models, a framework is proposed to identify the key elements that build the ..... Using EG website I can perform my 24/7 whether physical government office is only available ... Using EG website helps me accomplish tasks more quickly. TM2.
ASAC 2007 Ottawa, Ontario
Mahmud A. Shareef (student) Uma Kumar Vinod Kumar Eric Sprott School of Business Carleton University
DEVELOPING FUNDAMENTAL CAPABILITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL EGOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTATION
Numerous researchers witness the failure of E-government (EG) in developing countries. Articles studying failure of information and communication technology (ICT) and EG systems reveal that management of ICT in developing countries does not follow the same track as in developed countries, and the failure to manage ICT and adopt EG systems arises from two corners, the government itself and the citizens. This study sets its objective to identify the determinants and critical factors that contribute to the development of fundamental capabilities to adopt and manage ICT and successfully implement EG systems from the government side, and also the critical factors that affect adoption of ICT and thus EG systems by the citizens. Exploring literature from marketing, sociology, E-commerce, E-government, organizational behavior, information technology, public administration, technology transfer, and technology innovation, this research identifies the plausible antecedents of adoption of EG and develops two conceptual adoption models for both governments and citizens of developing countries.
Al Gore, Ex Vice President, USA, suggested that “In this fast-moving, fast-changing global economy - when the free flow of dollars and data are the source of economic and political strength, and whole new industries are born every day – governments must be lean, nimble, and creative, or they will surely be left behind.” This was the mission of E-government (EG) when it was first introduced in the era of fierce proliferation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). E-government (EG) is an innovative way to present a government office with the extensive use of information and communication technology (ICT). It is the use of information technology to enable and improve the efficiency with which government services are provided to citizens, employees, businesses, and agencies. Over the past few years, an increasing amount of scholarly attention has been focused on electronic government. It is basically the provision of information and services by governments 24 hours per day, seven days per week (Norris et al., 2001). A study addressing the development level of EG in 190 nations (UN/ASPA, 2001) identified five stages of EG: emergence or broadcasting, enhanced, interaction, transaction, and integration (seamless). At the time of the survey, none of the surveyed nations had achieved the integration level, and only 17 had achieved the transaction stage. Most developing nations were either at the emergence or broadcasting stage, thus providing very few interactive services to their citizens. Countries which deploy the interaction phase also have extensive knowledge supported services, maintain a considerable ICT and government infrastructure to offer these, and are well funded. Numerous studies (Basu, 2004; Ndou, 2004; Dada, 2006) have shown that it is not only application of EG, but also ICT in general, that abruptly fails in developing countries. Success stories can be cited in literature, but failures are more frequent (Krishna et al., 2005). Heeks (2003) studied the application of EG theme in developing countries and found that 35% were classified as total failures at the outset of the application or immediately afterwards, and 50 percent were termed as partial
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failures, i.e., major goals were not attained or there were undesirable outcomes. Why did this happen or is still happening? Several scholarly articles (Madu, 1989; Bhatnagar, 2002; Heeks, 2002; Dada, 2006) identified that information technology is still not suitable in developing countries as a means of communication, and they also observed that it was a pragmatic mistake to implement the models of ICT in developing countries directly by copying from developed countries. The technology absorption capacity of developing countries, from both the government and citizen perspective, is quite different from developed countries. Before funding and implementing ICT and EG in developing countries, it is a challenging issue to identify the generic and distinctive characteristics of developing countries in terms of super-structural and infrastructural conditions and overall technology absorption capabilities of their government and citizens. In this era of globalization, the answer of this issue, and thus the development of a framework regarding the plausible solutions of managing ICT and implementation of EG in developing countries, is utmost important both for researchers, practitioners, and United Nations Organizations (Madu, 1989; Madon, 2004).This research article addresses this issue in a comprehensive manner and attempts to develop frameworks of managing ICT in EG from government and citizen perspectives for developing countries. It is noteworthy that the issue is described from two perspectives, government and citizens, because governments should have the ability to implement electronic government with the proper application of information and communication technology with reality, and citizens should have the ability to use ICT and intention to adopt EG. Therefore, the objective of this research is twofold: 1. What are the factors that develop the fundamental capabilities of ICT adoption and successful implementation of EG? 2. What are the factors that enable citizens of a developing country to adopt EG? The next section deals with E-government and related issues. The following section describes conceptual frameworks through extensive reviews of literature. We then present constructs and measurements and finally, we reach a conclusion and offer future research direction.
