Research On E-government Adoption And Public Service Delivery From Citizens' Perspective In Ghana

Electronic government(e-government)is the application of appropriate Information and Communication Technologies(ICT)in public administration with a purpose to improve both the internal workings of government and delivery of efficient and effective public service.The adoption and implementation of e-government have been occasioned largely due to the concept of the New Public Management(NPM).The main objective of the NPM is to change the way traditional public administration used to be operated and managed.That is to change the non-effective bureaucratic process of public administration to bring it up to the standards of what pertains in the private sector.Thus,e-government is considered as the vehicle through which the ideals of the New Public Management concept of reinventing of government,reducing the size of government,modernization and improvement of public services delivery and accountability to citizens can be achieved.Countries around the globe are therefore adopting e-government as a means to achieve these objectives of the new public management concept.The adoption and implementation of e-government by Government and its subsequent usage by citizens are two different sides of the same coin which both demand an in-depth attention and investigation.Without the proper understanding of the factors influencing citizens to adopt and use e-government services could lead to low patronage of e-government services and this would affect the expected success of e-government projects and its potential to transform the public sector.Several studies have investigated the adoption and implementation of e-government with regard to other countries and the predictors influencing citizens to use e-government services but such studies are not existent in the context of Ghana.This study,therefore,sought to fill the gap through the examination of e-government adoption and implementation in Ghana and specifically investigated the factors influencing the perspective(intention)of citizens to use e-government services.Predictors such as Perceived Usefulness(PU),Perceived Ease of Use(PEOU),Perceived Service Quality(PSQ),Perceived Efficient Public Service Delivery(EPSD),Computer Self-efficacy(CSE),Perceived Transparent and Accountable Government(TAG)and Citizen Trust(CT)were investigated to determine its impact on the Ghanaian citizen's intention to adopt and use e-government services.In addition,the study examined the direct impact of demographic factors such as age,gender and education on the adoption and use of e-government services.It also investigated the moderating and mediating role of some of these variables.It specifically examined the moderating impact of demographic factors like age,gender and education on thepositive relationship between perceived usefulness and intention to use and perceived ease of use and intention to use e-government services.It furthermore,explored the mediating impact of Transparent and Accountable Government and Efficient Public Service Delivery on the relationship between perceived ease of ease of use and intention to use e-government services in Ghana.This study also discusses the challenges impeding the successful development and implementation of e-government projects.Key amongst these challenges is the lack of adequate ICT infrastructure.Based on the research questions,detailed literature review,the research model,and developed hypotheses,the Technology Acceptance Model was adopted as the theoretical framework for this study.A total 700 structured research questionnaire instrument was designed and was administered to potential respondents in Ghana.The data gathered was captured and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS)Version 20 while the software known as Interaction was used to graphically depict the moderating impact of the variables considered in this study.The results of this research have demonstrated that all the predictors i.e.Perceived Usefulness,Perceived Ease of Use,Perceived Service Quality,Efficient Public Service Delivery,Computer Self-efficacy,Transparent and Accountable Government and Citizen Trust investigated were found to have a positive significant impact on the intention to use e-government services.In addition,the research revealed that demographic factors such as age,gender and education do not have a significant direct impact on the intention to adopt and use e-government services.However,it was found that these demographic factors had a positive moderating impact on perceived usefulness,perceived ease of use and intention to use.Also,Transparent and Accountable Government and Efficient Public Service Delivery had a positive mediating effect on the relationship between perceived ease of use and intention to use.This research has made the following theoretical contributions: First,it has validated the positive impact of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of e-government services on the intention to use e-government services in the context of Ghana.Secondly,it has filled the gap through this research which supported the positive mediation role of perceived usefulness on the positive relationship between perceived ease of use(PEOU)and intention to use e-government services.Thirdly,it has demonstrated that computer self-efficacy(CSC)significantly moderates the positive relationship between perceived ease of use(PEOU)and intention to use e-government services and fourthly,in examining the moderating impact of computer self-efficacy on perceived ease of use(PEOU)and perceived usefulness(PU),it was found that computer self-efficacy does not significantly moderate the relationship between PEOU and PU.This study has also demonstrated thatdemographic factors such as age,gender,and education do not have a direct significant impact on the intention to use e-government services.In addition to the theoretical contribution of this study,the study has introduced two new important predictors(Perceived Efficient Public Service Delivery and Perceived Transparent and Accountable Government)as factors to be considered in examining the intention to use e-government services.Based on the findings of this research a number of recommendations have been prescribed which includes the recommendations that Government and policymakers in Ghana should take appropriate measures to ensure that the computer self-efficacy of citizens is enhanced through the introduction and teaching of ICT at all educational levels and the establishment of ICT centers across the country to enable citizens to acquire basic IT skills.This would enhance the computer self-efficacy of citizens which would,in turn,have a direct impact on intention to use e-government services.Since people with high computer self-efficacy are more prone to use IT-related services(e-government services).This study further,recommended the establishment of the One Belt One Road(OBOR)ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa by the Chinese Government to address the huge ICT infrastructure gap in Africa.The OBOR ICT Fund for Africa could mitigate the challenge of ICT infrastructure impeding the successful implementation of e-government projects in Africa,particularly in Ghana.The Government of Ghana should take advantage of the One Belt One Road(OBOR)initiative of the Chinese Government to attract the required financial investment to develop the ICT infrastructure in Ghana.This is necessary if the e-government development and implementation initiatives are to succeed in Ghana.