INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT

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comparatively; section 6 has the theoretical discussion on ICT-based empowerment covered in the
selected literature. Sections 7 and 8 cover contributions to theory and practical implications. Section
9 concludes the study by summarizing the main insights, and section 10 presents the limitations in
our research and the problems we could identify for future explorations.

2. Background
2.1 Empowerment Theory
Empowerment has been a recurring theme among researchers of social and political sciences for five
decades. It has been discussed in different contexts and related to various subjects or levels of
enquiry chosen by them. Empowerment has been defined and studied as ethnocentric initiatives
of social work for working with minority groups and the marginalized (Guitierrez & Ortega, 1991;
Solomon, 1987); as a conservative-liberal approach to improve welfare services by mediating
social institutions for improving the lives of weaker citizens in a community as a social unit
(Berger & Neuhaus, 1996); and as a socialist approach for dealing with demands of equality and
social responsibility in the context of social problems (Boyte & Evans, 1984). Empowerment can
shape a person’s character and the level of influence or degree of control they can assert over
their life and their socio-political context as an actor (Gruber & Trickett, 1987; Pinderhughes,
1983). It is an interactive process between a person and the socio-political environment leading
to external and internal change, where citizens develop their skills, abilities, and experience to
drive societal change (Kieffer, 1984; Parsons, 1991).
Zimmerman defined an individual’s empowerment as an active psychological process in the
environment of a democratic setup (Zimmerman & Rappaport, 1988; Zimmerman, 1995, 2000).
This process helps integrate self-acceptance and confidence, socio-political understanding, and an
ability to play a significant part in decision-making and controlling resources. Zimmerman’s framework is used extensively in the literature to understand and improve healthcare goals (Chandola
et al., 2004; Goodman et al., 2004), to understand youth participation (Rodrigues et al., 2018), or
other socio-political issues dealing with power imbalance among the players in any context. The
process of empowerment is also defined as an active and iterative one, formed by the circumstances
and the events (Cattaneo & Chapman, 2010). At its core is human endeavor attempting to shift from
a passive state to an active one based on the ideas of participation and engagement (Altermark &
Nilsson, 2018). This becomes even more critical as empowered citizens can contribute back to
their communities and nations using their digital participation skills (Kar et al., 2019).

2.2 Ict and citizen empowerment
ICT4D literature has a clear divide based on two streams of thought and theory (Sein et al., 2019)
regarding the relationship between ICT use and citizen empowerment. Some scholars doubt the
potential of ICT in citizen engagement, stating that digital initiatives can potentially lead to exclusion
and the reinforcement of social barriers (Fraunholz & Unnithan, 2009; Mariën & Prodnik, 2014). Scholars also warn that the data revolution in governance might further widen the digital divide as it
builds upon pre-existing social differences (Cinnamon, 2020) and strengthens participation barriers
(Krishna, 2021). In contrast, the other group believes in the potential of ICT to develop better knowledge networks in societies that can help the marginalized voice their opinions and have better
control over their fate in a digital social setup (Brinkerhoff & Wetterberg, 2016; Treré, 2016). Blakeley
(2010) presents this divide through the perspective of governmentality and defines two paradoxes:
first, the presence of multiple stakeholders doesn’t necessarily dilute the State’s power, and; second,
the breadth of available participatory practices doesn’t ensure citizen participation. Other scholars,
like Boulding and Wampler (2010), employed the perspective of Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach
(Sen, 1999) and suggested that citizen empowerment positively facilitates the expansion of the