E-GOVERNMENT According to the World Bank website (2005), EG can be viewed as: “information technologies…that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government…[and] can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management… benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions.” From this definition, it is clear that EG is not merely the electronic version of a government system, but the ability of information and communication technology to achieve levels of improvement in various areas of government and transform ideas, status, condition and the relationship between governments and citizens. The notion of Eservice has been increasingly identified and accepted by both researchers, practitioners, and users as being one of the significant determinants in successful E-government (Bélanger et al., 2005). In order to develop citizen focused E-government services that provide participants with accessible, relevant information and quality services that are more expedient than traditional ‘brick and mortar’ transactions, government agencies must first understand the factors that influence citizen adoption of this innovation. After the advent of the Internet, information technology and electronic communication played a very important role in fulfilling the vision of reforming government in an entirely different way. Innovations in information and communication technology (ICT) have dramatically transformed organization-customer, government-citizen, and inter-state communications. The Internet gradually has matured into a universally accepted and user-friendly platform for government organizations to communicate directly with citizens and to deliver information without any time interception. Therefore,
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information and communication technology is believed to be conducive to the movement of government reinvention. It has transformed the way government operates. E-government is the pragmatic use of information and communication technology to improve the way that government performs its business. It is a commitment by government decision makers to strengthening the partnership between the citizen and the public sector through enhanced, cost-effective, and efficient delivery of services, information, and knowledge. Depending on the functions of EG, several authors (Trinkle, 2001; Wagner et al., 2003; Bélanger et al., 2005) divided web based government services into five classified groups as mentioned earlier (UN/ASPA, 2001). This classification is based on type of interaction or development path of maturity. In broadcasting and enhanced modes, governments present themselves through static web pages and oneway communication. In interaction mode, websites are able to exchange information or services with citizens, where citizens can inquire and obtain some resources from database backed websites located behind a portal. At the transaction stage, the public can carry out transactions with the government. This requires higher levels of processing capability, as well as payment gateways and security implementation. Finally, EG complies with integration when cross-functional integration among departments is performed and they collaborate in a one-stop contact point to avoid duplication of efforts. As we mentioned earlier, while the success of EG in developed countries using information and communication technology is frequent, numerous examples show the failure history of EG in developing countries. This is a regrettable fact, especially as developing countries have limited resources. Numerous articles deal with the failure of information systems in developing countries (Lyytinen et al., 1987; Horton et al.,, 1991; Moon, 2002; Ndou, 2004) and evidence from this literature suggests that failure of EG in developing countries is principally due to lack of fundamental capabilities of managing and implementing ICT from the government side and lack of fundamental capabilities of adopting ICT from the citizen side. After examining several cases of ICT and EG failure in developing countries, Heeks (2002, 2003) states that a major reason for these failures is the mismatch between the current reality (capability) and the new future system (ICT). The focus in this current study is to identify these capabilities and find the factors which cultivate them.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Government Capability to Adopt and Manage ICT and Implement EG Researchers have investigated a wide range of issues including attitude of a government, technology absorption capability, appropriateness of technology, management of ICT, development and maintenance of technology, cooperation and conflict between government and citizens, and the social and economic benefits of EG by adopting new information technology (Katz, 1985; Lall, 1982; Lynn, 1985; Bugler et al., 1993; Cusumano et al.,1994; Brudney et al., 1995; Norris et al., 2005). At this stage, our enthusiasm is concentrated on discovering the key elements that significantly affect the ability of a government of a developing country to adopt and manage ICT to implement EG successfully. After reviewing scholarly articles (Kumar et al., 1999; Bhatnagar, 2002; Wagner et al., 2003; Dada, 2006), we noticed that there are several similarities between EG system adoption and technology absorption capability of a developing country in terms of feasibility, infrastructure, and technology management (Bhatnagar, 2002; Heeks, 2003; Wagner et al., 2003; Dada, 2006). Therefore, while searching for the critical factors forming constructs which are contributing to enabling the government of a developing country to implement EG, we thoroughly examined conceptual models of technological capability (Gee, 1981; Komoda, 1986; Madu 1989; Kumar et al., 1999) and adoption of information technology models in public administration ((Kraemer et al., 1981; Danziger et al., 1986; Norris et al., 1991). Based on the conceptual models developed in technology management literature and information technology adoption
