Understanding User Engagement in Information and Communications Technology for Development: An Exploratory Study

User engagement is often associated with successful information systems implementation, with this being particularly true in developing countries in the Global South. However, the term remains poorly understood with many seemingly conflicting definitions and the term “user engagement” has come to mean a variety of things in the literature. Also, it is unclear at what stage(s) of the design, development, implementation and use phase(s) that user engagement should apply to. This research examines the meaning of user engagement with the objective of bringing some level of clarity to suit the information communication technology for development (ICT4D) context. To this end, we propose an expanded definition of the term user engagement. The research also suggests what stages of the design, development, implementation and use phase of the technology this expanded definition of user engagement most usefully applies to by drawing lessons on user engagement in a variety of mobile health projects from the Global South. Qualitative methods of data analysis were used in collecting data which show that user engagement as applied to a specific phase of each of the projects was essential for the ongoing success of each project.