Harnessing Mobile Innovation Diffusion to Deter Intimate Partner Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa
Rohit Mattu, Debashis Saha · Academy of Management Proceedings · 2024
Global statistics indicate a higher prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), primarily attributed to greater acceptance of IPV among women in the region. This study explores whether the diffusion of mobile phones among women in SSA is triggering a change in their attitudes toward IPV. Drawing on the Institutional Logics Perspective, the Diffusion of Innovations Theory, the Theory of Globalization in general, and the IT Affordances Theory in particular, we posit that mobile phones facilitate the diffusion of socio-cultural innovations promoting gender parity. Exposure to these innovations introduces women to competing logics, thereby shaping their attitudes toward IPV. Through a quasi-experimental research design, we empirically validate the proposed theoretical framework using micro-level nationally representative survey data from six SSA countries and discover supporting evidence for it. Moreover, we observe that women do operationalize these changes in attitudes to reduce IPV occurrences (behaviour) by seeking help from the Police (an external support structure), per the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Additional analysis suggests the presence of spillover effects from neighbouring women's mobile phone adoption in deterring IPV, showcasing their role as institutional entrepreneurs. For apparent reasons, our findings altogether fail to hold for women in localities characterized by high systemic vulnerabilities. With the help of these findings, we propose a process model which explains how ICT adoption results in the restructuration of family logics. Overall, our study underscores the pivotal role of mobile innovations in shaping gender-related beliefs to deter IPV, thus fostering women's empowerment.