capability Approach" (CA) was adopted to understand the impact of telecentre on human development. "The Most Significant Change" (MSC) was employed as a tool for collecting data in the form of stories from the telecentre users and non-users. The process involved gathering stories about the telecentre impact from the Bario community people. The MSC stories with significance relevance were identified and selected with the help of the community. Those were then analysed using the content analysis technique and Leximancer to identify the patterns of change experienced by the respondents. The results of the study on the whole suggests that the Bario community has benefited from the use of the telecentre, both directly and indirectly, including intangible impacts such as connectedness, a sense of belongingness, strengthened social ties, and psychological empowerment (selfesteem and self-efficacy). The theoretical approach together with methodological approach provided a base for understanding ways to conceptualize the development and determine the ways in which telecentre contributed directly or indirectly to the social and economic development of the community inhabitants.

“Wait and See”

“…To deploy just another "white elephant" alien technology project is not a solution for supporting the indigenous communities but taking communities' concerns, needs, and gratifications into consideration are required. The findings of the study also support Tabassum et al (2019) research about highlighting the unanticipated and indirect impacts of telecentre projects on local communities. This study leads to documenting important policy changes to develop projects for indigenous communities around capacity building, internet access, and the need to unearth the long-term sustainability challenges from the initial stages of the project.…”

E‐government through the lens of trading zones: A case of e‐government implementation in Dubai

“…These conditions for change can help make the public sector receptive of e-government and associated change. Such changes are associated with e-government led transformation (Davison, Wagner, & Ma, 2005) in both developed and developing contexts and socioeconomic growth (Davison, Vogel, Harris, & Jones, 2000;Heeks, 2020;Tabassum, Kulathuramaiyer, Harris, & Yeo, 2019). Often ICTs and a new managerial rationality are presented hand-in-hand and as part of the same package of modernization (Avgerou, 2002(Avgerou, , 2003, although the presence of managerial rationality is associated with the public sector even before the advent of e-government through new public management initiatives (Cordella & Iannacci, 2010).…”

From the Margins to the Mainstream: Indigenised Development in Borneo With Information and Communication Technologies and Its Contribution to Global Sustainable Development

“…Furthermore, the intangible benefits enjoyed by both users and non-users can also be significant and should be included in future telecentre evaluations to obtain a richer picture of their development impact (Tabassum et al, 2019).…”