Cultural factors influencing ICT adoption and the internet: A review of the literature

This study aims to identify the cultural factors that influence the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet, according to the academic literature, in order to generate a framework for future lines of research that will contribute to the reduction of the digital divide. For this research, a systematized review of research published in Spanish and English in the Scopus database and in the Google Scholar search engine, between 1970 and 2020 in all types of geographic regions, was carried out. As a result of the search, 138 publications were identified, of which 21 were selected and evaluated. The analysis of the information was organized in two stages: in the first, bibliometric data were reviewed and in the second, cultural factors influencing the adoption of ICTs and the Internet. Among the findings was that 81% of the publications were made in urban areas, while South Africa was the country with the highest number of publications. The cultural factors that influence the adoption of ICTs and the Internet are: avoidance of uncertainty, power distance, individualism and masculinity. It should be noted that 43% of the documents found were published more than ten years ago and, due to technological evolution and cultural change in the regions of study: Australia, Fiji, Greece, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, México, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Pacific, United States, countries of the American, Asian, African and European continents, European countries, Pakistan, Canada, South Africa and Taiwan, there is an opportunity to generate new research to explore the current cultural dimensions.