Electronic Government Services Research Articles

Analysis and Implementation of Factors Affecting e-Governance Adoption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

For the last five years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken a leading role in the Middle East in providing effective electronic government (e-government) services and encouraging their use. The global average for government website usage by citizens is about 30%. The vast majority of Saudi citizens visit government offices to obtain information rather than making transactions through government portals. However, it is apparent that the rate of global e-government adoption has fallen below expectations, although some countries are doing better than others. Clearly, a better understanding of why and how citizens use government websites, as well as their general disposition towards e-governance, is an important research issue. This paper advances the discussion on this issue by proposing a conceptual model of e-government adoption that places users at the focal point of e-government adoption strategies.

Agile Web Service Composition and Messaging approach for e-Government services

E-Government services are increasingly being deployed using service-based architectures. Individual web services, developed from legacy and modern firmware, are composed to achieve e-service delivery. Current web service composition approaches range from practical languages aspiring to become standards (like BPEL, WS-CDL, OWL-S and WSMO) to theoretical models (like automata, Petri nets and process algebras). In this work, current approaches were studied and a comparison of their features and weaknesses was carried out. It was observed that current composition mechanisms are static and not agile enough to cater for functional change in business needs. This paper proposes a new web service composition and messaging mechanism for electronic government services in which composition of web services is done dynamically to provide for more agility in government e-services. The proposed composition mechanism works on a software architecture which enables application software integration. This architecture has been developed to deploy end-to-end e-services to G2B, G2C and G2G users starting from legacy government software applications. Using the proposed approach, integrating back-end e-Government applications to deliver end-to-end e-services can be agile, simpler and faster. The main contribution of this paper is the novel dynamic web service composition mechanism.

Electronic government services and benefits in Jordan

Electronic government services and benefits in Jordan

Peculiarities of the Electronic Public Services Provision in Šakiai District Municipality

Rapid development of the information technologies has a huge impact not only in everyday life. It changes government institutions as well: leads to the modernization of management processes, optimizes work and impacts traditional society and government relations. Information age demanded from the public institutions to transfer most of the information, communication and public services to the electronic systems. However, many of local governments are not ready to improve the quality of information technologies and transfer administration services to the electronic space. This phenomenon is particularly apparent in the small local government institutions which faces difficulties when transferring electronic services to electronic systems. This article is based on the literature studies and it analyzes the main features of the information technologies and their role in public administration processes. The authors also identify the concepts of electronic government and electronic services. This case analyzes the situation of the electronic services provision in Sakiai district municipality, affects the major problems of e-services in this institution and offers solutions to these problems. In order to move evenly with changing environment, public institutions need to understand that the attitudes of employees has to change first. Therefore collaboration of governmental institutions must be stimulated sharing the experience of the best practice. Such collaboration is necessary in order to increase the knowledge of employees and control information traffic. The article concludes, that the development of the electronic public services in local government institutions is inherent from availability of these services to the community. Because of that great attention should be paid to introduce local people with the main advantages of the electronic public services.

An empirical investigation of electronic government service quality: from the demand-side stakeholder perspective

The emergence of the eGovernment (eGov) virtual medium to provide government services to citizens has opened opportunities for public administration to reform and restructure public service to improve service quality. However, while the restructuring and reforming aspects of eGov service have been explored by researchers, hardly any papers have attempted to investigate the eGov service quality requirements of citizens as customers. Based on a literature review, a proposed theory, and an extensive empirical study of two Canadian cities, we can infer that the service quality of eGov can be conceptualised from four essential formative dimensions of service quality: ease of interaction, fulfilment, trustworthiness, and customer service. In our model, trustworthiness is mediated by security and privacy perceptions. This research provides valuable input towards designing and developing higher-quality service for eGov, inspiring further reformation of public administration. Through our proposed approach, public administration reformation can receive insights from the findings of this paper on the aspects of service quality which citizens need. However, since this research was conducted in only the Canadian eGov context, in order to generalise our findings on service quality perceptions, similar research should be undertaken in other developed and developing countries.

