Poster #99 - Connecting the Natural State: Examining State Broadband Policy Impacts on Rural Small Businesses in Arkansas

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Access to high-speed broadband is a critical determinant of economic productivity and resilience, yet a persistent digital divide continues to limit rural populations from fully harnessing digital opportunity for economic gains. In Arkansas, a predominantly rural southern state, approximately 190,000 homes and businesses remain unserved or underserved, according to the Arkansas State Broadband Office (ARConnect) 2024 data. While broadband is linked to increased entrepreneurial activity and innovation, rural entrepreneurs and small business owners (SBOs), especially women and minorities, face compounded barriers, including high service costs, limited digital literacy, and systemic geographic isolation.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates how socio-demographic factors and geographic location influence ICT access and adoption among Arkansas SBOs. The research also evaluates stakeholder perceptions regarding the effectiveness of Arkansas’s broadband equity initiatives, including the recent federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program currently being rolled out in the state.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: The research integrates resources and appropriation (RA) theory with an intersectionality lens to explore how overlapping identities, such as race, gender, and rurality, may create unique intersectional barriers to digital participation. This framework moves beyond binary rural-urban comparisons to provide a more granular assessment of digital inequality.

METHODS: Adopting a pragmatic, mixed-methods approach, the study utilizes a cross-sectional quantitative survey of SBOs across rural and urban Arkansas alongside semi-structured interviews with SBOs and state small business administrators. The analysis employs regression models with interaction terms to test hypotheses regarding intersectional disparities in ICT adoption, complemented by inductive coding of qualitative data to capture lived experiences of digital inequality.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS: Findings will generate actionable insights for state policymakers to refine digital equity initiatives. By identifying overlooked barriers faced by minoritized populations, the study informs the design of geographically sensitive and socially inclusive interventions, ensuring that state-level broadband deployment strategies actively mitigate rather than reinforce existing disparities.

Author

• Izehi Oriaghan, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
  Presenting Author