Annotated Bibliography

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/156914909X403180

PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 brill.nl/pgdt

P E R S P E C T I V E S O N G L O B A L

D E V E L O P M E N T A N D

T E C H N O L O G Y

A Strategic Framework for Rural Micro-Enterprise Development: Th e Integration of Information

Communication Technology (ICT), E-Commerce, Marketing, and Actor-Network Th eory

Jo Rhodes Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia

[email protected]

Abstract Using a contextualist, interpretivist research method anchored in a South African rural women’s organization, this paper contributes to the discourse on ICT-enabled rural microeconomic development. A conceptual framework, encapsulating rural socioeconomic development, ICTs (e-commerce through a government-sponsored telecentre), and marketing (as a particular busi- ness process) is probed using an in-situ participative action research project in cooperation with the organization’s management team; and analyzed through Actor-Network Th eory. Th e results reveal key barriers experienced by a rural development organization exploring ICT-enabled migration paths from development (self-help projects) to micro-enterprise. Th ese barriers include the impact of traditional practices on a modern organization; the struggle to align marketing principles with cultural constraints; the conceptual confusion of relating development principles to business practices in a community isolated from regional and national levels of development; the consequences of leapfrogging the phases of institutionalization when implementing ICTs; and the consequences of the transitory mobilization of actors.

Keywords information and communication technologies (ICTs); marketing; e-commerce; rural develop- ment; Actor-Network Th eory

Introduction

Th e emergence of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) impacts on theoretical and practical assumptions as to the role of technology in socioeconomic development (Morales-Gomez and Melesse 1998; Marcelle 2002). Arguments abound as to whether these new technologies can shape development, are appropriate to local culture, and fi t with the development approach in use.

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 49

South Africa, a lower middle-income developing country, has two major priorities: expanding the economy and eradicating poverty. Th e integration of ICTs business concepts and local knowledge is considered imperative for socioeconomic development. Coupled with this premise is the critical chal- lenge of building depth of capacity and entrepreneurship to realize the poten- tial benefi ts of ICTs in rural areas. Using technology, with a predominantly technical focus, as a development tool is fl awed as it neglects the multifaceted and multidisciplinary factors relating to people, such as organizational struc- ture and behavioral change (Heeks 2002). Information technology (IT) is not simply a tool for automating existing processes, but is more importantly an enabler of organizational changes that can lead to additional productivity gains (Dedrick, Gurbaxani, and Kraemer 2003). Th e panoply of recent tech- nological innovation has created new and pervasive applications such as e-commerce and e-marketing, all of which can impact signifi cantly on organi- zational processes. At the level of the business fi rm, it is well accepted that the most signifi cant benefi ts accruing from IT are often consequences of the tech- nology supporting organizational change (Avgerou 2001).

To optimize organizational change business processes, such as marketing, must be locally and contextually relevant. Literature in this area is scarce, as organizational development practices are predominantly translated from the business sector and not often successfully transplanted outside of this context. Th erefore, the adoption of e-marketing and e-commerce and changes in work practices that provide harmonization with local community values in the rural context are required in order to expedite ICT benefi ts. Th e link between tech- nological growth and socioeconomic development is generally based on West- ern industrialized experiences. Little eff ort, so far, has been made to understand the changes enabled by the new technologies as applied to an African rural micro-enterprise environment.

Accompanying the debate around applying ICTs to improve economic activity at the rural level is the notion that rural economic development can be transformed from a survivalist genre to a more profi table mode using technol- ogy that enables, enhances, and aids marketing activities (World Bank Group 2000). A plethora of reasons are cited for the impropriety of ICTs in relation to rural development, for example, the lack of connectivity; low tele-density; limited Internet access; scant ICT education; limited literacy and underdevel- oped human and technological networks. While research suggests growing evidence that ICTs could be a powerful tool when used appropriately as part of an overall development strategy (World Bank Group 2003; World Bank Group 2004, Krishna and Walsham 2005), the debate is often informed by ambiguous speculation rather than research evidence.

50 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

Positioning ICT as the panacea for underdevelopment pressures govern- ments and development agencies to introduce them quickly; this pressure to play “catch-up and leapfrog” results in inadequate and insuffi cient assessments of the risks posed to sustainable development. In addition, the substantive issues relating to the process of developing and implementing ICT for specifi c work processes, such as marketing, are generally ignored (Monteleagre and Ramiro 1999). As there is little empirical research that focuses on the eco- nomic impact of the integration of ICT with micro-entrepreneurial and rev- enue-generating activities, research is required to clarify the role and impact of ICT in rural economic development to steer this vital debate and its con- comitant resource allocation away from speculative arguments. Th is paper contributes to this gap in the literature through a qualitative analysis of the Rural Women’s Association (RWA) in South Africa. Th e research explores the application of a conceptual rural micro-enterprise development framework that integrates marketing and ICT (e-commerce) concepts with the extant development model used by the RWA.