Mobile Government in Jordan

Mobile government (M-government) is a new delivery channel for governments to provide timely information and services ubiquitously to residents, businesses and other government departments through mobile devices. Developing countries have a higher mobile penetration rate than the fixed line internet rates which opens doors of opportunities for these countries to bridge the digital gab and gain a better reach through M-government. This paper measures the Jordanian citizens’ awareness of launching a mobile government (M-government) portal in Jordan and investigates their attitude towards it. Furthermore, this study captured the government perspective in regards to launching the mobile government portal and citizens’ awareness of that. The results showed that Jordanians have a positive attitude towards mobile government; additionally the results also identified the main barriers of using mobile internet and electronic government (E-government) services in Jordan and proposed a success factors model for mobile government in Jordan.

A Performance Case Study of Electronic Governance Implementation in Ghana with WiMAX Technology

The arrival of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has significantly enhanced our capabilities to collect, process and distribute information. As a result of these developments, many developing countries, including Ghana, are realizing the role ICT can play in the Governance sector. The National Information Technology Agency (NITA), which is the body charged in Ghana to provide technological advice and policy frameworks for Electronic Government (e-Government) service delivery, has deployed a pilot e-Government network with WiMAX in parts of Accra and Tema municipality in order to facilitate access to services, including email, web services, data warehousing, government domain name administration, etc. This pilot e-Governance network which is technologically simple is drastically changing the way information is distributed in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Ghana. This paper discusses the clear, comprehensive layout and network architecture for the e-Government model using WiMAX. Measurement results for traffic generation which were taken from four departments on the e-Government network before the WiMAX deployment is compared with field trial measurement done after WiMAX deployments and results presented.

Peculiarities of Electronic Public Services Implementation in European Union and Lithuania

Purpose – to distinguish the main theoretical aspects and peculiarities of implementation of electronic public services in EU and Lithuania and to give recommendations in order to implement these services in a higher level of efficiency.Design/methodology/approach – scientific literature, legal documents and statistical data analysis methods have been used. An expert qualitative opinion survey was carried out, in which nine experts were interviewed (The Republic of Lithuania’s Ministry of Interior E-government policy division specialists). The survey aims to clarify the basic problems, principles of electronic public services implementation and the development perspective of these services in Lithuania.Findings – after analyzing the main peculiarities of electronic public services implementation in the EU and Lithuania, recommendations in relation to electronic public service improvement perspective were introduced.Research limitations/implications – after analyzing theoretical aspects of electronic public services implementation, peculiarities of electronic public services implementation in the EU and Lithuania, and doing a quantitative study, the basic principles were determined, on which the electronic public services are implemented in the EU and Lithuania. Also, the main problems were encountered in implementing electronic public services, best practices in the EU countries, regulation and development perspectives of electonic public services in Lithuania.Practical implications – the most important electronic government (hereinafter – e-government) services development principles, problems, best practices, regulation and development perspective of Lithuania reflect the practical implications. This information could be used in order to develop electronic public services implementation.Originality/value – electronic public services were analyzed through theoretical aspects: principles, models and implementation issues. Peculiarities of electronic public services implementation in the EU’s experience were discussed, touching the issue of electronic public services, involving EU documents, countries of good practice, Lithuanian electronic public services regulatory issues and development perspective.Research type: research paper.

Elektroninių Viešųjų Pirkimų Brandos Vertinimo Aspektai

Public procurement practices are relatively new in the public sector, but everyone knows the complicated regulation and coordination of this process. A number of legislation, which controls a range of public procurement, were legitimated because of requirement to regulate purchases from national budget, after the restoration of independence of the Republic of Lithuania. The paper analyzes the legal context of the electronic public procurement and particular attention is paid to business development and corporate competitiveness in the EU (European Union).By 2010, all EU countries should have been installed electronic public procurement systems and at least 50 percent public procurement should have been made by this way. There for a membership of different countries procurer’s participation is essential for EU and the Republic of Lithuania’s domestic economy, because of safely competition in all EU. Implementation of a model of e.government (electronic government) service like government for business and business for government related with electronic public procurement, which help to reduce bureaucracy, simplify formal procedures, save civil servants time and public money, improve product’s and service’s quality and promote competition between suppliers, public and private sectors partnership. E.government is an integral part of modern economics, called as the knowledge economy. E.government help to reduce bureaucracy and simplify formal procedures, while civil servants are saving time and public money, improve product quality of purchased services, and promote competition between suppliers, public and private sectors collaboration and partnership.