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models, a framework is proposed to identify the key elements that build the fundamental capabilities of government of developing countries to successfully adopt ICT and implement EG systems. The framework, termed by this paper as the “EG Adoption-Government Capability Model”, is presented in Figure 1. Figure 1: EG Adoption-Government Capability Model
The model postulates that acquiring fundamental capabilities will lead to successful ICT adoption and EG implementation. Also, the extent to which fundamental capability is acquired depends on central government support, availability of skilled personnel, partnership with private sectors, organizational characteristics and factors, government and political stability, and readiness of the government. Fundamental capabilities of a developing country in terms of government to implement EG can be defined as a process of intention to adopt accumulated knowledge, to use knowledge, and to manage that knowledge (Kumar et al., 1999; Bhatnagar, 2002; Heeks, 2003; Wagner et al., 2003). Fundamental capabilities must enable a government to undertake a range of productive tasks, extending from mind setting to implement EG, pre-investment analysis of outcome to management of knowledge of the citizens
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at the end. Based on literature of information technology and technology management (Danziger, 1979; Danziger, 1986; Madu 1989; Kumar et al., 1999; Heintze, 2000; Steven et al., 2001; Garson, 2003; Norris et al., 2005), we argue that there are three basic integrated components to conceptualize fundamental capabilities in a comprehensive way: 1. Investment capability: The ability of a country to identify its technological demand, i.e., need, availability of resources both capital and labor, and its allocation , mission, objective, and outcome, i.e., cost-benefit (Madu 1989; Kumar et al., 1999; Heintze, 2000; Norris et al., 2001; Carter et al., 2005) 2. Operational Capability: The skills and information needed to adopt, implement, operate, maintain, and repair EG systems to achieve functional objectives (Madu 1989; Kumar et al., 1999; Bhatnagar, 2002; Heeks, 2003; Wagner et al., 2003; Norris et al., 2005; Dada, 2006). 3. Dynamic learning capability: The ability of the central government and different government organizations to generate dynamic technical and organizational changes to manage the dramatic changes introduced by EG (Mytelka, 1985; Bell, 1987; Madu 1989; Wei, 1995; Kumar et al., 1999; Norris et al., 2001; Carter et al., 2005). Central government support and government & political stability are one of the foundations for successful implementation of any sensitive project. This is especially true for EG. Adoption of ICT and implementation of EG are associated with transparent vision, higher level commitment, huge resource allocation, radical change of government service systems and interaction with citizens, education and training, long term support and maintenance, transparence and stability in government systems and administration, and political speculations. Therefore, without government and political stability, it is hardly possible to achieve such competence to implement successfully EG in a developing country (Madu, 1989). Central government support includes setting clear and transparent objective, mission, and vision about what is being invested and what type of outcome is expected, involvement, development of strong management skill, promotion and advertisement, internet/computer support, and further development of infrastructure and superstructure. Developing countries often have poor infrastructure, which constitutes a severe obstacle for the implementation of EG (Tapscott, 1996). There may not be consistent and reliable electricity, telecommunications, and Internet access (Jaeger et al., 2003). For EG to succeed in a developing country, it is a fundamental requirement to put the necessary technological infrastructure in place, so that all citizens can have equal access. Therefore, we can argue that government support, and government and political stability have an impact on the three components of fundamental capabilities. P1: Central government support has impact on the three components of fundamental capability. P2: Government & Political stability has impact on the three components of fundamental capability. Partnership with the private sector is an important step for the successful management of ICT in EG. This is especially true for developing countries, because here public sectors are mostly not well acknowledged and familiar with robust ICT. Therefore, partnership with private sector can be useful as the private sector has potential experience in managing ICT applications. Several types of partnership arrangements can be used. For smaller countries, it may be possible to deploy a single partner or several partners for the entire effort for developing a strategy, producing guidelines for design, reengineering process, developing software, helping in procurement, and providing training. This type of partnership is very useful at the outset of the EG project (Madu, 1989; Pratchett, 1998;Ciborra 2005). We propose: P3: Having partnership with the private sector will lead to the development of fundamental capabilities.
