ABSTRACT: This exploratory paper presents a conceptual model of the factors of governmental support and openness, business and technology investment, and socioeconomic level that are posited to influence technological utilization. The conceptual model and conjectures are developed inductively based on logic and prior research about the relationship among variables related to the factors. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to operationalize and test the model. The SEM analysis tests five points of investigation on a large sample of country data from the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. Findings indicate a critical pathway of associations between the factors of government support and openness, investment in business and technology, socioeconomic level, and technology utilization. The paper presents two country case examples of the model and suggests policy steps for national governments of developed and developing countries to prioritize information and communications technology, create openness, strengthen research and development and technology investment, and enhance education and information technology training.
Key words and phrases: global digital divide, government investment, societal openness, socioeconomic factors, structural equation modeling, technological utilization