Mobile Technologies and the Extended Self in Developing Countries

The Mobile Revolution that has taken place in several developing countries has made mobile phones and smartphones central technologies all around the world. Nonetheless, how these technologies are disrupting inhabitants’ communications, their social ties, work practices, or even their own identity is still not yet fully understood. Very few studies have tried to understand the values given to mobile technologies and the roles of these digital possessions in people’s lives. Relying on the theory of the Extended Self (Belk 1988) and the Extended Self in the digital world (Belk, 2013), we develop a research model with nine hypotheses that will be tested in two developing countries, namely Cuba and Ghana.