The Role of Social Culture in Internet Adoption in Greece: Unpacking "I Don't Want to Use the Internet" and Frequency of Use

This article examines the role of social culture in Internet adoption in Greece. It employs Hofstede’s five-dimensional framework of national culture and analyses the European Social Survey 2008. It finds that social culture in general and particularly people’s past or future orientation in life, and to a lesser extent their degree of openness to difference and novelty in life, are significant drivers of Internet adoption in Greece. It argues that the persistently low level of Internet adoption seen in Greece can be explained by pointing to a traditional, uncertainty-avoidant and novelty-resistant culture that discourages technological development and innovation. Hence it concludes that, behind the statement: ‘I don’t want to use the Internet’ and aspects of Internet use such as frequency of use, one should look beyond demographics, practical or real-life factors and examine, probably in parallel to those factors, broader and socio-culturally embedded drivers of Internet adoption.