Who are the Mobile Phone Have-Nots?: Influences and Consequences

Grounded in the diffusion of innovations theoretical framework, this study focuses on examining who the mobile telephone have-nots are and what are the factors at work. Results of a telephone survey with a probability sample of 834 respondents show that the have-nots tended to be older females with lower household income and education attainment. They had pagers as an alternative and subscribed to no caller ID display service at home. This study also found a polarizing phenomenon in owning new telecommunications technologies. With the poor becoming poorer, the gap between haves and have-nots is widening. A hierarchy of relative influences on the intention to adopt a mobile phone suggests that the effects of age and social differences far outweigh that of the technological differences.