Digital Empowerment Framework: Rebuilding the Link Between Technology and Empowerment

The concept of empowerment is multifaceted and complex in nature. Yet the IS and ICTD literature rarely conceptualise its theoretical complexity. Empowerment is often used as a buzzword to airbrush some homogenous positive effects of technology within the global south context without accounting for the disempowering effects created by the very same technologies for its users. This paper aims to refine our understanding of the empowerment concept and its relationship with technology. We introduce the digital empowerment framework, informed by the problematisation of the existing empowerment and technology literature, and from the theoretical understanding of empowerment as matured in the development literature. Further, we propose a digital empowerment framework that can enable technology researchers to create more rigorous claims of technology-enabled empowerment.