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Overall readiness by target, ability, intention, and preparation is a contributing factor for the development of investment and operational capabilities to absorb ICT and implement EG. One of the key questions that countries grapple with is the timing of their readiness for implementing EG. Some agencies like Mcconnel (2006) have developed methods for assessing EG readiness but this can be used for comparative purpose. Readiness depends on maturity of technical infrastructure and back office use in various departments. For instances, use of email across government departments might be an indicator of readiness. Readiness also depends on the attitudinal make up of the civil service. Willingness to be transparent, to reduce corruption, to share more information, and to provide citizen-focusing service indicates high readiness. Readiness is a subjective measure and no government is completely ready for all the required dimensions. Some governments therefore hesitate to make a beginning. In the experience of some countries like Mauritius, Jordan suggests that organization and coordination can be overemphasized at the expense of action in implementation (Bhatnagar, 2002). Based on the above discussion, P4: Readiness to absorb ICT will lead to the development of fundamental capabilities. Organizational culture has always had an impact on technology adoption, especially in public sectors. Different scholarly articles deal with information technology adoption (Steven et al., 2001 ; Garson, 2003; Norris et al., 2005) defined organizational culture with the constructs of professionalism, administration, and information sharing barriers. In developing countries, organizations are not willing to share information with the public and basically are not transparent. Introduction of technology means change in the way work is done. It produces a considerable resistance from the lower levels of civil servants, as they are the ones who tend to lose power and authority over citizens when electronic delivery of service is introduced. They also do not have enough professionalism to implement any sophisticated systems, especially ICT where senior bureaucrats do not have enough control (Madu, 1989). These factors influence the operational and dynamic learning capabilities. Thus, the proposition is: P5: Organizational culture has impact on operational and dynamic learning capabilities. For successful reformation of the existing methods and procedures to EG, existing procedures need to be mapped, documented, and simplified in a manner that a task can be completed in as few steps as possible without compromising the basic purposes. This entire process of simplification of documents and workflow, systems of approval and review, and reducing disparities with ICT is termed as reengineering. Most of the EG applications which have proved successful in achieving straightforward targets have performed substantial reengineering of their processes. As such, the public sector should comply with the changes to adapt to the new technology and culture of an EG (Ebrahim et al., 2005). From this argument, we propose: P6: Reengineering of processes will lead to the development of fundamental capabilities. Skilled personnel is one of the key reasons and a direct contributor to the adoption of ICT, successful implementation of EG, and widespread continuation. This is true for both developed and developing countries. Skilled engineers and technicians can manage the process of acquiring, organizing, and communicating technical knowledge so that organizations and general public may use the knowledge more effectively and productively (Wagner et al., 2003). Jaeger et al., (2003) suggest that EG system would fail if a government did not take an active role to provide proper education and training to employees of all levels and to citizens about the use and value of EG. Actually, use of ICT is a significant problem in developing countries due to the chronic lack of qualified staff and training schemes, which are necessary conditions for the existence of successful EG schemes (Ndou, 2004). Based on the above arguments, this article proposes: P7: Availability of skilled personnel will lead to the development of fundamental capabilities.
