Abstract
Enhancing e-service facilities to the citizens would make it easy for them to access various government and private services. It has currently become an essential aspect of the evolution of public administration. All governments, including those of third world countries, are now trying to improve their e-service delivery. E-service delivery is one of the fundamental mechanisms to enhance quality service delivery with transparency, effectiveness, and efficiency. Sri Lanka has made attempts to deliver e-services in multiple sectors, but many constraints have prevented all citizens from accessing those services. Against this backdrop, this study attempts to investigate the factors that influence the ability of citizens to access the various e-services in selected Divisional Secretariat areas of Ampara district, Sri Lanka. This study was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative research methods during the period from July 2018 to January 2019. The qualitative data were gathered from published books, research articles, and personal interviews, and the quantitative data were gathered through a structured questionnaire and statistical reports of government institutions. The collected data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and results are presented in text, tables and charts format. The findings of the study show that factors such as security, the availability of electronic device facilities, and low cost encouraged citizens to access these services often. Nevertheless, factors like difficulty in understanding e-services and concerns about its security have discouraged people from accessing e-services.
Highlights
The principal responsibility of the state is to deliver goods and services to the citizens
This study estimated the level of people’s knowledge of e-services by DS division and gender, learning methods, access of e-services from public institutions and the reasons behind access of e-services as well as the types of devices used to access to e-services
This study attempted to identify the factors that determine the access of e-services in selected Divisional Secretariat areas in Ampara district using both qualitative and quantitative methods
Summary
The principal responsibility of the state is to deliver goods and services to the citizens. Most of the governments have presently focused on developing strategies to provide certain services more effectively and conveniently by introducing e-government techniques, which enable citizens to access e-services. The private sector has already established e-service facilities for delivering services and gaining the satisfaction of customers. This has enabled the customers to cut expenditure and reduce the time spent on accessing the various services in private sectors. The public sector has introduced more e-services so that it could reach the citizens and stay competitive with the private sector. Internet facilities are available in almost every populated locality, and these assist users to access all types of government information. The introduction of mobile devices has enabled easy access to e-services for all categories of citizens
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