Information and communications technology development, interorganizational networks, and public sector corruption in Africa

Studying Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development is increasingly difficult because most advanced countries converge to similar network structures. However, developing countries still manifest meaningful variance in ICT development, affording theoretical elaboration on the nature of societal ICT processes. We examine the relationships between corruption, anti-corruption, interorganizational networks, and ICT development for 48 African countries. Previous studies observed that increased ICT development is associated with lower levels of corruption, although theory to explain this has yet to develop. In the context of interorganizational networks, we theorized that the degree of centralization-decentralization is a key variable in explaining ICT development. We found support for the proposition that there is less ICT development when corruption is high and interorganizational networks are more centralized. In contrast, there is greater ICT development as decentralization increases, coupled with more anti-corruption news. Nevertheless, media freedom was inconsequential regardless of the interorganizational network structure. Lastly, corruption was negatively related to economic growth.