E-governance as a new public administration paradigm: a rhetoric or reality?

Abstract

This study was motivated by the need to shift from the illusory perception of longing for e-Governance to be declared a new paradigm of Public Administration. Public Administration is said to be static, but yet dynamic. Implying that the dynamics of Public Administration can incorporate electronic governance (e-Governance) to improve matters of governance, public service delivery, accountability and transparency in public affairs. However, even with an incongruous adoption and implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the South African government, this study shed light on the empirical and systematic evidence and analytical distinction between e-Governance and public administration. The analysis suggests that the complexity and implication of e-Governance via the use of ICTs may enhance government efficacy. Still, it cannot be entirely trusted in maintaining administration and government-businesses-citizens interaction partly due to its rapid technological changes and the various conditions of its implementation within different nations including South Africa. With the aid of qualitative research methods, which heavily relied on secondary data gathered from scholarly journals, academic books, trusted databases and websites, this study reveal that there is scant evidence to support research in incorporating e-Governance as a new paradigm of Public Administration due to the imbalance, network failures, inadequate ICTs infrastructure to govern in a democratic manner which include all citizens. This study concludes that e-Governance is already analysed from a public administration dynamic and complementary perspective implying that it is an analytically and structurally incomplete reform to take its full form as a new Public Administration paradigm due to its rapid technological changes.