From Luxury to Utility: A Longitudinal Analysis of Cell Phone Laggards

Who remains a cell phone have-not as the cell phone evolves from luxury to utility? This study, based on large-scale telephone surveys in Hong Kong in 1998 and 2000, pursues a longitudinal analysis of the socioeconomic characteristics of the diminishing ranks of non-adopters and assesses the consequence of non-adoption. Over the period, the divide shrank, but the dividing lines along socioeconomic status are still significant. Though the have-nots perceived the cell phone's technical attributes in a better light, socioeconomic status and social influences continued to dominate in the adoption process. Further, cell phone have-nots appeared less knowledgeable about information technologies, providing fresh empirical support for the knowledge gap hypothesis.