Exploring Broadband Adoption amongst Rural Businesses: A Review of the Literature

Broadband has revolutionized how businesses operate. Research has demonstrated the importance of broadband adoption by smaller businesses to ensure growth as they make up over 90% of all businesses worldwide. This is especially for rural-based smaller businesses as limited innovation for them may lead to social exclusion between rural and urban areas. Research has identified a lag in the take-up of broadband by rural businesses in comparison to other businesses. Investigating broadband adoption by rural businesses may inform solutions to improving the rural economy. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review literature related to investigating drivers and barriers to broadband adoption by rural businesses to identify solutions for improving broadband take-up amongst rural businesses. Through a systematic literature review (SLR), this paper reviews studies from 2000 to 2023. A thematic analysis identifies drivers and barriers to broadband adoption, however, size, sector, frequency of broadband adoption and level of rurality for the businesses are not clarified. The review identified limited primary research in regions like South America, the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia. Findings inform the development of a conceptual framework. Infrastructure highlighted as a barrier may inform policymakers. Findings may also inform the take-up of broadband by other businesses.