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From the Perspective of Citizen to adopt EG operated by ICT Adoption of EG by the citizens of developing countries depends fundamentally on four aspects (Ndou, 2004). 1. Desire to use, i.e., attitude and motivation 2. Ability to use 3. Reasoning to use 4. Satisfaction to use The first two aspects can be explained from the constructs of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM has a rich tradition of measuring perceptual and behavioral attitudes toward technology applications (Davis et al. 1989; Davis 1989). It is based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen 1991). The first, second, and third aspects can be partly explained by the constructs of Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) (Rogers, 1995). Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory is a popular model used in information systems research to explain user adoption of new technologies. Constructs of Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) can also capture the essence of third aspect. Transaction cost theory was developed primarily to understand the organization and governance structures of its economic activities (Williamson 1975, 1987). TCA examines the transaction costs associated with various structures in an attempt to measure the economic costs incurred by consumers. The fourth aspect can be explained with the help of different service quality models suitable for online operations (Pasuraman et al., 1988; Yoo et al., 2001; Loiacono et al., 2002; Wolfinbarger et al., 2003; Kumar et al., 2006). Based on the above discussion, a framework is proposed to identify and address the critical factors that affect the adoption of EG systems by the citizens of developing countries. We define this framework as the “EG Adoption-Citizen Intention Model” (Figure 2). Theories and variables used to develop this model are explained below: Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) TAM is a widely referenced theoretical model for predicting the intention to use and the acceptance of information systems by individuals. It proposes that perceived ease of use (PFOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) determine the attitude toward adoption of ICT. The attitude, in turn, leads to intention to use ICT and the eventual acceptance of the information technology (Bhattacherjee 2001, Davis et al., 1989, Lucas et al., 1999, Venkatesh et al., 2000; Moon et al., 2001,). Davis (1989) defines PU as ‘the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance’, and PEOU as ‘the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort ’. Perceived ease of use is assumed to influence perceived usefulness, because the easier a system is to use, the more useful it can be. These constructs reflect users’ subjective assessments of a system, which may or may not be representative of objective reality. System acceptance will suffer if users do not perceive a system as useful and easy to use (Davis, 1989). Several scholarly articles (Udo, 2001; Yoo et al., 2001; Loiacono et al., 2002; Wolfinbarger et al., 2003; Zhan et al., 2003; Collier et al., 2006) dealing with acceptance of web based transaction by customers reveal that for online interaction communication quality, like download time, ease of download, ease of the software etc., technical quality , like availability of the web page, easy navigation, loading quality, organization of the web etc., and informational quality, like error free statement, up-to-date statement, and proper linking. will supplement to measure the constructs PU and PEOU for EG adoption by citizens. PU and PEOU are very important reasons for citizens of developing countries to adopt ICT and intend to use EG. Citizens of developing countries are generally poor, less focused, and are not accustomed to using ICT; the general population is not well educated and does not have enough knowledge to operate the Internet. EG fails if the users do not have the ability to use the technology to enable access of useful information and services and do not
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perceive EG as useful. This would lead to a low user base, as the system would not be equally accessible by all citizens (Heeks, 1999; Ho, 2002; Moon, 2002). Numerous scholarly articles (Lucas et al., 1999, Venkatesh et al., 2000; Devaraj et al., 2002; Carter et al, 2005) revealed that PEOU and PU are potential indicators for the users to accept, adopt, and be motivated to use web service. Therefore, we propose P8: Perceived use of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P9: Perceived ease of use of EG systems will lead to its adoption.
Figure 2: EG Adoption-Citizen Intention Model
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Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) According to Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI), the rate of diffusion is affected by an innovation’s relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability, and observability. Rogers (1995) addresses relative advantage as ‘the degree to which an innovation is seen as being superior to its predecessor’. For EG, it is the relative advantage (as perceived by the citizens) of presentation of government information, service, and interaction through web sites with the use of ICT compared with traditional presentation of government physical office functions. Complexity is comparable to TAM’s PEOU construct, is ‘the degree to which an innovation is seen by the potential adopter as being relatively difficult to use and understand’. Compatibility refers to ‘the degree to which an innovation is seen to be compatible with existing values, beliefs, experiences and needs of adopters’. For EG systems, we assume Compatibility as the preference of citizens using EG websites that match with the demand of the citizens. Trialability is the ‘degree to which an idea can be experimented with on a limited basis’. And observability is the ‘degree to which the results of an innovation are visible’. Several literature reviews suggest that relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity are the most relevant constructs to determine the adoption characteristics of EG systems by citizens (Tornatzky et al., 1982; Moore et al., 1991; Rogers, 1995; Carter et al., 2005). However, since PEOU is already considered as a proposition, we are not interested in complexity construct. Hence, we include relative advantage and compatibility in our study. In addition, we also include a new construct, Image, as proposed by Moore et al., (1991) which influences the acceptance and use of an innovation. Image refers to citizens’ perceptions of innovation as a status symbol. Interaction with EG systems instead of using traditional government office reflects perception of superior status of citizens. Therefore, the above discussions demonstrate that relative advantage, compatibility, and image pursue citizens to adopt and interact with EG. Hence, we propose, P10: Relative advantage of EG systems will lead to its adoption P11: Compatibility of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P12: Image of EG systems as a status symbol will lead to its adoption. Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) Theory TCA has been extensively used to study economics and social phenomena, business models, and political systems (Shelanski et al., 1995). The fundamental doctrine of TCA is that while measuring economic performance, institutional structure is a dominant factor, and different institutional structures have different influences on economic performance (Shelanski et al., 1995). With the rapid growth of the ICT and advent of EG, government organizations play an important role in economic activities and individuals participate in various types of interactions. The framework of TCA is based on two main paradigms of human behavior, bounded rationality and opportunism, and three dimensions of transactions—uncertainty, asset specificity, and frequency. Uncertainty in EG reflects the inability to anticipate relevant contingencies from two sources—unpredictable changes and information asymmetry (Williamson et al., 1995). Asset specificity arises when certain interactions are made to perform a particular transaction. Frequency refers to the repetitive nature of the transactions. However, since we are interested in developing a primary adoption framework, and since frequency construct has proved to be a less influential factor for the adoption of ICT by prior research (Rindfleisch et al., 1997), in this study we do not consider frequency. Opportunism increases transaction costs in the presence of uncertainty and asset specificity. One effect of uncertainty is that decision makers may choose not to disclose complete or accurate information. Despite its importance in TCA, opportunism is generally operationalized through the transaction dimensions—uncertainty and asset specificity (Rindfleisch et al., 1997, Shelanski et al., 1995). In EG, we assume that uncertainty construct indicates the specific and absolute advantage citizens might get by using EG systems. Asset specificity reflects relative advantages a user can get by using one
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website instead of another. Therefore, it is appropriate for E-commerce rather than for EG. So, at this point we leave this construct. A transaction cost occurs when services are transferred across a technologically separable interface. Transaction costs for organizations operating electronic websites to provide services to citizens, ranging from broadcasting to integration, consist of (i) transaction costs for searching, bargaining, and post service activities and (ii) managerial transaction costs to run a website. Market transaction costs measure the efficiency level of the interactions of citizens during a particular setting, while managerial transaction costs measure the process efficiency in organizations. It is anticipated that transaction costs can be captured with two constructs to measure the benefits to the EG systems, PEOU and time efficiency. We have already accepted the construct PEOU. Time efficiency is a measure of the transaction time costs. In marketing, consumer behavior suggests that the consumer maximizes his or her utility subject to not only income constraints but also time constraints (Dellaert et al., 1998, Tat et al., 1988). Several researchers assume that this time constraints characteristic is also typical in EG since it is rationale to assume that citizens might consider to adopt EG systems as it saves time to perform any tasks relative to functions of a traditional paper based government office (Madu 1989; Wagner et al., 2003; Carter et al., 2005). Therefore, we also include this construct. Another construct, price savings, a measure of EG efficiency, is also included in our proposition, because as managerial costs decrease, savings could be passed on to citizens (Berkowitz et al. 1988, Hasbrouck 1993, Konana et al. 2000). Therefore, the three dimensions of transaction costs, uncertainty, time efficiency, and price savings are investigated here and are assumed that these might affect EG adoption criteria of citizens. Hence, we propose that, P13: Less uncertainty of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P14: Time efficiency of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P15: Price savings of EG systems will lead to its adoption. Security, Privacy, Reliability, and Empathy Reviewing different scholarly articles on quality of E-commerce (Pasuraman et al., 1988; Yoo et al., 2001; Loiacono et al., 2002; Wolfinbarger et al. 2003; Kumar et al. 2006) and perspectives of failure of EG systems in developing countries (Heeks, 2002, 2003; Dada, 2006), and comparing compatibility of extracted quality factors from E-commerce (EC) into EG systems, this research finds its logical underpinning on these quality factors: security, privacy, reliability, and empathy. Based on previous research work on EC quality factors demanded by potential customers, this current study visualizes security as a potential indicator for the adoption of EG systems by citizens as guarantee of web information source, protection of disposed information, authentication and non- repudiation of operation, and perfection and assurance of web statements. Security threat can be defined as a situation, condition, or incident with the potential to cause economic hardship to data or network resources in the form of destruction, non-protection, modification, denial of services and/or fraud, mismanagement, and abuse (Kalakota et al., 1996). Several scholarly researchers reveal that privacy concern is one of the key reasons consumers do not make on-line purchases (Green et al., 1998; George, 2000; Balasubramanian et al., 2003; Parasuraman et al., 2005). Many consumers have concern over potential misuse of personal information disclosed during purchase (Brown et al., 2004). A study by Forrester Research revealed that two thirds of potential customers are worried about protecting personal information on-line (Branscum, 2000). We anticipate privacy concern is also very important in EG systems, similar to E-commerce. Reliability is the perception of confidence and trust in the correct technical functioning of the site and the accuracy of service promises (Parasuraman et al., 2005; Be’langer et al., 2002). It is a significant and dominant factor in the on-line environment, because citizens have few tangible and verifiable cues regarding the service-provider’s capabilities and intentions (Urban et al., 2000). Reliability can be viewed
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as a generalized expectance held by a citizen that the word or action of another could be relied on. It becomes the crucial strategy for dealing with uncertain and uncontrollable information, statement, policy, and action (Sztompka, 1999). Every citizen attempts to evaluate reliability of the web before committing to any interaction transactions. Empathy contains items relating to the website provider’s willingness to respond to citizens’ needs, interest in solving problems, and promptness with which inquiries are answered. It is assumed that empathy will increase citizens’ intention to adopt EG systems. Thus, this research postulates the following propositions: P16: Perceived security of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P17: Perceived privacy of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P18: Perceived reliability of EG systems will lead to its adoption. P19: Perceived empathy of EG systems will lead to its adoption.