Th e paper is organized as follows. First, the case used for the research—the Rural Women’s Association of Sekhukhuneland—is briefl y described along with the market barriers to economic development in rural areas. Th is discus- sion forms the rationale for developing the conceptual framework for rural micro-enterprise development along with the inclusion of Actor-Network Th e- ory to analyze the sociopolitical context. Following this discussion is a descrip- tion of the research methodology, Participative Action Research, and the data collection and analysis procedure. Th e results of the Participant Action Research project are presented using the three main areas of the conceptual model (devel- opment, marketing and ICT enabled marketing); in addition, the impact of the insertion of ICTs into the organization is analyzed retrospectively, using Actor-Network Th eory. Th e paper concludes with a discussion of the implica- tions of the research results to development organizations attempting to migrate from development self-help projects to micro-enterprise development using ICTs-enabled marketing concepts. Micro-enterprise is defi ned as an organization that is owned by the people and employs 10 or fewer poor people (USAID 1996).

Case Setting: Th e Rural Women’s Association (RWA)

Th e research was conducted with the Rural Women’s Association (RWA) of Sekhukhuneland’s management team. Th e RWA is a successful, legally incor- porated, development organization with a wide portfolio of organizational

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 51

assets (money, people, skills, equipment, infrastructure) operating from the village of Apel, Sekhukhuneland, in the province of Limpopo, a region beset with political complexity, instability and morbid confl ict (Rhodes 2004; Delius 1996). Th is area , previously known as the Northern Province, was an old Apartheid Bantustan controlled by traditional authority structures (Amak- hosi). In 1994, the post-apartheid South African constitution abolished the Bantustans, while simultaneously protecting the existing status of traditional/ tribal authorities, as well as enshrining a democratic bill of rights. Although equal rights for women confl icts with traditional authority, both are expected to function alongside each other. Accordingly, the RWA operates within a space of two confl icting models of government (traditional and democratic), and both are underpinned by diff erent belief systems that co-exist in a state of heightened tension.

ICTs were introduced into the RWA through a government and donor sponsored telecentre to promote economic growth, which sadly did not even- tuate. Rural poverty remains an intractable problem, and access to markets remains static, suggesting that to migrate from development to micro-enter- prise a new model, incorporating additional factors surrounding the use of ICTs, is required to make sense of economic development in a rural develop- mental context.

Barriers to Economic Development in Rural Areas

Previous studies (Molla et al. 2002, 2004; April and Cradock 2000; Mon- tealegre 1998,) conjecture multiple barriers to rural economic development ranging from the macro issues of political, economic, social, and technological to organizational issues of leadership, structure, culture, human capital, fi nance, and knowledge. While acknowledging the existing macro-issue con- straints, this study focuses on the organizational issues that the RWA manage- ment can infl uence and transform.

Marketing and access to markets are a major constraint to expanding rural economic activity (Sotshongaye and Moller 2000; Phoro and Prasad 1996). Th e RWA operates from an isolated, underdeveloped market place with lim- ited infrastructure (roads, transport, communications); most goods are sold locally to consumers relying on small pension payouts and meager repatriated wages, resulting in a buyers’ market of suppressed prices; often goods such as maize, bricks, fencing and furniture are sold for less than their input values (e.g., seeds, fertilizer water, labor).

52 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

Developing the Conceptual Framework

Based on the previous discussion, the conceptual framework in this study encapsulates three major requirements (Figure 1): (1) the integration of mar- keting principles to conceptually refocus RWA income-generation activities on revenue maximization; (2) the use of Kotler’s (1980) marketing model and Hartman et al.’s (2000) e-commerce model (known as the infomediary model) to discuss electronically enabled marketing principles within a specifi c organi- zational structure; and (3) the view of development, marketing, and ICTs (e-commerce) as dimensions perpetually acting on each other.

Th e Integration of Actor-Network Th eory

Actor-Network Th eory (ANT) (Hassard, Law, and Lee 1999; Law and Has- sard 1999;Latour 1991) is an integral part of this framework as—apart from the three requirements suggested above (i.e., marketing, e-commerce and the integration of these factors with development approaches—the participation

Figure 1 Th e Conceptual Framework for Micro-Enterprise Development

The Local Socio Political Context

The RWA Development Model

E-Commerce

Marketing

RWA

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 53

of local actors in a sociopolitical context, their training and skill develop- ment, and commitment to and ownership of the project are vital to a success- ful outcome. Actor-Network Th eory, a broader sociological perspective, is applied to encapsulate and address the issues that deal with how the technol- ogy will be embedded in the evolving social process of modernization in developing countries.

