Broadband and civic engagement in rural areas: What matters?

Brian E. Whitacre, Jacob Manlove · 2016 · Community Development

Summary. Broadband adoption, rather than mere access or infrastructure, most strongly correlates with civic engagement in rural US communities. Community anchor institutions matter specifically for neighbor interactions and school confidence. The study analyzed 19 civic engagement metrics from national surveys using state and household-level data, finding adoption consistently outperforms access and infrastructure measures in predicting community involvement.

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Whitacre, B. E., & Manlove, J.. (2016). Broadband and civic engagement in rural areas: What matters?. Community Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2016.1212910

@article{whitacre-2016-broadband-civic-engagement-rural-areas,
  title   = {Broadband and civic engagement in rural areas: What matters?},
  author  = {Brian E. Whitacre and Jacob Manlove},
  journal = {Community Development},
  year    = {2016},
  doi     = {10.1080/15575330.2016.1212910},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2016.1212910}
}

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TI  - Broadband and civic engagement in rural areas: What matters?
AU  - Brian E. Whitacre
AU  - Jacob Manlove
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Details

DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2016.1212910
Countries: United States
Regions: North America
Categories: broadband-and-digital, regional-innovation-systems
Added: 2026-04-28