The Effect of Human Development and Good Governance on Mobile Diffusion in the Sub-Saharan Region : Evidence from Panel Quantile Regression

Understanding relations between surrounding socio-political factors for mobile diffusion, such as human development and governance, has long been a challenge. Researchers urge that human development factors should be included as a critical factor when studying mobile diffusion of the sub-Saharan region, and the variables should reflect localized contexts of the region. Yet, the inclusion of various socio-political factors has been rarely considered due to technological determinism. This study aims to provide associational evidence between mobile diffusion and various qualitative indicators for human development and good governance through social constructivists’ perspectives. To do so, we address the gap first by implementing various composite indices measuring human development and governance and second by conducting panel quantile regression with fixed effect. Our statistical results show that the effect of the independent variables on mobile diffusion is heterogeneous across quantiles. Specifically, the effect of human development is positively associated with all quantiles, which supports the legitimacy of inclusion of human development factors when understanding mobile diffusion of the sub-Saharan region. The results also show that government capacity to create a better environment for business on mobile diffusion is clearly heterogeneous, and the effects are mixed