E-government services in developing countries: factors that influence citizens’ utilisation of service

Abstract

In recent years, developing countries have witnessed an increase in availability of e-government services. This is good news for all stakeholders, especially citizens, as it ensures that services delivered by governments and interaction between governments and citizens can be facilitated, and then evaluated for efficient and effective delivery. However, despite this positive trend, a low citizen uptake and adoption of e-government services is apparent. E-government services are implemented as technical projects and with implicit assumptions that citizens will use these services. As a result, citizens' expectations of such services are not met. However, to measure citizen's satisfaction in such situations, there is the need to have sound information systems management practices, inter alia, effective strategies for the evaluation of implemented systems. Given this background, new research is required to investigate and develop a citizen centric evaluation framework for e-government services. The aims of the research are to identify evaluation criteria and to develop an effective and adaptable means to assess e-government services. Using content analysis, this paper reports on the first stage of the research: the identification and understanding of the factors that influence citizens' adoption and utilisation of e-government services. The evidence at hand confirms that e-government services are underutilised, and the case for developing sound e-government evaluation is thus made.