Identifying Best Practices in Financing Next Generation Networks

Governments throughout the world have determined that next generation network (“NGN”) development serves the national interest. The strategies used to achieve progress vary greatly as does the extent to which governments perceive the need to get actively involved through direct ownership and subsidization of carriers. At the macro-level such widely different tactics stem from political and philosophical differences over the extent to which governments should augment or replace marketplace forces. At the micro-level national governments differ in the determination of what policies, strategies and tactics will achieve the greatest positive impact taking into consideration the specific characteristics of their individual countries. No government has unlimited funds to invest in new networks, or to subsidize private ventures promising to improve access to essential services at affordable rates. Accordingly nations must determine whether and how to use limited taxpayer funds to expedite the access to inexpensive and ubiquitous wired and wireless broadband networks. Baseline factors such as geography, income, demographics and market penetration of existing networks have a significant impact on what works best. However, nations with similar physical and economic characteristics have pursued significantly different strategies. This paper will identify best practices in NGN development using both case studies and a review of the current literature assessing government strategies. On the supply-side nations have sought to stimulate NGN rollout by direct investment, public private partnerships and subsidization of private ventures. Universal service policies typically use financial stimulus, often poorly calibrated or vulnerable to manipulation and abuse. On the demand-side some nations have identified many ways to stimulate interest in broadband services by promoting digital literacy and the widely shared view that broadband services are essential. The paper concludes that a variety of strategies, policies and tactics qualify as best practices based on current NGN market penetration, network performance and subscribership as well as the impact of a nation’s geography and the education, wealth and interest in broadband of residents. Nations that develop and revise a clear vision and strategy can achieve greater progress than ones content with the pace of private initiatives, or reliant solely on government efforts. Promoting digital literacy constitutes an underappreciated, low cost stimulus tool for generating interest in NGNs and the ability to exploit digital networks. Other successful strategies include creating incentives for private investment, promoting competition, reallocating spectrum, offering electronic government services and establishing safeguards to promote a high level of trust and consumer protection. The paper will provide a toolkit of confirmed best practices.

The use of e-government services and the Internet: The role of socio-demographic, economic and geographical predictors

This article explores the use of e-government services from the perspective of digital divides. First, it aims to find out which socio-demographic, economic and geographical factors predict the use of e-government services. Second, the article aims to show whether these factors moderate the way in which the time spent on the Internet is associated with the use of e-government services. The article is based on survey data (N=612) collected in Finland in May–June 2011 and is analysed by using a logistic regression modelling. Results show that gender and income moderate the link between the Internet and e-government service use. The more that women use the Internet, the more they use the government's electronic services. However, among men, the use of e-services does not increase similarly with the use of the Internet. Regarding income indicators, results imply that e-service use increases with Internet use but only among the respondents with low income levels. Additionally, the article shows that education, children, income and the size of the place of residence have major effects on the use of the government's e-services. Lastly, the empirical results are briefly discussed in relation to the digital divide discussion and some policy implications are presented.

ISJ inaugural editorial

ISJ inaugural editorial

Building Trust in E-Government Adoption through an Intermediary Channel

E-government has become an essential strategy for many governments in their efforts to increase accessibility and facilitate improved diffusion of public sector services. However, citizens’ adoption of online public services has been obstructed by factors such as, digital divide, accessibility, and trust. This study examines the influencing role that intermediaries can play in helping to facilitate the adoption of electronic government services. A case study is undertaken in Medinah City to explore how third party intermediary organisations can help in building trust, reduce digital divide and improve accessibility of public services to citizens. While the literature highlights extensively the challenges of e-government adoption and diffusion, the results of this exploratory study demonstrate that intermediaries can play a significant role in overcoming these potential challenges.