ANT began appearing, with increasing frequency, in the Information Sys- tems literature during the last decade (Macome 2002) to track the formation of facts, also referred to as black boxes, within heterogeneous networks of aligned interests. Th is is an active, critical process through which specifi c can- didates for admission (technical and social) into the network are either accepted or rejected. ANT explains and traces the processes whereby stable networks of aligned interests are created and maintained (or not). An actor- network is a description of the way things are; it is comprised of a series of heterogeneous animate and inanimate elements that have been linked to each other over time (Callon 1991); it is considered scaleable in that one actor of an actor-network may be expanded into a new complete Actor-Network, or a whole Actor-Network may be collapsed into a single actor. As there is no a priori distinction between the micro, meso, and macro level, ANT off ers a uniform framework regardless of the unit of analysis (Monteiro 2000; Markus and Robey 1988; Monteiro 2000; Law 1991).

Actor is “a semiotic term, and as such, an actor is not an entity to which human intentional behaviour can be attributed, but a more abstract term which can refer to either human or non-human entities. It is not a specifi c unitary entity, but rather the product of a more or less stable relationship between various eff ects that together form an actor-network” (Fountain 1999:6). Th e term actor is interchangeable with actant, often the preferred term, as it diminishes the “human only” association. Actants can be endowed with interests, projects, desires, strategies, refl exes, and afterthoughts, and have the ability to enroll other relevant actors. Connected to power, diff erent actants have diff erent levels of agency, and an entity in an actor world only exists in context and in juxtaposition to other actants. When one of these ele- ments is removed, the whole structure shifts and changes because the actant juxtapositions dictate cohesion, consistency, and structure of relations that exist between the components that go into making the whole.

A network is a description of the way things are, a presupposing set of assumptions about how relations are organized and networked. Networks rely on people, machines (things), and codes (narrative, text); they are situated; they inhabit particular sites and nodes; and they are partial in their embrace (Good- man and Watts 1997). Th e number of connections that an actant has with

54 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

diff erent networks determines what the actant is and what he/she/it can do as confi gured by a series of negotiations. Networks are unreliable, as they can become unstable with the entry of new actants and the desertion of existing actants. Successful networks occur where aligned interests are created through the enrollment of a suffi cient body of allies and the network is maintained through the translation of interests that bind all actants. Each modifi cation in the network can be considered a displacement and aff ects not only other actants but also the networks of other actants.

Th e human environment (social context) requires constant cultivation and nurturing by a network of alliances to ensure the stability and irreversibility of the network. Failure results in increased risk of a “leaking” network. Destabi- lized networks occur when they are adapting to a consequent redistribution of power relations. Th is may be precipitated by a change in the beliefs on which they were constructed, perhaps as the result of new information, policy shifts, new technology, change in actors, or certain actors backing out because they were not originally authentically enrolled.

Research Methodology

Participative Action Research (PAR), an applied research method, which actively and authentically involves members of the community, was the major data collection and analysis method used: “Action research simultaneously assists in practical problem solving and expands scientifi c knowledge, as well as enhances the competencies of the respective actions being formed collab- oratively in an immediate situation using data feedback in a cyclical process aiming at an increased understanding of a given social situation” (Hult and Lennung 2001:248). Furthermore, this approach fi ts with the development paradigm of putting research capability in the hands of the deprived and dis- enfranchised to give them the power to transform their lives for themselves. It takes into account people’s history, culture, interactional practices, and emo- tional lives. Additionally, it fi ts with the Actor-Network Th eory methodology, as it is a way of explaining a particular social world by working with the people who live in it in order to construct, explore, and improve possible theories that can become shared local theory through combining the diff erent expertise and frames of reference of all participants.

Th e action research approach adopted for this research is premised on the McKay and Marshall (2001) paradigm, which asserts that, for it to work best, it should be used from within a fi rm conceptual framework. In this way, actions to improve a situation are then part of an integrative strategy from which to test and refi ne theories about aspects of a specifi c problem. Figure 2

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 55

represents the six-step research framework used in this study to operationalize the research study; also it incorporates the conceptual framework as shown in Figure 1.

Data Collection and Analysis

Since e-commerce and ICTs are emergent, highly unstable, immature phe- nomena not yet fully diff used in rural economies, the suggestion is that an interpretivist, exploratory, interventionist research approach to develop a new body of empirical knowledge is needed. Th is research enquiry required the participants to consider, as an integrated model, marketing principles and e-commerce (ICTs) concepts within a particular local context. Th e partici- pants (the RWA management team) were introduced to the conceptual model concepts through a teaching/facilitation approach as part of the numerous action cycles used over a fi ve-week fi eld data collection period.

