e-Government in South Africa: e-service quality access and adoption factors

Abstract

Over the past decade the World Wide Web (WWW) has had far reaching implications on the way in which information is shared, and services are rendered by both public and private organisations. One important issue on the research agenda has been the adoption of the web by the public sector, in the form of electronic government or e-government. Previous studies show that the benefits brought about by e-government adoption include increased convenience for citizens in areas such as filing tax returns, increased transparency on government activities and greater access to government information. Nevertheless, governments face great challenges to make their investments in the web more successful. This paper examines two factors that influence e-government success, viz, service quality dimensions in the online environment; and citizens’ attitudes towards e-government and their expectations in respect of government responsibilities in facilitating access and adoption thereof. Based on a literature review, six service quality items fundamental to the success of e-government websites were identified and reported on in WWW 2008. This paper expands on the initial findings by providing an in-depth discussion of the service quality dimensions which were identified in the previous paper. In addition, this paper also reports on citizens’ expectations and attitudes in relation to the accessibility and adoption of e-government services, and government efforts to make accessibility and adoption achievable. The paper concludes that without also integrating strategies to facilitate access to and adoption of e-government services for the majority of the citizens, then service quality in e-government would only benefit few citizens, thus rendering egovernment a tool for socio-economic divide.