Usability Evaluation of Electronic Government Services for Interactive TV

This article presents results of a work in progress related to the development of electronic government services for interactive digital TV. We conducted a usability evaluation with five users of varying degrees of familiarity with this technology and the critical points of interaction were raised and recommendations emerged from this usability study. The services offered no barriers to interaction, however, some points for improvement were identified and technical limitations prevented the implementation of certain usability recommendations emerged from the evaluation.

Service source and channel choice in G2C service environments: a model comparison in the anti/counter-terrorism domain1

This paper compares the relative advantages of two models (a) a two-factor (i.e. source and channel) choice model; and (b) a theory of planned behaviour (TPB)–based acceptance model, developed to explain electronic government (e-government) service adoption. The models were empirically validated in the government-to-citizen (G2C) anti/counter-terrorism (ACT) service domain by a telephone survey administered to a sample of 500 US residents systematically drawn from the mainland USA. The structured telephone survey questionnaire measured respondents' intentions to use Web-based ACT services and their beliefs and attitudes towards various ACT service providers (e.g. the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, local police, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and news companies) and media (e.g. Web, email, telephone, TV, newspapers, postal mail). The results of multiple-regression analysis of the 500 interview responses show that the source–channel choice model can explain the service usage intentions as well as, or better than, the TPB-based acceptance model. Both service source and channel exerted consistent and substantive effects on citizens' intention to use ACT services, explaining, on average, more than 43% of variance in the dependent variable. In contrast, subjective norms in the TPB-based model seemed to have a marginal effect. Privacy protection and integrity of the service source appeared to be key antecedents of source preference, while the influence of channel attributes on channel preference varied widely depending on the type of services. This study provides an empirical basis for the validity and applicability of the source–channel choice model and offers insightful and prescriptive knowledge for e-government initiatives and service providers.

Electronic government services in Europe: Strategies, projects and applications

In Europe, national electronic government incentives have made a significant contribution to the modernization of administration and its processes as well as its customer oriented services. In this study, European strategies and projects for electronic government as well as their implementation plans were analyzed, followed by an examination of the electronic services offered by the national governmental authorities in Austria, European pioneers in electronic government, the United Kingdom, the electronic government leader in Europe 2010, and Spain as a Southern European electronic government representative. The results revealed that Europe has developed hybrid electronic government strategies for the whole community, and has launched projects in that field, in which member countries have to participate, in order to offer electronic government services at a high level and in a competitive international environment. On a whole, offering a single gateway to governmental information and transactions generally offers higher attractiveness for conducting nationwide business and all incentives for electronic government focus on developing good practices in the area of efficient and effective electronic government. Nevertheless, strategies are transformed and implemented in different ways, and the intensity in the member countries and a union-wide electronic government is still in its infancy. Key words: Electronic government, administration, public sector, public value.

Towards a Design Rationale for Inclusive eGovernment Services

The tendency of computer use spreading out into more and more areas of life has the potential to bring benefits to people’s lives. Examples are electronic government services in areas such as public health or social assistance. The same phenomenon, however, could leave behind people who face different barriers regarding the access to those services, for example people with disabilities, low literacy or low computer skills. This work sheds light on the question of how to facilitate the interaction with those services considering people with diverse physical and intellectual conditions. This study analyzes design ideas utilized in four prototypes of a registration service and explored by user representatives. The results of this analysis inform a design rationale in order to support designers in making design decisions tailored to the respective application and social usage context.

Securing e-Government and e-Voting with an open cloud computing architecture

Abstract The idea, the concept, and the term, that is cloud computing, has recently passed into common currency and the academic lexicon in an ambiguous manner, as cloud dust is being sprinkled on an excess of emerging products. Exorcising complexity and protecting against the caprice of the moment, this paper explores the notion behind the hype of cloud computing and evaluates its relevance to electronic government and electronic voting information systems. This paper explores increasing participation and sophistication of electronic government services, through implementing a cloud computing architecture. From an Information and Communication Security perspective, a structured analysis is adopted to identify vulnerabilities, involved in the digitalization of government transactions and the electoral process, exploring the notion of trust and transparency within this context. In turn, adopting a cloud computing approach for electronic government and electronic voting solutions is investigated, reviewing the architecture within the previously described context. Taking a step further, this paper proposes a high level electronic governance and electronic voting solution, supported by cloud computing architecture and cryptographic technologies, additionally identifying issues that require further research.