Figure 2 Th e Six-Step Research Framework

REFLECT

OBSERVE

ACT

It er

at io

ns

PLAN

1. Looking at interests and questions 2. Fact finding - literature research

3. Testing literature assumptions with the research participants

4. Designing a conceptual framework to guide the data collection process

5. Designing preliminary teaching materials 6. Plan project

56 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

A pilot study, using observation, one-on-one interviews, and in-depth group interviews (Rhodes 2002), established the RWA baseline understanding of marketing and ICTs. Th is initial eff ort was followed by another fi ve-week fi eld trip to collect further qualitative data, such as level of marketing knowl- edge, social and political environment constraints, cultural beliefs, competen- cies of operators, and resource constraints. All respondent replies were elicited through a series of group interviews and coded to ensure anonymity and con- fi dentiality in the fi nal analysis. Initial interview questions were based on the three key constructs in this study (marketing ability, e-commerce knowledge, and integrative competencies); further questions evolved through the cycling phases of the action research.

Th e cyclical nature of PAR aids economy of data collection, as data are interpreted as they are collected. Th e combination of an appropriate theoreti- cal framework and cyclical participant feedback model provided rigor. Each new cycle in the research was informed by the previous one. Th e data from the previous cycle was validated by the participants through checking for possible errors and misinterpretations and then were used as the basis of the next cycle of research.

Th e “research cycling” enhanced validity by moving to and fro between refl ection and experience; from experience to ideas and ideas to refl ection to strip the content of vagueness, ambiguity, illusion, and confusion. When agreement was found, every attempt was made to challenge and test the agree- ment by searching for exceptions, as in disconfi rming evidence. Exceptions to responses were continually sought and each apparent disagreement noted. Participant agreements and disagreements were tested by asking for an expla- nation of each, using examples, and checking understanding by asking par- ticipants to feed back the information in their own words.

Results

Th e results section is divided into two parts. Part one relates to the Participatory Action Research, which integrates the three components—development, mar- keting and e-commerce—of the framework used in this study. Th e development subsection was analyzed using Human Scale Development (Max-Neef 1989) and Todaro’s development principles (Todaro 1989). Marketing was examined using Kotler’s marketing principles (Kotler 1980), and e-commerce was exam- ined using the infomediary model (Hartman et al. 2000). Part two of the results takes a broader sociological perspective in examining the RWA telecentre inser- tion, using Actor-Network Th eory (Callon 1991) and the Due Process model (Mcmaster, Vidgen, and Wastell 1998), which is a practical, valuable analytic

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 57

device used to overcome the mammoth complexity involved in investigating both human and non-human network processes, which is grounded in ANT. Th e signifi cant fi ndings from each of these sections are discussed below; and the implications of the research fi ndings are discussed in the conclusion.

Th e Participatory Action Research Results

Development

Th e present system of development within the RWA had limited impact on improving life conditions as noted by respondent B:

We have shown people how to start projects but they still go home with their heads bare. We have not known what to do and where to go from here we do not want to stay poor and fi ghting, we need new ideas.

Respondent A outlines some of the diffi culties the RWA experienced in attempting to integrate horizontally and vertically:

We look at IGP [income-generating projects] as it can give us money to survive, to cover the costs, to buy more material like cement for the bricks, or seeds for the garden, but we cannot make profi ts in these projects, because no one can aff ord to pay very much to buy the vegetable, to buy the bricks and all things. We know the business can charge more because they can sell to people who can pay more and they make profi t.

As the RWA management was forced to accept traditional and customary practices over its constitutional confl ict resolution practices, protecting devel- opment activity from the eff ects of the existing social structure was problem- atic, as noted by respondent A:

I do not have the traditional beliefs why must I have to accept this and other people’s beliefs, but all must believe the same thing . . . . Th e chiefs, they have no information and they try and take over our organisation, they want to make decisions for us, but they have no information . . . .We have this problem of not confronting people, they use the system of gos- siping (witchcraft) and we become targets in the community, you frighten yourself thinking they can come to your house and you have the situation where people are killed. People will not say what they have seen even when they have seen wrongdoing they fear what will hap- pen to them from other powerful people.

Th e RWA management acknowledged the gap between development and business concepts and viewed this, in part, as a lack of marketing know-how, as noted by respondent A:

58 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

No, we don’t fi nd out what people need and what they will pay for, we don’t know how we must do this; we know it is important but how do we do this? We do not have the money to travel around to talk, it is diffi cult to talk to people, we are sometimes too afraid they do not want to talk to us.

While the RWA built and operated a micro-industrial structure for producing goods and products, it found it diffi cult to market its output.

