The Influence of Telecentre Components on the Psychological Empowerment of Underserved Community Members in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

ICTs and ICT4Ds are powerful socio-economic enablers within developing countries and provide members of "underserved" communities within these countries with tools for selfempowerment and circumvention of inequalities. Telecentres provide public access to ICTs to meet the educational, social, psychological and economic needs of a community. However, few studies have focused on the influence that telecentres have on the psychological empowerment of members of "underserved" communities in which they are situated. This study addresses this gap by investigating the perceived influence of telecentre components on the psychological empowerment of "underserved" community members in Cape Town, South Africa. This study is interpretive and has been executed through the use of a qualitative case study. Deductive in nature, the research was guided by a conceptual model depicting constructs (intrapersonal factors, interactional factors and behavioural factors) related to the psychological empowerment of telecentre users. The research findings confirm that the various components of telecentres such as services, computer training and entrepreneurial support can positively influence and contribute to the perceived psychological empowerment of "underserved" community members. The findings could improve our understanding of the relevance of various components of telecentres towards leveraging psychological empowerment. In practice, emphasis could be placed on the implementation and elaboration of the most significant components of telecentres within "underserved" communities.

Presenting Model of Empowerment Elementary Period Managers based on Components of Futurology

“…Other findings showed that the model of managerial empowerment based on future components of research had a good fit and the categories of change management, empowerment, sense of competence, organizational structure, standardization and growth and improvement played a significant role in the model of empowerment of managers based on future components of research. These findings are in line with the findings of Karp et al (2020), Hassanzadeh KafshkarKalaei et al (2020), Hajizadeh & Hafezian (2019, Dortaj et al (2019), O'Hara & Clement (2018, and Osman & Tanner (2017). ), Niazazari & Taghvaei Yazdi (2014) and TaghipourZahir & Jahanian (2009) were consistent.…”

“…O' Hara & Clement (2018) concluded that empowerment included decision-making power, creative thinking, critical thinking, and awareness rising. In another study, Osman & Tanner (2017) introduced the factors affecting psychological empowerment including intrapersonal, interactive and behavioral factors. In another study, Niazazari & Taghvaei Yazdi (2014) reported that empowering university administrators includes four structural approaches (vision, goals and mission of the university, university structure and policy, teaching methods and ways to acquire skills and knowledge, application of information and communication technology, and Suggestion system), managerial approach (increasing university productivity, building trust, commitment and acceptance of responsibility, continuous development and improvement of managers' performance, management and leadership strategies, and a sense of job security and satisfaction), motivational approach (creating motivation and self-esteem, respect and credibility To managers, self-esteem, self-confidence and self-fulfillment, payment and reward system and flexibility, self-control and self-evaluation) and participatory approach (freedom of action and autonomy, group participation and sharing of university information, individual decision-making in university, power sharing and delegation at levels University and ethics and professional behavior).…”

A benefits framework for public access ICT4D programmes

“…Through the 2016 White Paper, the government seeks to create a Digital Development Fund, the focus of which will be on universal access projects and universal service subsidies for members of identified segments of society (South Africa, DTPS, , p. 33). This implies an intent to continue with public access ICT4D programmes such as public information terminals or kiosks (Oyedemi, ; Stillman et al, ), multipurpose community centres (Gomez et al, ; Mbatha, ; Osman & Tanner, ), and free public Wi‐Fi (Du Bois & Chigona, ).…”

“…Based on a case study; identifies six amendments to the choice framework (Kleine, 2013) to enhance the usefulness of its application. Osman and Tanner (2017) Found that in telecentre programmes services, computer training and entrepreneurial support positively influence and contribute to the perceived psychological empowerment of "underserved" community members.…”

Going beyond the “T” in “CTC”: Social Practices as Care in Community Technology Centers

“…Scholars have researched CTCs as spaces where people access ICTs in order to access information, develop skills, and use important services that promote (self-)development [19,20], health [21], literacy improvement [10,22], access to E-Government services [23], financial inclusion [24], tackling the digital age gap [25], and other utilitarian outcomes. Some practitioners have questioned the relevance of CTCs in the age of mobile internet, where smartphones and data plans are more and more accessible (see [15]).…”