E-Government

Implementation, Adoption and Synthesis in Developing Countries

Kelvin J. Bwalya, Stephen M. Mutula

• Publisher: De Gruyter Saur
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9783110396058
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

E-Government is a hot topic. The integration of Information and Communication Technologies into public service delivery worldwide offers a number of promising opportunities. This text refers in particular to the benefits derived from ubiquitous access to and delivery of government services to citizens, business partners and employees. This book analyses the fundamental technical and non-technical concepts that are essential for successful implementation of e-Government in diverse environments, especially in developing countries.

This book is an indispensable resource for both e-Government practitioners and researchers in that it brings to the fore scholarly scrutiny, scientific debate, and best practice in e-Government. The author has a background in computer and information science and accentuates the multi-disciplinary nature of the issues surrounding e-Government.

Chapter 1

Prologue

1.1 Introduction

The use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in public delivery frameworks (e-Government) is gaining ground both in the developed and developing world countries. E-Government implementation may entail that other socio-economic developmental programmes are not given priority so that financial resources are devoted to putting in place requisite e-Government infrastructure and systems. Therefore, many countries and e-Government stakeholders now emphasize the need to ensure that carefully thought e-Government interventions, programmes and designs are pursued to avoid paying the huge opportunity costs in case of failure. Because e-Government is still in its nascent stage, there are many issues that centre on conceptual frameworks/models that in turn inform practice. Given this understanding, there is need to ensure that the general and context-specific principles that inform e-Government designs are referenced when designing e-Government applications or programmes.

The main objective of this chapter is to outline the major focus of this book, outline the topics discussed, articulate the intended audience and anticipated impact on e-Government research, practice and development. This chapter provides an overview of this book and accentuates its contribution to the e-Government body of knowledge. It is understood that the use of ICTs is slowly getting centre-stage based on the drive by governments around the world to provide efficient, effective, and responsive public service delivery.

1.2 Focus and Locale

This book intends to delve deeper into the understanding of e-Government given different contextual settings. It is not a secret that many e-Government interventions and/or programmes in the world fail completely and partially or do not completely meet their intended targets (Heeks, 2004). Huge opportunity costs paid as a result of failure of these e-Government programmes are unbearable in both developing and developed world contexts. With this in mind, many research endeavours have been devoted to understanding the inherent characteristics of e-Government as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, how its implementation strategies can be optimized in heterogeneous environments, and how to best draw e-Government implementation strategies given a context. This book, therefore, intends to highlight the multi-dimensionality of e-Government, highlight emerging trends in e-Government conceptualisation, and discuss requisite conceptual frameworks and e-Government Interoperability frameworks (e-GIFs) commensurate for the developing world contexts. The book further brings out the core attributes of e-Government given the revolving technology circles, and discusses both the supply (available e-Government applications, interventions, etc. ) and the demand (citizens’ and businesses’ willingness to engage in e-Government) aspects of e-Government. The discussion of the aforementioned aspects of e-Government is important as the ultimate stumbling block of any effervescent and successful e-Government implementation is how to achieve equilibrium between the demand and supply sides.

To achieve the aforementioned, this book intends to discuss the following themes and/or topics:

1. Evolution of e-Government (accentuating on its multi-dimensionality and outlining the emerging trends of e-Government in the changing technology platforms);
2. E-Government readiness, the digital divide and the different e-Government readiness measurement frameworks;
3. E-Government assessment models and frameworks;
4. The attainment of equilibrium between supply and demand sides of e-Government outlining desirable e-Government interventions and adoption at both individual and organisational levels;
5. E-Government technology design frameworks highlighting technology principles that should guide e-Government development in any environment given emerging technology convergence;
6. E-Government development paradigms and frameworks; and
7. Discussion of the contemporary and future best-practice and research opportunities.

The book can be used by both e-Government researchers and practitioners, including policy makers, and students interested in e-Government. It is anticipated that this book will be used as a cardinal reference resource on issues concerning e-Government especially for the developing world context.

This study posited that e-Government is a multi-dimensional phenomenon which calls for a multi-dimensional approach. The book focuses on discussing both the technical and managerial issues around e-Government. The main case study presented in this book is drawn from empirical research that was done in 2011 as part of a doctoral study by the author. This study aimed at understanding the inherent factors that impact on e-Government adoption in Zambia at various levels of the socio-economic hierarchy. Three towns in Zambia, Livingstone, Kitwe and Lusaka were included as study sites. The discussions utilise the case study of Zambia as a focal point in order to understand the ramifications involved in e-Government development in a diverse, multi-cultural context. The conceptual framework discussed in the book and the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) proposed may be adapted to suit a given contextual environment and therefore be utilised as a mirror for prioritization of interventions or inform policy frameworks and/or direction.

1.3 Background: E-Government and Society

The emergence of knowledge economies and extensive use and adoption of ICTs in business entities have placed more pressure on governments to implement e-Government in their public service delivery platforms. Because of efficiencies brought about by the adoption and appropriate use of ICTs in businesses and other private sector entities, e-Government is slowly becoming a sine qua non for responsive and transparent governance and is seen as one of the most important ingredients to national competitiveness (Klievink & Janssen, 2009:276). This has culminated into a greater call for governments both in the developed and developing world to promote the utilisation of ICTs in their public service delivery frameworks.