Marketing

Marketing was introduced to the RWA management team as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups get what they need and want by exchanging products and values with others.” However, the respon- dents perceived marketing’s main purpose as coalescing around the concept of integration, which was identifi ed by RWA management as being a central issue, both to organizational performance and marketing implementation; the respondents noted its absence:

I see now where we have not been right, we must be an integrated organization, we must work together, we must collect all our project information. How we work now is each one buys what he needs, and because of this we are paying too high prices and we are paying lots of taxis to go and buy our things. How can we sell here and make a profi t like this

(Respondent A). Th e RWA management recognized the importance of pro- viding leadership, particularly in terms of marketing, to the rest of the organi- zation; they realized their mistake in not sharing the skills they acquired with other members of the organization:

We have attended several courses on marketing but according to my understanding we have learned some things but our problem is that we do not share these skills with other project members and I see now that they must know marketing if we can do it because they are our customers as well, the other project members we have to train them in what we have learned and then maybe we can implement what we have learned (Respondent C).

Both technical factors and lack of confi dence were perceived as barriers pre- venting the RWA from successfully implementing marketing:

It is diffi cult to know how to communicate with people.We don’t know how to communicate with people with money. We don’t believe any one will come here and buy from us. We go to Pietersburg (Polokwane) so often and we do not go and talk to any one and get info because we are scared (Respondent A).

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 59

Th e lack of a customer service culture within the RWA was discussed, particu- larly in the telecentre, where high prices and infl exibility resulted in lost reve- nue and lost customers.

No they (the telecentre) do not give good service, they leave the place early, they close in the evening and weekend when people can come and use it, they close early on Friday they are not running like a business, the women are not business orientated, if he has his own busi- ness he thinks diff erently they say if I don’t own it why should I suff er alone while others are at home? (Respondent A).

Pricing diffi culties encountered by the RWA management highlight some seri- ous marketing misunderstandings. As income generating projects (IGPs) were set up initially along developmental lines, where donors provided seed money to fund the raw materials—albeit with the intention of the sale of the produc- tion output providing fi nancing for the next round of inputs—pricing and costing were not then relevant concepts for the RWA to grapple with. Th e research participants acknowledged that making sense of pricing was a major diffi culty for them in terms of the community they were serving:

On the costing and pricing the management team has not been working I do not know why I call this price is R50, I do not ask myself why I have not done pricing in anything just selling chickens at R20 because I think that is a price. I do not know the income, the bud- get, maybe we have been working for nothing up to now I never know what the profi t is I just know I have good quality chickens (Respondent B).

Th e previous section highlighted that, while at one level the overall philosophy of marketing seemed to be understood by the RWA management, operational- izing these concepts proved to be problematic.

Th e next section discusses participants’ perceptions relating to how and where e-commerce (ICTs) could empower the marketing process through alleviating some of the problems outlined above. Additionally, it discusses how e-com- merce could contribute to the development of appropriate marketing knowl- edge and competencies.

ICT-enabled Marketing

Th e concept of e-commerce was introduced to the research participants as the use of the Internet and e-mail together with computers and software packages (Microsoft Offi ce) to transact with other parties (i.e., the telecentre).

One perceived advantage of e-commerce over other forms of communica- tion for enabling organization integration (an RWA organizational weakness)

60 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

was the storing, aggregation, and retrieval capability of information from dis- parate sources, for example, board reports, donor reports and government department tenders:

Th e email can help us; it can give us a record we can look at a history that we can refer to it can save time by not doing the same thing again because the record will show us what we have done. We can store our information and add it together. Th e fax phone and being in a meeting with a person is too expensive (Respondent A).

Th e integrative and storage capabilities of e-commerce were seen to be an aid to operational effi ciency through the capability of speed and accuracy as well as providing useful documentary evidence not provided as easily using other methods of communication:

Th e email is better than fax as you can combine everything in the computer and then send it out, with the fax it comes in we type it we send it out, it comes in with more things we type it again and print it out, with the email we can do things at the same time, people can reply immediately and here we do not need, ink, paper printers, workers, we cannot have excuses on the phone, ‘I did not understand,’ ‘I did not,’ ‘I cannot.’ With email we all know what we said (Respondent B).

As a result of the low-cost advantage, e-commerce benefi ts can accrue from greater access to new markets and improved customer relationships. Th e fol- lowing are some examples relating to the RWA perceptions of increased reach and richness (Evans and Wuster 2000) at reduced transactional cost through the use of e-commerce:

Internet is making marketing simpler to get information and to communicate with people to get information from. Maybe you want to fi nd out about a product and see what others have done, now when we do market research with the dept of agriculture it takes 30 min- utes on the phone to Schoonert, all our questions he keeps coming back and going because he does not understand or does not know we can spend R200 on the telephone, its too long and too expensive (Respondent C).

Although transactional cost reduction, operational effi ciency and richness, and reach are all marketing-related factors, other more specifi c instances of where e-commerce could improve the marketing function were mentioned by respondents. Specifi cally, it was seen as an aid to marketing, as it simplifi ed events and lowered costs:

It makes the process simpler and cheaper, getting information from people we want involved in the process, getting info we need today and tomorrow, comparing prices before we go and buy so we save money on transport and time in going to the places, it will be the cheapest

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 61

communication, it gives us access for information more than before and we can deal with a certain issue and problem (Respondent C).

