E-government sustainability: A case study of the Gauteng Provincial Government, South Africa

Abstract

The advancement of information and communications technology (ICT) has been changing not only the daily lives of people but also the interactions between governments and citizens. The South African government, in the Gauteng province, the province’s “department of e-Government” decided to take advantage of this advancement and implemented some electronic services for its citizens. The problem is that there is not enough literature that details how electronic services are implemented in the provincial government, that is, how the roll out happens and how the e-services are sustained beyond the implementation phase as part of service delivery provision to citizens. The main goal of this study was to determine how e-Government services’ sustainability can be ensured in the Gauteng provincial government.

The research adopted the Actor Network Theory (ANT) as an underpinning theory, ANT has been used by Information Systems (IS) researchers as it acknowledges that non-human actors play a role in networks and are neither neutral nor fully controlled by individuals. The Technology-Organisation-Environment Model (TOE), is another model which was used in this study, as TOE is a suitable instrument for organisational-level research. The study used an interpretive, qualitative case study to understand the case of Gauteng e-Government with interviews as data collection methods. A purposive sample of management and operational employees were interviewed using semi-structured interviews and organisational policies as data collection methods in the Gauteng e-Government offices.

The emerging themes from the collected data allude to the fact that the impact and benefits of electronic services projects must be consistently monitored and evaluated in order to achieve broader public governance goals, support economic growth and serve citizens better. Awareness and broader education of the implemented services to citizens must form part of e-Government projects which will ensure that citizens perceive the economic benefits of using electronic services and engage with the implemented platforms meaningfully.

The study concluded that e-Government sustainability is dependent on the planning phase of the project for it to realise its goals and this must be planned for appropriately in order to ensure citizens’ use of the services provided. Further, the tools implemented by the department of e-Government in the Gauteng Provincial Government must be used as tools for citizen empowerment.

The study contributes practically by providing a framework for e-Government sustainability in local government which can be used by government officials to guide their e-Government initiatives. It contributed theoretically that ANT is still one of the robust theories in information systems research to understand networks and actors within that network. Methodologically the use of an interpretive qualitative case study to determine sustainability has uncovered the depth of the state of sustainability in ‘e-Government services’ in local government. The study contributes to context by offering a thorough understanding of sustainable electronic services that is unique to the South African public sector.