Enhancing citizen participation in South African e-government: technology, organisation and environment factors

Abstract

According to the e-government readiness index, which determines the capability and motivation of countries to use e-government for development, South Africa is considered ready for e-government. However, actual citizen use of e-government remains low. In order to investigate the reasons for low citizen participation, e-government services will be evaluated in terms of the technology-organisation-environment framework. Technology factors to be investigated include the e-government strategy, security of data and information, choice of platform, interoperability between platforms, and infrastructure in place. In terms of organisation factors, citizen willingness to share information, awareness and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and education will be investigated. Environmental factors to be investigated are the political motivation for participation, economic factors including ICT investment, and policies and regulations. This research aims to investigate the factors which affect citizen participation in e-government, and propose a model for evaluating e-government services. The model is proposed based on a thorough literature survey and questionnaire findings relevant to the identified factors.