Th e participants raised a number of reservations regarding e-commerce use such as, the lack of support, confi dence levels, and problems arising from unrealistic expectations. Lack of support was a common theme relating to ICT implementation in rural areas. Th e problems of distance and limited resources meant that often people were barely introduced to e-commerce con- cepts and then expected to be self-suffi cient.

I remember you telling us about the Internet and computers, it can help people with market research. You can use the Internet to fi nd out information about suppliers and customers. We went back to our place when we left you and we bought the internet, we asked the university of the North to help us, they sent a student to help us for a morning, he showed us how to use email, when he left we could not make it work, we spent many nights working all night to help ourselves know email but we could not, we felt stupid, we stopped (Respondent C).

Additionally, accountability is a barrier to acceptance, as people are scared to be blamed for anything that goes wrong, as noted in this response:

Who’s going to be accountable? ‘I ask myself are we going to look after it who will be accountable if you get the internet who will we be responsible if I know this glass is mine, I will know I must put it away not leave it where it could be broken and stolen, I can blame myself, it must be this way with the Internet. (Respondent B).

Accountability is linked to ownership and often, authentic ownership only shows up in a crisis, which then destabilizes the network.

Insertion of the New Candidate (ICTs) into the RWA Actor-Network and the Due Process Model

Th is section traces some of the pivotal events relating to the insertion of ICTs that both shaped and destabilized the RWA Actor-Network. Th e RWA facilita- tor—the original founder of the RWA—was indispensable to fulfi lling the development needs as she raised fi nances and provided training and equip- ment. Men—the church priests and the Amakhos (the traditional authority)— dominated the previous actor-network, and the RWA facilitator attempted to gender the development process through repositioning the RWA as a regional gender development organization in opposition to the existing tribally demar- cated, religion-specifi c, male-dominated actor-network.

In the course of this translation some of the original actants in the network were displaced, including the then board of directors. Th e RWA facilitator

62 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

persuaded the Amakhosi to detach from the existing network and support the new gender development network. As the RWA facilitator proved adept at maintaining the network nodes to ensure network stability in a region littered with development failures and with a history of over 100 years of morbid confl ict, the network continued to expand and stabilize around the traditional activities of rural development until six years later when the telecentre was inserted into the RWA actor-network.

Th e Due Process model (Figure 3), grounded in ANT, is a practical, valuable analytic device used to overcome the mammoth complexity involved in inves- tigating both human and non-human network processes; it is useful in forcing a rethink (a reconsideration??) of organizational and environmental issues before an ICT implementation takes place. Th e Due Process model applied here follows the Mcmaster, Vidgen, and Wastell’s (1998) approach. Th is approach involves three components: Perplexity, Consultation, and Hierarchy.

Whenever new candidates or actors (which can be facts, claims, technolo- gies, policies, people, etc.) are introduced for admission into a network, they increase the existing levels of uncertainty adding to the perplexity of the net- work. (1) Perplexity revolves around the issues of confusion, grasping meaning and intent and thinking clearly and logically. If perplexity is insuffi ciently addressed, a false sense of understanding predicates the next stage of the

Figure 3 Th e Due Process Model

Candidate for existence

Excluded

How many are we?

Facts

PERPLEXITY

1 2

4 3

INSTITUTION

CONSULTATION

HIERARCHY

Values

Can we live together?

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 63

model, making Perplexity settlement crucial to the usefulness of all three following components of the model. Anecdotal evidence is plentiful in the interchange between rural, illiterate people, and their sometimes “magic bul- let” conception of ICT capability. Because these perplexities are often not logically addressed, unrealistic expectations can later create tensions that con- tribute to confl ict. In some cases, these tensions stem from the self-interest (e.g., the donors’ performance objectives set by government ministries) of the actor supplying the telecentre confl ict with the timelines and debate necessary to achieve suffi cient perplexity settlement within the recipient actor-network. (2) Consultation is a deliberation between parties where advice and opinion are sought and given and is a requirement to confer legitimacy on the new candi- date (actor) for admission. Consultation involves assessing the suitability of the new actor’s entry into the network. Diff erent consulting styles and positions will impact signifi cantly in this phase. Th e power relations between the tele- centre supplier and the community recipient will often be asymmetrical, which biases the consultation, particularly in a remote and impoverished locale where any change is almost universally perceived as an improvement to existing conditions. Questions to be addressed in this phase include these: Who is represented on the negotiation team? Is there suffi cient and authentic negotiation happening? Are the concepts adequately understood by all appro- priate and necessary parties to ensure authentic negotiations? Next, debate is encouraged on the relative importance of the candidate in the hierarchy of the network. (3) Hierarchy involves organizing elements into a ranking, with each rank subordinate to the one above it. Th is is the process of understanding how the new actor will be positioned in the network, rendering it acceptable to the current network confi guration. Examples of debatable issues include responses to such questions as the following: Where will the telecentre be positioned in the organization? What resources will be allocated to it? Will other projects lose resources in the reallocation? Does this require new alliance building? Will the new confi guration be supported across the organization?

