Contextual Factors, User Experience, Usage and Public Value of E-government Services in Kenya

Abstract

In a pursuit to provide better services to citizens, endeavors to invest in e-government services have gained impetus in many developing countries. Accordingly, there has been a necessity for effective evaluation of quality and delivery of such e-government services. At present, there are a number of metrics used to evaluate e-government services in different African countries. Nonetheless, while these evaluation approaches have offered a foundation for comparative analysis, they are far from being perfect. By focusing on public value perspective, this study offers an interesting contemporary development in evaluating e-government services as it put more emphasis on creation of “public value” as the key objective of e-government. A literature search reveals a dearth of empirical studies in the information systems conjointly with public administration fields that study e-government based on public value paradigm in developing countries. Hence, this thesis presents a comprehensive study and examination of the factors that influence the usage and public value of e-government services. To accomplish the research objective, the study uses interdisciplinary theories namely; Technology, Environment and Organization (TOE) theory, Structuration theory, Actor Network Theory (ANT) and Public Value Theory as its theoretical foundations. In addition, a mixed methods research methodology was used to conduct the study. This involved using a questionnaire survey method to collect quantitative data and semi-structured interviews for collecting qualitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique that examined and validated the developed research model. SEM was also used to evaluate and refine the model relationships. Qualitative data was analyzed using theory driven thematic analysis. Findings of quantitative and qualitative strands of the study were triangulated and data analysis stage. ICT infrastructure related factors namely; e-commerce infrastructure, systems integration, availability, reliability and accessibility: Human capital factors namely; awareness, knowledge and skills, digital inclusion and establishment of incentive and reward systems and governance factors namely policy and regulatory framework, transparency, involvement of e-government users in e-government services development were identified as key factors that influence e-government usage and public value of e-government services. The thesis contributed to theory by developing a framework for evaluating the public value of e-government services in Kenya and also how the use of mixed theories could be used in e-government research. However, the thesis recommended the use of longitudinal study to provide a better understanding of contextual factors, user experience usage and public value of e-government services. The thesis also suggested for better comprehension of user experience, data collection methods such as weblogs and group interviews could be used to conduct future related studies. More so, further studies to validate the proposed revised framework were proposed.