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Abstract

Based on a survey of urban female-owned microentrepreneurs in Chennai, India, we contend that access to mobile phones is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving certain development goals. Through the analysis of a survey completed by 335 female microentrepreneurs who owned mobile phones, we explicate an innovative concept, entrepreneurial expectations, and explore its linkage with mobile phones and microenterprise growth. We found that among microentrepreneurs with high entrepreneurial expectations (14% of the sample), business use of mobile phones amplified the impact of entrepreneurial expectations and was associated with greater microenterprise growth.

Keywords

Amplification ICT4D livelihoods microenterprise mobile phones

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