Development Of E-Government Diffusion Assessment Tool For Service Delivery In South Africa’s Municipalities: Task-Technology-Fit Approach

Abstract

While e-Government has been in existence since the 1990s, with the intention of improving service delivery to citizens and improving efficiency within the government setup, it is safe to say that its implementation and success to date can be deemed mediocre at the least. The South African government entrusted the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) with the responsibility of developing and coordination of e-Government strategy to address issues across all departments and sectors. Several Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives have been sanctioned by the government at provincial and national level albeit at varying degrees of success. Prior to the appointment of DPSA, most of these initiatives had been uncoordinated and isolated which has probably led to little or no progress so far. In a quest to accelerate e-Government solutions, the DPSA has placed emphasis on government-to- government (G2G), government to business and citizen (G2BC), government to citizen (G2C) and the related infrastructure which helped these projects to take off smoothly. Some examples of the initiatives in place include e-filing, e-health and e-education. The South African Revenue Services (SARS) and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) have had success with their respective e-filing initiatives. Although queues are still being seen at these departments, most taxpayers, tax practitioners and trademark and patent applicants have embraced this electronic technology and thus alleviating the challenge of queuing for long periods. However, the same cannot be said for other initiatives such as e-health and e-education. Consequently, a need to look into e-Government diffusion in South African municipalities was birthed. This research used a modified model derived and adopted from Task-Technology-Fit (TTF) Model and Fit-Viability Model. The new model e-Government Diffusion Assessment Model (EDAM) was proposed with 12 variables. It was tested for validity and reliability. Data was collected using Likert seven-point scale questionnaire, of which 100 responses were usable and was analysed quantitatively. The hypothesis of the research model was tested using the regression analysis technique. The findings in this study indicate that e-Government has been adopted and that it is at the advanced stages of development. The results in this research show that the rate of diffusion of e-Government in the three selected municipalities across South Africa is seventy-five percent (75%). This percentage suggests that strides have been taken to embrace ICT in local government. The results also indicate that social norms have strong influence on utilisation, utilisation has strong influence on organisational performance while task-technology-fit has strong influence on utilisation. The results also indicate that task-technology-fit, utilisation and viability had a very strong influence on organisational performance. In conclusion, the findings in this study indicate that the proposed model can be used to see whether the factors are favourable for diffusion of e-Government applications. The organisational performance in this study is in line with the mandate of the municipality in delivering service to the community. This research contributed to the body of knowledge by providing an increased understanding of the information systems, diffusion, IT adoption and e-Government studies in South Africa’s municipalities. In order to improve service delivery and minimise service delivery protest it is recommended that municipalities around South Africa adopt the model as outlined in this study.