E-Governance Implementation and Challenges in the Third World Countries
1. Introduction
Effective and efficient management of economic and human resources is a prerequisite for effective functioning of the government to ensure economic development. The paradigm shift towards governance forms that embrace democracy poses a serious challenge for governments to guarantee efficient public service delivery (Carter & Belanger 2005). The adoption of the internet and advancements in data storage and processing capacity in the 1990s has considerably influenced the ICT environment across governments and society in general (Bhatnagar 2004). The long-term effects of the digital rejuvenation seem profound, and add pressure on governments to enhance performance. As such, electronic governments typify many forms of governance and developing nations are not an exception (Jager & Reijswoud 2008). The implementation process in the developing countries appears slow because of numerous challenges. However, this does not imply that implementation in developed nations faces no challenges. Challenges in the third world nations are different from those in developed nations. Many e-government services continue gaining popularity in the present environment of government administration; hence, their applicability remains limited by what these administrations are willing and able to do (Cordella 2007). The term e-government refers to the deployment of ICT as a tool for achieving better governance. This implies that e-government should focus on transforming the operations, structures and the government culture using ICT. This poses the need to evaluate the implementation and challenges of e-governance in developing countries.
2. Research Problem
Developing nations are increasingly adopting e-government systems to enhance the efficiency of public service delivery. In the light of this trend, developing nations face a myriad of challenges in implementing e-governance. Further, successful implementation does not guarantee that the established e-government frameworks will serve their intended purpose of enhancing efficient public service delivery. This study has the main objective of providing evidence regarding the implementation and challenges of e-governance in developing nations. Specifically, the study will examine the challenges facing the implementation of e-governments in Ghana and Albania.
2.1 Main Objectives
The following are the main objectives of this study:
- To determine the challenges facing the implementation of e-governments in developing nations
- To provide solutions to address the identified challenges and ensure that e-government systems enhance the efficiency of public service delivery.
3. Motivation for the Study
Previous studies and literature have placed a lot of focus on the general challenges associated with the implementation of e-government systems. The current study has the main aim of providing evidence regarding the implementation and challenges of e-government systems in the third world. The motivation for this study draws on the fact that prior studies have not provided adequate information concerning the use of e-government systems in the third world. Therefore, this study makes a case for e-governance challenges in the third world, instead of relying on generalizations.
4. A Brief Review of Literature
The first challenge facing e-government implementation in third world countries is rapid nature of technological change, which leads to a technological lag in developing nations (Córdoba-Pachón & Ochoa-Arias 2009). In developing nations, technological developments have resulted in a mystifying chain of technical solutions in search of problems to fix. According to Waema & Adera (2011), Ghanaian and Albanian governments are experiencing the problem of adopting e-government because of the great ambiguity about fast changing technology. In addition, it is extremely difficult to foresee the future impacts of adopting this policy in modern forms of governance in many developing nations. Tubtimhin & Pipe (2009) concur with this assertion by stating, “New technological innovations that are promising the best solutions and appealing options for business change continue to flood the present technology market”. These latest innovations are extremely expensive for developing nations such as Ghana and Albania to adopt. In addition, these latest innovations guarantee options that promise to implement IT without transforming business processes (Jager & Reijswoud 2008). Ghanaian government, just like any other developing nation, attempts to implement their systems based on these newest technologies. Practically, systems based on latest and inefficient technologies are prone to failure. The failures might be too expensive to be catered for by developing countries; thus, the governments might opt not to adopt ICT, implying that rapid technological advancements are a significant barrier towards the implementation of e-governments in developing nations (Deloitte Research 2003).
The second challenge facing the adoption of ICT in governments in developing nations is the digital divide (Wagner, Cheung, & Lee 2003). This barrier results from limited internet access. People who cannot gain access to the internet, a key driver to e-government implementation, will not experience the benefits of online services provided by government administration authorities. Cordella (2007) maintains that the most noteworthy impediment in the way of effective e-government implementation and application is the prospective disparities with respect to access to computer systems. This is an issue of concern in developing countries because poor and low-income citizens lacking access to the internet will not benefit from e-governance. In developing nations such as Ghana, there is a vast number of people who still lack accessibility to the internet. Despite the e-government’s provision of improved services through other channels, its incapability to offer online services to all citizens hinders its implementation. Moreover, the disadvantaged groups in the society have the lowest accessibility to the internet (Khosrowpour 2009). The disadvantaged component of the society is in frequent interaction with the government and is a target of government intervention. These interactions with administrative bodies of the government appear sophisticated and not appropriate for online provision. The complexity of these interactions includes the establishing identity to social or medical intervention. As much as availability of government services and information would be significant for these groups, they might not benefit from technological improvements in governance (Taylor & Bellamy 1998).
