Applying the normative aspect of stakeholder analysis to electronic commerce diffusion: Stakeholder consideration for the elimination of the digital divide Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou Brunel University, Dep. of IS and computing, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK Tel: 0044 1895 203375, Fax: 0044 1895 251686 e-mail: anastasia.papazafeiropoulou@brunel.ac.uk Athanasia Pouloudi ELTRUN-the ebusiness centre Department of Management Science and Technology Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) 47A Evelpidon st.& 33, Lefkados st. 113 64 Athens, Greece Tel: 0030 10 8203682, Fax: 0030 10 8203685 e-mail: pouloudi@aueb.gr Abstract The digital divide between developed and non-developed countries or large and smaller companies in terms of adoption of new technologies and particularly the Internet and electronic commerce is a heavily debated and frequently discussed issue. Policy makers worldwide clearly declare that the main aim of their technology diffusion strategies is the elimination of the gap between 'haves' and 'have-nots' in the cyberspace. In this paper we extent previous research on the application of the stakeholder analysis in electronic commerce policy making [1] by focusing on its normative aspect. According to this aspect it is ethically appropriate for policy makers to consider all stakeholders, which are relevant to their strategies. We argue that the need to consider the widest spectrum of stakeholders in the implementation of electronic commerce policies may lead to a fair strategy towards the elimination of the digital divide. 1. Introduction The term digital divide has been used to describe the inequalities in the access of information related to the use of Internet and other telecommunication technologies among and within countries [2]. The need for the elimination of the digital divide points to a need for effective electronic commerce diffusion policies. Such policies can help companies and individuals receive the necessary training and advice to familiarize themselves with new technologies besides their financial situation, culture, gender or race. A number of questions in the examination of issues related with effective electronic commerce diffusion policies raise from the so-called digital divide. Where does it occur and why? What are the diffusion strategies that can be used to alleviate it? Who are the stakeholders that mostly need information and advice? Stakeholder theory has been previously used for the examination of stakeholders involved in the electronic commerce policy making by government agencies at a national level [1]. When national governments have a holistic view of the stakeholders acting in the electronic commerce market, they can be sensitive to specific needs of different interest groups. They can consequently be more effective in the application of their strategies and act proactively in a rapid technologically changing environment. In this paper we extended this argument by investigating the normative implications of stakeholder analysis for the examination of issues related to who are the stakeholders that are the target of a diffusion strategy
and why. Specifically, we look at the rationale behind the application of electronic commerce policies and the assumed responsibility of policy makers to take care of stakeholders in less advanced positions in terms of access to information technology. Following from the above the phenomenon of the digital divide is analysed as an issue related to electronic commerce diffusion and can be better understood and investigated through the normative aspect of stakeholder theory. By identifying the needs for training and advice of less advanced stakeholders, the discussion leads to the consideration of what rights and responsibilities stakeholders have in such a context. The paper is structured as follows. In the next section the phenomenon of the digital divide and its relation to the diffusion mechanisms for Internet and electronic commerce is presented. Section 3 demonstrates how the normative aspect of stakeholder theory can be used for the examination of the digital divide as a phenomenon which can be considered as a moral responsibility of policy makers to tackle. In section 4 the role of the change agencies as important stakeholders in electronic commerce diffusion is described while their perceptions are analysed in section 5 with the view to offer a better understanding of the digital divide phenomenon and the policies towards its elimination. 2. The digital divide The initial euphoria about the power that the information superhighway can offer to support new services, which will empower citizens and enable their full participation in an emerging 'digital democracy', has been heavily debated. The 'digital democracy' is now threatened by the 'information aristocracy' [3]. There is always the concern that in the case that individuals and companies are not able to have access to on line services either because they don't have the means or the knowledge to do so, the result will be the reinforcement of existing patterns of inequalities. There is a lot of debate about the cultural, gender and race gap in the use of Internet and the proportion of users with lower education and income[4]. The penetration of the Internet and electronic commerce in developing countries, which lag far behind North America and Europe, is also an outstanding issue in the existence of 'haves' and 'have-nots' in cyberspace, (e.g. [5; 6; 7; 8]). Developed countries have