Research
When does internet access expand capability?
Connectivity creates possibilities, but it does not determine who can use them or what follows. I study the educational, institutional, and social conditions that shape whether digital access becomes meaningful participation.
Research program
My dissertation develops this argument through three connected papers that move from framework, to use, to enriched use. The first defines what lies between connection and capability. The second tests structural explanations for internet use across countries. The third asks why digital readiness still varies where connectivity is already widespread.
Dissertation
Innovation as Freedom: Digital Inclusion, Technology, and Development
The dissertation asks a single question: under what conditions does internet access expand capability? Its answer is that access becomes capability-expanding when people are supported by digital literacy, conducive policy, and enabling institutions.
This does not make infrastructure or affordability unimportant. It changes the standard of success. Connection is a starting point; the relevant developmental question is whether people can convert it into opportunities and outcomes they have reason to value.
Paper 01 · Framework
Operationalizing the Capability Approach for Digital Development: Mapping the Literature and Advancing a Conceptual Framework
How has the Capability Approach been used in digital-development research, and what remains unclear about the path from access to meaningful outcomes? I screened 186 records, mapped a final corpus of 116 studies, and used qualitative synthesis to construct a framework for capability-expanding internet access.
The framework distinguishes internet access, digital possibilities, transformative process, digital literacy, digital capabilities, and achieved functionings. Its purpose is to make the missing middle between digital provision and human outcomes available for analysis.
Output Completed standalone manuscript · Unpublished
Paper 02 · Use
Modeling Internet Use in the Global Development Context: Preliminary Findings and Future Directions
Which national conditions best explain differences in internet use? I compared ten indicators across 104 countries using simple and multiple regression, model selection, diagnostics, and visualization in R.
Education-related conditions explained substantially more variation than economic conditions alone. The optimized model combined urban population, secondary education, mean years of schooling, ICT affordability, and political stability, with an adjusted R² of .8222.
View project →Publication relationship Dissertation revision of the paper published through ITU Kaleidoscope 2024 / IEEE · Publication
Paper 03 · Enriched use
Building Metaverse-Ready Businesses: Insights from Global Literacy Trends
Why does digital readiness vary among countries where connectivity is already widespread? This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study combines regression, interaction analysis, k-means clustering, and comparative policy analysis across 30 OECD countries.
Education was the strongest and most consistent structural predictor of digital readiness. Its relationship with readiness was stronger in the targeted model for countries with centralized educational governance, showing how educational capacity and institutional structure can reinforce one another.
Publication relationship Dissertation adaptation of a co-authored article published in Thunderbird International Business Review · Publication
Beyond the dissertation
Other selected scholarly work
Presentations
Selected talks and presentations
ITU Kaleidoscope 2024 · International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ·
United Nations specialized agency · New Delhi, India
Session 9: Social, Economic, Environmental and Policy Aspects for Sustainable Development
ASU SFIS Student Showcase & Poster Session
HRday 2025 · Chile · Virtual