CONSTRUCTS AND MEASUREMENTS The constructs of the first model are reflective of government conditions and are dependent on specific country characteristics. Therefore, measurements of those constructs are country specific. Essentially, measurement items of those constructs covering questionnaires to conduct surveys in developing countries can be prepared from in-depth interviews with focus groups. The constructs of the second model are related to citizens. Several researchers (Basu, 2004; Ndou, 2004; Dada, 2006) suggested that citizens of developing countries show the similar type of intention in terms of adoption of EG. It could be worthy to note that the constructs of the second model are grounded on general theories related to technology adoption which also indicate the generalizability of the constructs and the measuring items. Therefore, the measuring items for the constructs of the second model are developed and shown in Appendix A. A number of researchers (Madu, 1989; Parasuraman et al., 1988/ 2005, Kumar et al., 1999; Devaraj et al., 2002; Balasubramanian, 2003; Carter et al., 2005) have operationalized the measures required for the second model.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION The study explores the factors that develop the fundamental capabilities of a government to adopt and manage ICT for successful implementation of EG, and the factors that enable citizens of a developing country to adopt EG operated by ICT in the perspective of developing countries. The major contribution of this research is to identify the fact that success of EG systems in developing countries have two different perspectives, one from the government side, i.e., the ability of a government to adopt and implement EG by managing ICT, and another from the citizen side, i.e., the ability of citizens to adopt EG systems by accepting and managing ICT. Consequently, this research has extensively reviewed multidisciplinary research papers and several theories to investigate information technology acceptance, technology transfer, diffusion of innovation, and service quality. From the thorough discussion of technology acceptance behavior, characteristics and infrastructure and superstructure conditions of developing countries, and causes of failure of ICT and EG systems in developing countries, this research article has identified some critical factors having causal relationships with the adoption capability of EG systems operated by ICT. Based on these findings, two distinctive conceptual models, one for government and the other for citizens, have been proposed.
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These findings are significant and have meaningful practical implications for both developing countries and United Nations organizations. Due to a funding crisis, lack of infrastructure, technical know how, and skilled personnel, different governments of developing countries seek assistance from United Nations organizations, and with their cooperation, these countries push EG systems by adopting ICT. Regrettably, however, most of these efforts are not successful. Therefore, conceptualizing critical factors which significantly affect the adoption capability of ICT and thus successful implementation EG systems in developing countries both from government and citizen perspective is a challenging, innovative, and comprehensively significant contribution to this field. It is to be emphasized that this research is not attempting, at this stage, to judge whether the approaches prescribed in the models can run without complexity and all the causal relations predicted are significant. These two models will serve as conceptual models for future research. Vigorous research is essential on different developing countries that have experience of implementing EG systems with either success or failure.