more access to information that is less expensive, easier and faster while less technologically advanced regions have to deal with problems of inadequate infrastructure, lack of awareness and lack of appropriate legal frameworks. The digital divide or digital gap is a term that is widely used lately in order to describe these inequalities between developed and non-developed countries. According to OECD [2]. The term digital divide refers to the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities (p.5). The problem of the digital divide is related to electronic commerce diffusion, as policy making for its elimination is the result of effective national and international policies (e.g. [9; 10; 11; 12; 13]). The policy rationale is the social benefits to be derived from the positive externalities associated with diffusion and grater use of information and telecommunication technologies and related improvements to the skill base. Governments also recognise the economic activity that may result from electronic commerce by the increased competition in the telecommunication markets that can stimulate new investments and increased demand for communications access and services through falling prices and the offer of new innovative products. In the next section we examine how stakeholder theory can be used for the analysis of electronic commerce diffusion towards the understanding of the phenomenon of the digital divide. 3. Applying the normative aspect of stakeholder theory in electronic commerce diffusion Donaldson and Preston [14] propose a classification framework defining three aspects of stakeholder theory, namely descriptive, instrumental and normative. The descriptive aspect means that "the theory is used to describe and sometimes to explain, specific corporate characteristics and behaviours" (p. 70) The instrumental aspect means that "the theory is used to identify connections, or lack of connections, between stakeholder management and the achievement of traditional corporate objectives" (p.71) The normative aspect means that "the theory is used to interpret the function of the corporation, including the identification of moral or philosophical guidelines for the operation and management of corporations" (p. 71) The authors argue that the normative aspect of the theory is fundamental and is related with categorical issues of what is right or wrong that needs to be done by corporate managers. In other words there is a normative core in the stakeholder concept that can result in managers becoming sensitive to stakeholders' interests because it is
morally right. This aspect although is embedded in the stakeholder literature, the fundamental normative issues involved are often unexamined. This is also the case of stakeholder theory use in information systems research. According to [15] the use of the theory in information systems is restricted to the descriptive and instrumental aspect and there is hardly evidence of a normative element. In the case of information technology and electronic commerce diffusion research (see [16]; [17]; [18]; [19]), the notion of stakeholders is implicitly embedded in the corresponding literature without the explicit reference to the term or any of the theories' aspects. The research is mainly focused on the role of public or private organizations as facilitators, in the diffusion of specific technologies such as EDI to particular industry sectors. In this paper we move the focus of the research in the electronic commerce diffusion research by investigating stakeholder roles and normative interests at a high level of electronic commerce diffusion. Specifically, we investigate how the interests of policy makers at national or international level can be analyzed as part of an effort to understand the digital divide and the strategies towards its elimination. In the next section we analyze the key role of the change agencies, as important stakeholders, in the formulation of electronic commerce diffusion strategies at national and international level. 4. Stakeholders in electronic commerce diffusion Previous research on stakeholder participation in electronic commerce diffusion [20] have identified a number of groups of stakeholders that play an important role in the process at national or international level. These are: Change agencies: Policy makers that act as electronic commerce promoters influencing the public in using new information technologies. Change agents: Organisation playing an intermediary role, as they act between the change agencies and the diffusion receivers (companies or individuals) in order to influence the latter towards the adoption of an innovation. In this group are included roles such as advisors, tutors, speakers and organisers of awareness activities. Sponsors: Private or public organisations that support financially electronic commerce diffusion activities. Facilitators: Organisations offering technical support to the organisers of diffusion activities playing a less important assisting role. Diffusion receivers. Individuals or companies that are the target of diffusion activities pursited by the diffusers (all previous stakeholder groups). In this paper we focus on the role of the change agencies as they are responsible for global policies on electronic commerce diffusion and have the means to help the elimination on the digital divide. In the innovation diffusion literature (see [21; 22]) the role of the change agency is predominant and it is used to describe private or public entities through which an innovation