"Certain researchers call to reconsider Communication for development and social change as a problem of “Techniques and Society” (McArthur, Jouët, Bardini, Lohento, Kiyindou, Missé). Thus, the models of social integration of innovations are used here to study how the new development assistance ... modules are accepted and appropriated by their final users in developing countries. There is no need to prove anymore that users’ reception and appropriation of the proposed service is critical to the development programs’ effectiveness, be it in public health, environmental issues, small and medium enterprise (SME) development, or other. We synthesize the Anglo-Saxon and French models and distinguish the common determinant axes for the innovations or novelties reception: before their actual use (acceptance models) and after it (appropriation models). The common base appears to be the mental construction of the sense of use: the user mobilizes his representations “already there” (anchoring in existing representations, Moscovici, Jodelet, LeBlanc) and his imaginary (Flichy, Musso) to assess the associated use benefits–costs, the anticipated-perceived use experience. In the literature, this mental construction process is theorized as the formation of the Perceived Value of Use (PVU) (Jouet, Mallein and Toussaint, Mallein et coll., Toussaint, Boenisch, Assude et al, Nelson, Kim et al.). However, it is necessary to further explore this process. Eager to explore the PVU concept in detail, we conducted a two-phase field qualitative study within the SME support sector (UN Sustainable Development Goals 8.3 and 9.3), in Turkmenistan, Central Asia. Our results suggest that we can model the PVU formation mechanism, and its role in the cognitive appropriation and acceptance of the new support services by the final users. We propose to test the results of our research, within the context of other developing countries and of other sectors." (Abstract) more

"Chapters are extended works of papers presented at Communication/Culture and The Sustainable Development Goals (CCSDG): Challenges for a New Generation, an international conference held in Chiang Mai University in December 2015. The chapters address assessments of Millennium Development Goals in se ... veral Asian countries and the region as a whole. The book also identifies and discusses the changes and potential improvements in the transition from Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) to Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030). Areas that are covered in the book, which are illustrated with case studies, include Corporate Social Accountability, Information and Communications Technologies, and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)." (Publisher description) more