Self-Interest in Innovation Diffusion Decision Process: The Case of Extending Broadband Internet Services to Rural Areas of Ghana

This paper assesses the factors that would facilitate the diffusion and adoption of broadband internet services in rural areas using the internet café business model. The rural areas of developing countries are predominantly ignored or underserved with broadband Internet connectivity. However in the cities, the
internet café business model has been a major driver in the diffusion of the internet services. This paper adopts an exploratory approach to investigate why Internet café entrepreneurs do not supply internet services to rural areas. It also explores the factors that would stimulate investments from the same who are currently investing in internet services provisioning in the cities. Ghana is used as a case study by surveying 25 Internet Café operators. The analysis of the data collected facilitated self-interest assessment and its influences on the decision for broadband service diffusion and adoption in the rural areas using the internet
café business model.