is distributed or made available to the population at large. In the case of electronic commerce diffusion the role of the change agency has been described as one played by stakeholders acting as policy makers at international or national level [20]. They are initiators of wide awareness campaigns seeking to promote electronic commerce at a large scale. They also play the role of the sponsor for such events in order to help the attraction of a widest possible audience. Their interests are related to the application of policies supporting actors in promoting electronic commerce diffusion, as the latter is related to economic and social development. At a national level the change agency is typically the national government which is concerned about the diffusion of innovations to less advanced groups of stakeholders such as small companies and companies in rural areas. As described in an OECD report on the digital divide [2]: All OECD countries have support programmes for small businesses, which in general are slower to adopt new technologies and which face particular information asymmetries, management and skills issues. Support for small businesses increasingly has a component aimed at increasing the rate of uptake and use of ICTs. Governments also assist some regions and rural areas owing to particular problems associated with lagging regions." (p. 6). At an international level, change agencies act at a higher strategy level and their influence is very important especially in setting international standards and global commercial codes. National governments have to consider their directives seriously if they want their policies to be compliant with those set by international organisations. Such organisations are for example the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). These organisations offer directives about the application of diffusion strategies and are concerned about
reducing inequalities between advanced and less advanced countries under their influence. OECD [2] for example supports that multilateral co-operation is very important for reducing differences in international digital divides across countries and improving, by learning from others experience, the efficiency of measures taken by other countries. The idea is that countries in less advanced position can gain from the co-operation with early adopters of Internet and electronic commerce by following examples of policies, which appear to be effective. In the next section we examine perspectives of stakeholders acting as change agencies for electronic commerce diffusion. We use official statements and reports in order to investigate their normative implications for the application of 'fair' electronic commerce polices. 5. Stakeholder consideration for the elimination of the digital divide The need to consider stakeholders in the implementation of technology diffusion strategies is obvious in policy documents, where the welfare of consumers, citizens and companies appear as the main aim of those strategies. For example in OECD's policy document about electronic commerce it is stated [23]: "It is recognised that OECD's work in electronic commerce should be carried out in a co-operative and complementary fashion with work under way in organisations, labour and consumer organisations, social interests and the private sector". Additionally, in the report titled Joint EU-US statement on electronic commerce [24] published by a joint committee from American and European policy makers, the need for the consideration of the widest number stakeholders during the application of an electronic commerce diffusion strategy is explicit. It is stated that: "Global electronic commerce should take into account the interests of all stakeholders in particular of consumers, libraries, schools and other public institutions, as well as the need to ensure the widest possible use of new technologies. Moreover, the European Union has launched an initiative called 'go-digital' that aims to promote electronic commerce to Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in the each country-member in order to help them to introduce electronic commerce to their business strategies. The Union acts as an international change agency that explicitly states its care for the entities in less advanced position. The concern about the differences in the digitisation level among country members and between members and candidate countries is apparent in official documents and reports. At a national level, member-states working for implementing the go-digital initiative at country level support that the transfer of knowledge to less advanced rural areas of the country is one of their main objectives, as an effort to apply diffusion policies that eliminate inequalities within the country. The examination of the above stakeholder interests show that policy makers express a normative interest of who needs to be considered when designing strategies for electronic commerce. The efforts for the minimisation of the digital gap are consequently the result of the need to consider stakeholders in less advanced positions. As presented in figure 1 the efforts are made at both national and international level. National Level International Level DIGITAL GAP Care for: Companies and individuals with less access to information Care for: Less technologically advanced regions Figure 1. National and international diffusion policies for the minimisation of the digital gap At a national level the interest to consider stakeholders in less advanced position is