Th is process of perplexity, consultation and hierarchy does not happen sequentially and linearly, but all concepts are used in all parts of the model at some stage. For example, new hierarchical decisions will require further per- plexity settlement and negotiation. Th ese three parts of the model translate (or not) to the new candidate for existence into the fact (black-box), and imbue the candidate with the values required for acceptance into the network. Th is increases the likelihood of the fact proceeding into the fourth phase: institu- tionalization, which means the innovation is accepted into the network as an unquestioned and supported fact. If it is not successful, the actor (the telecen- tre) is rejected from the network, but this does not preclude it from returning

64 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

at a later stage to attempt a readmission into the network. Th e Due Process model is applied below to the RWA telecentre, the new candidate for admis- sion into the RWA actor-network.

Th e telecentre, as a candidate for admission into the RWA actor-network, introduced many new perplexities, including but not limited to the following: Is the telecentre a development initiative? How will it enhance development? Is it a business? Is it both? How will we blend business and development into a meaningful hybrid? Where are the limits to blending business and develop- ment? What importance is the telecentre to the RWA? Does it fi t into our strategic vision? Where does it fi t? How does it fi t? How can it improve our work? How can it help us access more profi table markets? Who will show us how to use it? Scant discussion occurred regarding the latter perplexities and limited consultation occurred as to how the telecentre would operate and how it would fi t into the wider community. In eff ect, ignoring the former questions amounted to circumventing the Due Process model and the new actant (the telecentre) was propelled directly from introduction into the institutionaliza- tion stage (Rhodes 2004).

Th e legitimacy of the RWA candidature as the telecentre owner was not examined in relation to other possible contenders, nor were the potential vul- nerabilities relating to gender-owned ICT initiatives in the local traditional authority hierarchy debated. Th is lapse in procedure was particularly remiss in light of the current and new changes to the political landscape (the new South African post-Apartheid constitution) that legislated for gender equality while expediently maintaining gender-opposed traditional authority in the locality. Previous development failures in the area remained unexamined despite the turbulent history of former development initiatives in the area.

Th e tragic murder of the telecentre guard became the fulcrum for witchcraft accusations; disturbances in rural African social life are sometimes interpreted as witchcraft, a theory of evil; accusations are often an inherently political act used to exploit old jealousies, old grudges and grievances. After the telecentre ceased operating, accusations from some of the RWA stakeholders were fol- lowed by a request for help from traditional authority to dissipate the witch- craft. Th is betrayal of the RWA actor-network, by calling on the traditional/tribal authority network to intervene, eff ectively paralyzed the RWA.

Conclusions: Th e Implications of Migrating from Development Self-help Projects to Micro-enterprise Development

Th e RWA, a small pocket of development, isolated from regional and national levels of development. failed to achieve self-reliance. Despite incorporating

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 65

Todaro’s people-centered development concepts of self-sustainability (1989), relative to life sustenance, self-esteem and freedom; expanding on the previous range of choices; and reducing external dependence and internal servitude, the RWA was perpetually constrained by its dependency relations at regional and national levels as a result of attempting to achieve micro-enterprise develop- ment through limited social and economic interaction in a small physical space. Sustainable development is achieved through self-reliant human scale development, which fl ows from the individual level, upward to the regional and national levels (Neef et al. 1989).

Th e migration path from income-generating projects (development) to micro-enterprise (business) resulted in the RWA’s management being uncom- fortably enmeshed between developmental concepts and marketing concepts. While marketing was considered an important factor in the transition, the RWA struggled to align marketing principles with the cultural constraints (resistance to change) of the organization’s stakeholders. Th e RWA was com- prised of a diverse group of interests, cultures and skills, and expertise; and was predominantly schooled in a production supply-led mode—that is, the more we make the more profi t there is, so we will make the customers buy what we produce. Transitioning to a marketing orientation, where the main task is to determine customers’ needs and to adjust the organization accordingly) while operating from a developmental philosophy, required the acceptance and implementation of new areas of knowledge and competencies. Th is then raises questions as to how, if at all, e-commerce and ICTs can empower the market- ing function. Although ICTs can increase market effi ciency through address- ing information gaps and informing and strengthening decision-making, this is only realizable if those participating in the process understand and support the principles of marketing, and if such principles can be applied in a particu- lar context. As the success of external marketing is impacted by wider hori- zontal and vertical relationships, the RWA self-reliance isolationist notions were restrictive to the marketing of the outputs of their supply-production model within their peripheral and marginalized microenvironment.