Servicing Advocacy in E-Government: Small Business Development Services in Cape Town

Small businesses are widely regarded by national and international bodies, including the South African government, as an engine of economic growth. However, much available evidence suggests that establishing a new small business in South Africa is difficult because of a lack of appropriate support. The research reported here sets out to examine the actual support that has been available, and the viewpoints of both the support service providers and the intended beneficiaries - small business owners and managers. It was found that government-based support services were predominant in the minds of small businesses and other involved parties, and that much of the interest in these services was based on accessibility via the Internet, a form of electronic government service. However, despite claims of success by e-government service providers, it is found that many small businesses are not aware of available support services, and that, where they are known, there is scepticism about the benefits of engaging with them. As the problems have been found to be centred around a lack of awareness of available services, this article reports on a possible solution, based on a concept referred to here as Servicing Advocacy.

An Adoption Model of Electronic Government Services in Malaysia: Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)

ABSTRACT This paper examines factors influencing adoption of electronic government services among end-users of Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX) in Malaysia. The objective of the paper is to understand how end-users perceived e-Government as a primary government interaction channel and the factors that affect their level of usage. The proposed adoption model integrates a number of measurement criteria such as, system quality, information quality, security, efficiency, satisfaction, usage and system’s benefits adapted from previous studies. To gauge the relationships between these constructs, several statistical analysis techniques such as factor analyses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were conducted. The study finds that both information quality and efficiency positively affect satisfaction; security positively affects usage; and both usage and satisfaction positively affect benefits. However, the results of the study reject the hypotheses that the other two service quality components namely usability and functionality, and security positively affect satisfaction. The results also reject the hypotheses that service quality (efficiency, functionalty, and usability), information quality and satisfaction influence usage. The results implied the urgent need to improve e- Government services in terms of functionality, usability, security in order to improve end-users’ satisfaction, usage and long-term loyalty to the system. ABSTRAK Kertas ini menyelidik faktor yang memengaruhi ambil guna perkhidmatan kerajaan elektronik dalam kalangan pengguna Pasaran Buruh Elektronik (ELX) di Malaysia. Tujuan kertas ini adalah untuk memahami bagaimana tanggapan pengguna akhir terhadap e-Kerajaan sebagai saluran interaksi utama kerajaan dan faktor yang mempengaruhi tingkat penggunaannya. Model yang dicadangkan menyepadukan berbagai kriteria pengukuran seperti kualiti sistem, kualiti maklumat keselamatan, kecekapan, kepuasan, penggunaan dan faedah sistem yang diubahsuai daripada kajian lepas. Untuk menentukan hubungan antara berbagai konstruk tersebut beberapa teknik statistik seperti analisis faktor dan pemodelan persamaan struktur dilakukan. Kajian mendapati kedua-dua kualiti maklumat dan kecekapan mempengaruhi kepuasan pengguna secara positif. Walau bagaimanapun, keputusan kajian menolak hipotesis bahawa dua komponen kualiti perkhidmatan iaitu kebolehgunaan dan kefungsiaan, dan keselamatan mempengaruhi kepuasan secara positif. Kajian juga menolak hipotesis bahawa kualiti perkhidmatan (kecekapan, kefungsiaan, dan kebergunaan), kualiti maklumat dan kepuasan mempengaruhi penggunaan. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan keperluan segera untuk membaiki perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan e-Kerajaan umumnya dan ELX khususnya terutama dari segi kefungsiaan, kebergunaan, dan keselamatan untuk membaiki kepuasan, penggunaan dan loyalti jangka panjang pengguna akhir kepada sistem e-Kerajaan.