expressed by pursuing policies that eliminate the inequalities in terms of cultural, gender and race gaps among individuals and between small and bigger companies. Change agencies acting at national level are government authorities in co-operation with local and regional representatives. At an international level the interest of the policy makers is focused on offering equal opportunities to nations in different levels of economic development. International non-profit organisations are typically the change agencies that promote these policies in co-operation with the governments of their county-members. Policy makers working at either a national or international level can benefit by considering the widest spectrum of stakeholders in the field. Thus they can identify the needs of less advanced groups of stakeholders and promote co-operation to support them. Co-operation
at international level helps change agencies at national level (national government agents in their majority) to follow directives that incorporate the expertise of multiple national constituencies, which have been tested. The early electronic commerce experience of high-digitised countries can benefit stakeholders acting as change agencies in countries at the initial stage of electronic commerce adoption. It is important to learn from previous mistakes and best practices followed in order to avoid the former and learn from the latter. The influence is in some cases mutual. National change agents may have the power to play a vital role in the definition of national standards having strong influence to entities international policy making in electronic commerce diffusion. The definition of global strategies at a high policy level leads to a chain reaction when governments by selecting the most efficient international directives can advocate them to change agents who in return can apply effective diffusion mechanisms for individuals and companies. 6. Conclusions In this paper we examined the phenomenon of the digital gap with its relation to electronic commerce diffusion. We demonstrated that the elimination of inequalities in the use of telecommunication technologies is an important aspect of electronic commerce diffusion and the consideration of the widest range of stakeholders when applying diffusion strategies is a major normative concern of policy makers at all levels. It is important for change agencies to have a holistic view of the stakeholders acting in the field of electronic commerce. In this way they can be sensitive to the specific needs of different interest groups, they can be more effective in the application of their strategies and act proactively in a rapid technologically changing environment. Our analysis shows that the elimination of the digital gap is a complex process with the participation of stakeholders acting at various levels of decision and policy making. We argued that examining the interest of stakeholders acting as change agencies from a normative aspect could help in the application of 'fair' electronic commerce diffusion policies towards its elimination. Further research in the field could include the examination of the phenomenon of the digital gap in various national settings or geographical regions. Additionally it could be interesting to focus the research on policies addressed to different diffusion receivers such individuals small or bigger companies. We believe that the results of an extensive research in the field can be useful to policy makers at national or international level towards the elimination of the digital divide. 7. References [1] Papazafeiropoulou, A., Pouloudi, A. & Currie, W. (2001). Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS-34), 3-6 January, Maui, Hawaii. [2] OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). (2001). Understanding the digital divide. OECD. [3] Carter, D. (1997). 'Digital democracy' or 'information aristocracy'. Economic regeneration and the information economy. In The Governance of cyberspace (Loader, B., ed.), pp. 136-152. Routledge, London. [4] Hoffman, D., Novak, T. & Schlosser, A. (2000). The evolution of the digital divide: How Gaps in Internet Access May Impact Electronic Commerce. Journal of computer-meditated communication 5(3). [5] Blanning, R., Bui, T. & Tan, M. (1997). National information infrastructure in Pacific Asia. Decision Support Systems 21(215-227. [6] Bhatnagar, S. (1997). Electronic commerce in India: The untapped potential. Electronic Markets 7(2), 22-24. [7] Clark, J. & Lai, V. (1998). Internet comes to Morocco. Communications of the ACM 41(2), 21-23. [8] Kim, E. & Hong, P. (1997). The government's role in diffusion of EC in Korea. Electronic Markets 7(2), 6-8. [9] Boon, O., Hewett, W. G. & Parker, C. M. (2000). 13th International Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, 19-21 June, Bled, Slovenia. [10] Bozeman, B. (2000). Technology transfer and public policy: a review of research and theory. Research policy 29627-655. [11] Corbitt, B. J. & Kong, W. (2000). 13th International Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, 19-21 June, Bled, Slovenia. [12] Damsgaard, J. & Lyytinen, K. (1998). Governmental intervention in the Diffusion of EDI: Goals and conflicts. In EDI and Data Networking in the Public Sector (Andersen, K. V., ed.), pp. 13-41. Kluwer Academic publishers, Boston. [13] GNCEC (Greek National Committee on Electronic Commerce). (1999). New subsidy methods and recommended government introversions (In Greek). GNCEC.
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