While marketing was perceived as an organizational integrator, e-commerce was seen as enabling this process through its perceived advantages over exist- ing communication channels such as the telephone, mail, and fax. Th ese advantages included the ability to store, retrieve, manipulate, aggregate, and disseminate data and information in a cost-eff ective and effi cient way.

Applying the marketing model to the trading activities of the RWA within its development context revealed that many issues needed to be addressed before marketing could be applied eff ectively. Culturally there were barriers to accepting and applying the marketing principles, and this resulted in irrational

66 J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69

uncompetitive pricing and product-mix practices. Other factors such as orga- nizational structure, decision-making, and leadership impacted the applica- tion of marketing within the RWA. Th e behaviors inculcated in a development context seemed incompatible with the behaviors required to eff ectively apply marketing principles. It seemed to be a perpetual struggle to rationally map marketing practices onto the extant cultural practices, which suggests the need to incorporate change management practices into the organization.

Th e RWA telecentre implementation exposes the vulnerability of failing to cohesively integrate technology implementation, both with the social context and with the dynamics of the in situ actor-network. McMaster et al. (1998:354) found that “. . . in IS development, the tradition has been to separate social and technical issues and to apply diff erent treatments. Th is means that the due process is not enacted and the likelihood of the network becoming aligned is reduced . . .” (p. 354). Applying the Due Process model retrospectively uncov- ers the fact-making trajectory and shows that eff ectively the RWA telecentre, as a candidate for admission into the RWA actor-network, was hurled from the moment of entrance practically into the fourth moment, institutionalization, leaping across the processes of perplexity, consultation and hierarchy. Where an ICT implementation fails to authentically assess and articulate deprivations and potentialities within a community it is unlikely to act as an economic satisfi er of an articulated need and stall the development process (Neef et al. 1989).

A successful outcome for an ICT implementation, and hence the potential enablement of profi table trading activities (micro-enterprise), is the irrevers- ible black-boxing of the phenomenon; in other words, its adoption and diff u- sion. Th is requires that new candidates for inclusion into a network, such as the telecentre, are considered as part of a process. For ICTs to be successfully integrated into an extant rural development organization a sociotechnical approach contextually situated within a framework, including appropriate organizational processes such as marketing, must be adopted.

Th e RWA telecentre was inserted into a complex sociopolitical context among a myriad of actors and actor-networks. When these actors clashed, the telecentre was an unwitting victim of the resulting confl ict. In this way, ICT implementation contributed to transforming a successful actor-network into a turbulent destabilized network, reeling from the aftershocks of controversies and betrayal, and the subsequent unravelling of the RWA black-box status (Rhodes 2004). Each modifi cation to the network aff ected the actants in the network, as well as the actants in the actant’s other networks. Initially the RWA formation and the introduction of the telecentre appeared to increase network convergence and network irreversibility. However, subsequent events, particularly the desertion of the major actant a few weeks before the telecentre

J. Rhodes / PGDT 8 (2009) 48-69 67

guard-murder, amplifi ed network weaknesses. Th e Amakhosi and church offi - cial actants deserted the RWA actor-network, perhaps because they were not originally authentically enrolled and had falsely agreed to enrollment, know- ing that at a later stage (when huge resources had been secured) they could, in true Machiavellian style, destabilize the network for their own benefi t (inherit- ing resources). Th is situation suggests that the introduction of ICTs was an additional layer of complexity imposed on an already complex and fragile situ- ation and seemed to be a “tipping point” that exacerbated the weak durability of the RWA actor-network.

Successful ICT introduction is multidimensional. Th e sociopolitical con- text, changes in organizational structures, in work processes, and in prod- ucts; services and markets can all be determinants of ICT acceptance. Th e implementation of the telecentre barely paid lip service to the social compo- nents of the development process, such as gender, traditional authority, and the implications of witchcraft accusations within a community that histori- cally has been traumatized and destabilized by this phenomenon. Th e RWA telecentre analysis exposes the vulnerability of failing to cohesively integrate technology implementation both with the social context and with the dynam- ics of the in situ actor-network.

Although it was intended in this research to view e-commerce as a marketing process enabler, the research participants perceived the use of ICTs (e-com- merce) in a wider context. Th ey viewed the combination of ICTs and market- ing as a way to support organizational change. Th is fi nding supports research, which found that IT systems deliver sizeable benefi ts when they are part of an eff ort to introduce wider changes in the organization (Avgerou 1998).

Th is research supports the notion that successful ICT adoption must be in conjunction with changes in organizational structure, culture, and work pro- cesses in a contextually appropriate way, including a suffi cient assessment of the local sociopolitical risks. Initiatives should be driven by user demands, and identifi ed and realized through direct participation and ownership. Finally the results from this study identify initial elements and processes for an integrated framework. Future studies can adopt and expand on this framework to vali- date its applicability and usefulness for rural economic development.

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