APPENDIX A: Technology acceptance model (TAM) Perceived usefulness (PU) PU1. EG website would enable me to complete transactions without harassment. PU2. I think EG website would provide a valuable service for me. PU3. I would find EG system useful. PU4. Using EG website gives me greater control. PU5. Using EG website improves the quality of decision-making. PU6. Using EG website is a effective way to interact. PU7. Overall, I find using EG website is time saving. Perceived ease of use (PEOU) PEOU1. Learning to interact with EG website would be easy for me. PEOU2. I would find EG website flexible to interact. PEOU3. It would be easy for me to become skilful at using EG website. PEOU4. The software used in EG website is user-friendly. PEOU5. It is easy for me to navigate EG website. PEOU6. My interactions with EG website are clear and understandable. PEOU7. I believe that it is easy to do what 1 want to do while using EG website. PEOU8. I find it easy to manage ICT in EG website. PEOU9. I can easily download EG website. Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Relative advantage (RA) RA1: Using EG website, I would perform my function faster than using physical government office. RA2. Using EG website would enhance my overall efficiency. RA3. Using EG website would make it easier to perform my job. RA4. I find for myself EG website is more effective. RA5. Using EG website would give me more control over my interaction. RA6. Using EG website I can perform my 24/7 whether physical government office is only available during office hour in weekdays. RA7. I can use EG website from anywhere in the world. Compatibility (CT) CT1. I think using EG website would fit well with the way that I like to gather information. CT2. I think using EG website would fit well with the way that I like to interact.
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CT3. Using EG website would fit into my lifestyle. Image (IM) IM1. People who use EG website to receive government service have a high profile. IM2. People who use EG website to receive government service have more prestige than those who do not. IM3. People who use VA TAX services on the web have less prestige than those who do not. IM4. Interacting with EG system to receive government service enhances a person’s social status. Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) Uncertainty (UC) UC1. It was easy for me to get relevant quantitative (rate, fee, procedure etc.) information. UC2. I feel uncomfortable to use ICT. UC3. I feel uncomfortable to interact in EG website UC4. Interaction with EG website seems me uncontrollable due to absence of direct personnel. UC5. EG website provides sufficient information for my job. Price Saving (PS) PS1. There are many locations from where I can use EG website. PS2. Using EG website is less costly in terms of service it provides than using physical government office. PS3. EG gives me a wider choice of interaction with different websites compared to interaction with physical government office. PS4. EG website gives me a wider range of service choices compared to using physical government office. PS5 I think using ICT to perform different works in EG website is price saving than to go physical government offices to those works. Time (TM) TM1. Using EG website helps me accomplish tasks more quickly. TM2. I did not have to spend too much time to complete the transaction. TM3. I did not have to spend too much effort to complete the transaction. TM4. Using EG website, I can perform my works anytime suitable for me. SERVICE QUALITY Perceived Reliability (PREL) PREL1. I believe that EG websites are overall reliable. PREL2. I believe they are responsive to my needs. PREL3. I believe they act accordingly, what citizens need. PREL4. I believe them responsive to my needs. PREL5. I believe that EG websites present accurate information. PREL6. I believe that EG websites present up-to-date information. PREL7. I believe that statements of EG websites are explicit and understandable. PREL8. I believe what I do through EG websites have guarantee. PREL9. I believe that EG websites are not less reliable than physical government offices. Perceived Empathy (EMP) PEMP1. EG website remembers/recognizes me as a valuable customer. PEMP2. I think that EG website can address the specific needs. PEMP3. EG website takes prompt action incase of problems. PEMP4. EG website takes care of problems as I expect. PEMP5. Their customer service is available. PEMP6. They response very quickly. PEMP7. The customer service team at the online addresses any concerns that I have. Perceived Security (PSY) PSY1. EG website has enough safeguards to make me feel comfortable using it.
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PSY2. I feel assured that legal and technological structures adequately protect me from problems on the Internet. PSY3. I think EG website is safe to interact for financial purpose. PSY4. I think the owner of the EG website will take full responsibility for any type of insecurity during transaction. PSY5. I think the owner of the EG website will take full responsibility for any type of insecurity during transaction. Perceived Privacy (PPRI) PPRI1. I would not hesitate to provide information to the EG websites. PPRI2. EG websites protect my disclosed information. PPRI3. They do not share my personal information with other sites. PPRI4. I believe my privacy will be protected in EG websites. DEPENDENT VARIABLE Adoption (ADOP) ADOP1. Overall, I am satisfied with EG website experience. ADOP2. I will continue to use EG websites. ADOP3. I am able to use EG websites. ADOP4. I encourage everyone to use EG websites. ADOP5. I am able to manage ICT efficiently. ADOP6. If EG websites are available to do my tasks, I do not go to physical government offices.
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