Investigating the relevance of mobile technology adoption on inclusive growth in West Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically investigates the role of mobile technology adoption on inclusive growth in 15 West African countries with a view to ascertaining if the positive role of mobile technology adoption on human development as established in other regions holds in West Africa. It used data from World Development Indicators for the period 2004–2014, which was estimated with System Generalised Method of Moments (SGMM). The SGMM results show that mobile cell subscription has a statistically insignificant effect on inclusive growth in West Africa which refutes the positive and significant role of mobile technology adoption on inclusive growth. The possible reasons for the results and recommendations are documented in the study.

KEYWORDS:

• ICT
• inclusive growth
• mobile technology
• SGMM
• trade

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• O3
• O15

Acknowledgements

This paper draws from the first author’s postgraduate research project. Thus, suggestions and comments from research committee and faculty in the Department are acknowledged. In addition, the authors appreciate the support from Covenant University Centre for Research, Innovation and Development (CUCRID) during the preparation of this manuscript. The helpful comments from the three anonymous reviewers are appreciated. The authors thank Ms Isioma Maureen Chiluwa of English Programme, Department of Languages and General Studies, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria for proofreading the manuscript. The views expressed are the authors’.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jeremiah Ejemeyovwi is a Postgraduate student of the Department of Economics and Development Studies, College of Business and Social Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria.

Evans S. Osabuohien is Professor at the Department of Economics and Development Studies, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. He has over 13 years teaching and research experience in international and institutional economics. He has successfully executed many research projects and won numerous awards, including: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Fellowship (Germany, 2013–2014) and Swedish Institute’s Doctoral Fellowship (Sweden, 2009/2010), among others. He has over 70 scholarly publications and has attended conferences/workshops across the world. He is a member of numerous learned societies.

Notes

1 We carried out a number of robustness checks notably: the Tobit regressions (to control for the limited range in the dependent variable) and the Roodman GMM extension (to control for persistence in the dependent variable).The results (not included but available upon request) exhibited the same pattern. Thus, connoting that within the context of selected West African countries and for the period of the study, mobile phone technology has not significantly promoted inclusive growth. The authors appreciate Dr. Simplice Asongu for assistance in the robustness check.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Covenant University Centre for Research and Discovery (CUCRID), Covenant University.