Unveiling the Smart Vision Emerging in ICT-Enabled Rural Development

ICT4D scholars note that broader visions of development generate serious consequences on IT-enabled development initiatives. However, much remains to deepen our current understanding about the interplay of emergent development visions and ICT4D initiatives in specific development sectors. This paper explores the vision of ‘smart rural development’ that is increasingly framing rural development goals and policies. Conceptual and empirical papers focusing on this issue, within the field of ICT4D, information systems, rural development studies and development studies, are reviewed. Findings from the review are interpreted with the lens of institutional logics perspective to develop a typology of three smart rural development visions. The typology offers alternative assumptions about rural transformation and ICT4D practices, thus opening new avenues for research and practice of ICT-enabled rural development.