Comparison of the ICT Adoption Pattern;In the Case of Korea and the U.S.

The aim of this paper is to find out whether there is a difference in adopting and/or diffusing the information and communication technology (ICT) between countries. If there is, what are the primary factors that keep some countries from adopting and diffusing ICT while others do? To analyze the above problem, we adopted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) suggested by Venkatesh et al. (2003), which consists of effort expectancy, performance expectancy and social influence. We also use the innovation diffusion functions, which are known to have the S-shape and are made up of the introduction, growth, maturity and decline phases. We do not, however, consider the decline phase, because the ICT that we are considering is not believed to be in that phase. Therefore, we researched how the three factors affect adoption in the three phases. We selected the cellular phone as the ICT, because it is considered to be the most popularly used ICT and its technology has been developing rapidly. We surveyed the cellular phone adopters in Korea, and the U.S. for 15 years from 1989 to 2003. Korea, and the U.S. represent newly developed and developed countries, respectively. For the data analysis, a survival analysis was used, as it could explain the characteristics of the potential adopters or non-adopters. We found that the ICT diffusion patterns, as well as the ICT diffusion factors, of the two countries were different. Therefore, we believe that the results of our research can be used in building strategies on reducing the digital divide gaps between countries.