1.4 Semantic Understanding of e-Government

E-Government has been defined differently by many scholars as listed below (cf: Appendix). The simplest definition is that e-Government refers to the use of ICTs in the governing process of a country. Thus, it facilitates the utilisation of ICTs in the interaction amongst the government, citizens and businesses. Some common definitions of e-Government are given below:

• – E-Government is an enabler for public service innovation and productive health (UN e-Government Report, 2008:69).
• – E-Government refers to the use of ICTs by public administration to create a networked structure for; interconnectivity, service delivery, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability (Yildiz, 2007:649–650).
• – E-Government runs wide across all aspects of government, deep within the core of every governmental entity, and will inevitably be a transforming agent for government and governance (Boyle & Nicholson, 2003:92).
• – E-Government is a strong tool for responsive and transparent governance and facilitates access to information, freedom of expression, greater equity, efficiency, productivity and social inclusion (ADF IV, 2004:64).

It is worth noting that the use of ICTs in public service delivery platforms (e-Government) is relatively a new wave that is sweeping through countries all over the world (Mutula, 2010). Global usage of ICTs in the public service delivery value chains not only brings about many tangible benefits but also helps a country participate in the contemporary knowledge value chains (Ndou, 2004:2; Misra, 2007:2). As mentioned above, ICT facilities mainstreaming of e-Government into the service delivery platforms of different government agencies and organs thereby culminating into efficient and quality service delivery (Lenk & Traunmüller, 2001:69; Pascual, 2003:6; Bwalya & Healy, 2010:23).

1.5 Practical Uses of e-Government

With many studies evaluating the positive returns on e-Government implementation, pronouncements of positive impacts of e-Government on public service delivery and its ability, the political and socio-economic landscape, have been grandiose (Wong & Welch, 2004:275,289; Kumar & Best, 2006:6,9). Many studies have documented the benefits associated with successful implementation of e-Government initiatives as follows: it facilitates interactive, vertical, collaborative and participatory engagement of citizens, businesses and other governments, reducing the cost of service delivery; encourages global participation of citizens in the decision-making processes; provides an opportunity for governments to rethink and reformulate their administrative praxis and provides a framework where governments continuously re-engineer their business processes to retain currency and relevance to best practice (Wu, 2007:89–90; Sarantis, Charalabidis & Askounis, 2011:117). E-Government may further be utilised to mitigate corruption levels in the public sector. For example, the introduction of e-Procurement and e-Tendering can greatly reduce corruption in tendering processes. E-Government has direct positive impacts on the individuals, businesses and the government itself. For example, it is thought that huge chunks of information generated on a day-to-day basis from government business processes can now be appropriately archived for future references. E-Government further facilitates affective information management practices within public service delivery platforms (Navarra & Cornford, 2007:2). E-Government also provides an appropriate platform for governments to engage the private institutions through the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) arrangements in development programmes.

In its entirety, e-Government aims to benefit the community by drawing together the civil society, public sector, international partners, and other stakeholders with a view of encouraging a participatory and inclusive process of governance and decision-making (Navarra & Cornford, 2007:3). Further, e-Government reduces or eliminates institutional fragmentation of public administration because the citizens and/or businesses are given a chance to access public services from a single point source (Shareef, Kumar, Kumar & Dwivedi, 2011:18). In so doing, e-Government presents itself as an intuitive decision support tool for informed public service decision-making (Fang, 2002:9).

Accruable benefits of successful e-Government implementation culminate in enabling citizens to participate in decision-making processes regarding issues of national importance regardless of their socio-economic status, promoting participatory democracy and social inclusion, reducing the cost of public service delivery, reducing corruption, and encouraging an efficient public service delivery system (Cho & Choi, 2004:721; Wong & Welch, 2004:275; Kumar & Best, 2006:4; Navarra & Cornford, 2007:3; Iqbal & Seo, 2008:68; Bwalya & Healy, 2010:23; Papadopoulou, Nikolaidou & Martakos, 2010:5; Syamsuddin & Hwang, 2010:1). E-Government benefits business entities in that it creates business sense and value so that good relationships between the government and the different businesses are maintained.

1.6 E-Government Impact

Although the utilisation of ICTs in public service delivery frameworks comes with many positives; at no time should it be seen as a universal remedy for the challenges faced by public administration especially in the developing world. Although e-Government has shown a lot of promise for positive impact on the overall public service delivery frameworks, revitalising the way government, citizens and businesses interact, it is not a panacea to problems associated with public service delivery. To successfully implement e-Government, there are certain prerequisites that need to be in place.

Another obvious impact of e-Government implementation is that other socio-economic programmes are neglected as huge financial resources are devoted towards putting in place requisite infrastructure for e-Government. For example, requisite e-Government implementation requires the putting in place of appropriate information architecture which is responsible for integrating all the other business processes in the e-Government domain (Navarra & Cornford, 2007:4). The putting in place of a requisite and re...

Table of contents

• Kelvin Joseph Bwalya, Stephen MutulaE-Government
• Global Studies in Libraries and Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Table of Figures
• List of Tables
• Chapter 1 - Prologue
• Chapter 2 - The e-Government phenomenon
• Chapter 3 - E-Government and Society
• Chapter 4 - E-Government Readiness
• Chapter 5 - E-Government Assessment Methods and Frameworks
• Chapter 6 - E-Government Adoption and Synthesis
• Chapter 7 - E-Government Technology Design Frameworks
• Chapter 8 - Selected Cases of e-Government Implementation
• Chapter 9 - E-Government Development Paradigms
• Chapter 10 - Methodology and Practical Perspectives for e-Government Research and Practice
• Chapter 11 - E-Government Funding Models and Sustainability Frameworks
• Chapter 12 - Contemporary and Future Research and Practical Directions
• Chapter 13 - Conclusion
• Appendix 1 - Definitions of e-Government
• Appendix 2: Research Questionnaire
• Bibliography
• About the Authors
• Index