Trust and Intention to Adopt Egovernment Services in Developing Countries

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EGOVERNMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES3

Defining and Conceptualizing Egovernment3

Models of Egovernment7

Stages of Egovernment8

Activities of Egovernment10

Egovernment in developing countries10

Advantages and Benefits of Egovernment15

Opportunities of Egovernment15

Equal Access to Public Information16

Transparency and Accountability16

Lower Costs17

Efficiency and Effectiveness18

Reduce Corrupt Practices18

Political Participation and Democratic Governance19

Promotion of Public-Private Partnerships20

Egovernment in Kuwait21

Conclusion24

REFERENCES26

EGOVERNMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Defining and Conceptualizing Egovernment

Electronic government, otherwise called Egovernment, is also known as digital government, online government, or transformational government. Both Misra (2007) and Fletcher (2002) observed that Egovernment means different things to different people. Therefore, there may be as many definitions of Egovernment as there are stakeholders seeking to understand the concept. According to Lowery (2007), the lack of a universal definition may explain the complexity of establishing a framework or a national strategy for the implementation of Egovernment in most countries. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2003), Egovernment is the use of ICTs, particularly the Internet, to improve governance.

The World Bank (2006a), in agreement with OECD's definition, added that Egovernment entails transformation of relationships among policy-makers, citizens, businesses, and government employees. Gartner Group (2000) defined Egovernment as the continuous optimization of service delivery, citizens' participation, and governance through technology, both the Internet and new media, while Palvia and Sharma (2007) argued that Egovernment means web-based services from agencies of local, state, and federal governments. The UN (2008) defined Egovernment as the use of the Internet for delivering government information and services to citizens. Similarly, Norris (2004) defined Egovernment as the use of ICTs as channels of interactive communication between the citizens and government—information travels downwards to citizens and public feedback upwards to government officials.

Figure 1: eGovernment domains

The Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (2009) described Egovernment as a situation in which administrative, legislative, and judicial agencies digitize both internal and external operations and use networked systems. The Working Group on Egovernment in Developing World (2002) described Egovernment as the use of the Internet, telephone, wireless devices, or other communications systems to deliver public information and services. In addition, the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) emphasized the aim of public sector to improve the information and services delivered to citizens through technology (Ibrahim, Yazici, Mishra and Arifoglu 2005, p. 239).

Muganda (2010) further defined Egovernment as reliance on the electronic infrastructure to reduce the physical character of customer transactions and interactions. The main theme from various definitions of Egovernment is that it entails the use of ICTs in the delivery of public information and services. Such services usually include transactional and interactional services with citizens, business, and agencies of government through the Internet (Ibrahim, Yazici, Mishra and Arifoglu 2005, p. 239). Muganda (2010) argued that the conceptualization of delivery of public services via the Internet is significantly influenced by the expected impact of implementing Egovernment. Muganda based his argument on technology transfer hypothesis, which assumes that the recipients of technology transfer, in this case the third world countries, ...