Many third world countries are experiencing legislative and regulatory problems, which are also a hindrance to the effective implementation of ICT-dependent government (Misuraca 2007). The adoption of e-government advantages and processes highly depends on government’s responsibility to ensure appropriate legal frameworks for their operation. According to National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Ghana’s agency that implements IT projects, the uptake of electronic governance will remain minimal if a legal uniformity between paper and digital process is not established (Wagner, Cheung, & Lee 2003). In addition, the present governance frameworks in countries such as Albania, based on the postulation that agencies work independently, hinder information dispersion and collaboration between organizations (Tubtimhin & Pipe 2009). Sophisticated government regulations can also interfere with the implementation of e-government in developing countries. Government bodies might be unable to determine what is required of them; hence, become unwilling to engage in implementation that might not match with their requirements. Legislative problems concerning security and privacy concerns provide a hindrance to the implementation since security and privacy are at the core of implementing e-government (Waema & Adera 2011).
Budgetary hindrances also affect the implementation of e-government in many developing nations. Córdoba-Pachón & Ochoa-Arias (2009) points out that the budgets of many third world nations have enormous deficits. These countries can merely fund their own projects. As a result, they resort to borrowing, which might not sufficiently meet implementation needs. For instance, the implementation of e-government in Albania receives support from donor organizations. The donor realized that the success of the implementation depends vastly on finance (Jager & Reijswoud 2008). The present public management principle in Ghana requires that agencies should be accountable for achieving organizational goals and providing it with necessary funds to attain the goals. Nonetheless, these budgetary requirements might not include needs of e-government implementation. This implies that, for the realization of e-government benefits, budgetary issues including funding issues must be addressed (Silcock 2001).
According to Córdoba-Pachón & Ochoa-Arias (2009), the political systems of developing nations are a significant challenge towards the implementation of e-governments in these countries. For instance, in Ghana, the political system raises serious concerns among the academic community. Waema & Adera (2011) point out that Ghana has also faced some criticism about nepotism and monopolizing of political power. According to the World Bank research, Ghanaian households portray dissatisfaction with their interaction with government authorities (Misuraca 2007). This dissatisfaction, along with the poor delivery of public services by administrative government bodies, leads to the formulation of negative perception of the government. The negative image developed by the public might interfere with the adoption of e-government. As a result, the public might oppose implementation because the government might have some ill intentions.
Córdoba-Pachón & Ochoa-Arias (2009) point out that the high levels of corruption in third world countries as confirmed by corruption perception index and Worldwide Governance Indicators reports are an inhibition to the development of e-government. These reports also affirm that the control of corruption in Ghana is extremely ineffective (Misuraca 2007). Presently, Ghana is ranked 69th among the most corrupt countries which reflects the public’s negative image on the government. The political leadership places high expectations on the e-government policy as a solution to corruption and public service failures. Common technical frameworks and infrastructure are also a hindrance in the adoption of e-government (Wagner, Cheung, & Lee 2003). According to Waema & Adera (2011), the inability of government bodies to communicate with each other might arise from barriers to unified service delivery. This, in turn, affects the implementation of e-government.
It is evident that prior research has embarked on generalizations to infer the implementation challenges of e-governance systems in the third world. There are few cases involving specific case studies on third world countries. This presents a vast prospect to carry out a research that aims at exploring the implementation and challenges of e-governance in the third world.
5. Research Methodology
Research methodology is determined by the nature and structure of the research question, which implies that this study will mainly utilize qualitative and quantitative data from Ghana and Albania. The study design was make use of case studies from the selected countries.
References
Bhatnagar, S 2004, E-government: From vision to implementation : A practical guide with case studies, SAGE, New Delhi, India.
Carter, L & Belanger, F 2005, ‘the utilization of e-government services: citizen trust, innovation and acceptance factors’, Info Systems Journal, vol 15, pp. 15-25.
Cordella, A 2007, ‘E-government: towards the e-bureaucratic form?’, Journal of Information Technology, p. 265–274.
Córdoba-Pachón, JR & Ochoa-Arias, A 2009, Systems thinking and e-participation: ICT in the governance of society, IGI Global snippet, New York, NY.
Curtin, G & Sommer, M 2003, The world of e-government, Springer, London, UK.
Deloitte Research 2003, At the Dawn of e-GOVERNMENT: The Citizen as Customer, Deloitte Consulting and Deloitte & Touche., New York, NY.
Jager, A & Reijswoud, V 2008, ‘E-governance in the developing world in action: The case of DistrictNet in Uganda’, The Journal of Community Informatics , pp. 12-20.
Khosrowpour, M 2009, E-Government diffusion, policy, and impact: Advanced issues and practices, Idea Group Inc (IGI), New York, NY.
Misuraca, G 2007, E-governance in Africa, from theory to action: A handbook on ICTs for local governance, IDRC, New York, NY.
Reddick, C 2010, Comparative e-government, Springer, New York, NY.
Silcock, R 2001, ‘What is e-Government?’, Parliamentary Affairs, vol 54, pp. 88-101.
Taylor, J & Bellamy, C 1998, Governing in the Information Age, Springer, New York, NY.
Tubtimhin, J & Pipe, R 2009, Global e-governance: Advancing e-governance through innovation and leadership, IOS Press, New York, NY.
Waema, T & Adera, E 2011, Local governance and ICTs in africa: Case studies and guidelines for implementation and evaluation, IDRC, New York.
Wagner, C, Cheung, K & Lee, F 2003, ‘Enhancing e-government in developing countries: managing knowledge through virtual communities’, The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing, pp. 1-20.
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