M-Government Adoption Framework for Least Developed Countries: The Case of Malawi

Abstract

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are not producing and delivering services to stakeholders timely because of poor Information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support LDCs to handle important ICTs developmental challenges, such area as poverty reduction, financial inclusion, and illiteracy and health. There is greater need to support the accessibility of ICTs infrastructure in LDCs through the development of telecommunication infrastructures [94].The purpose of this research is to develop mobile government (M-government) Adoption Framework suitable for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as most of the current technology adoption frameworks have been modelled around developed and developing countries. Literature has so far failed to provide any comprehensive technology adoption framework for LDCs’ M-government adoption. Most stakeholders have no M-government experiences.The failure necessitates the creation of a new M-government Adoption Framework that suits the LDCs to deploy M-government to leapfrog E-government. The proposed M-government Adoption Framework is intended for use in LDCs to deliver services through M-government. It will also assist decision makers to provide comprehensive and appropriate guiding principles to understand the challenges and opportunities of mobile government.The research adopted a qualitative research using pragmatism philosophy, descriptive and explanatory approaches to enhance the presentation and understanding of the research findings. Case study research is employed, as it utilises realistic data from the proposed knowledgeable participants from selected organisations, ordinary citizens and focus groups in order to create appropriate contribution.The most significance point is the availability of most factors that enable the adoption and implementation of M-government. Some of these factors include: mobile network providers, mobile phones, laptops and a minimal level of human capacity support to develop mobile content.The proposed framework contributes new knowledge as it includes unexplored constructs and dimensions not existing in the current frameworks. The constructs of the proposed M-government frameworks would influence the generalisation of the developed framework for adoption and implementation of M-government in similar LDCs settings and others. The stakeholders have no M-government experiences.