Sustainable E-government in Public Sector: Analysis Report

This report investigates the implementation of sustainable e-government in the public sector, examining its concept, importance, and the challenges faced. It delves into the benefits of e-government, such as improved service quality, reduced costs, and enhanced citizen engagement. The methodology section outlines a qualitative research approach to identify issues and challenges. The literature review explores various perspectives on e-government, including the impact of ICT infrastructure, privacy, security, and policy issues. The report also analyzes the implementation of e-government from a management perspective, considering factors like management support and the need for effective information system integration. The conclusion emphasizes the significant role of e-government in improving public services and building citizen confidence. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of sustainable e-government implementation, offering insights into the complexities and opportunities associated with this critical area.

Sustainable e-government implementation in public sector:
a management perspective
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction3
1.1 Background study A bit of addition will do 3
1.2 Aims and objective 3
1.3 Research questions 4
1.4 Research problem 4
2. Literature review 4
2.1 Introduction 4
2.2 The concept and importance of e-government implementation in public sector 4
2.3 The challenges faced during e-government implementation in public sector 5
2.4 The impact of implementing e-government in public sector as management perspective
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2.5 Conclusion 7
3. Methodology 8
3.2 Research Philosophy 8
3.4 Research design 9
3.5 Data collection 9
3.6 Data analysis 10
3.7 Ethical considerations 11
3.8 Validity and reliability 11
3.9 Conclusion 11
4. Reference 12
Appendix 15
Gantt chart 15
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1. Introduction
1.1 Background study
E-government refers to the use of information and communication technologies to
improve the effectiveness of government and public-sector firms (Sharma, 2017). In e-
government, there are three primary domains: e-citizen for connecting with the people, e-
administration for improving government administration and e-society for establishing external
interaction. Present research is based on studying sustainable e-government implementation in
the public sector. The implementation of sustainable e-government will help in changing the old
ways of public administration at many public institutions (Jones, Irani and Love, 2017). This
leads to reflect on the quality of service provision, implementation duration, effective
management, etc. The implementation and pursuit of sustainability depend on the government
integrating many services and providing one-stop, critical services to citizens. E- government has
many benefits for both developed and developing countries. According to Susanto and Aljoza,
(2015)implementation of E-government help in reducing the cost and levels of organisational
process through streaming and re-organising operating procedure. Along with this, use of e-
government will improve government agencies performance which assist in delivering public
services in an effective manner.
1.2 Aims and objective
Aim
To study sustainable e-government implementation in public sector: a management
perspective.
Objective
 To help determine different approaches to a sustainable e-government implementation in
the public sector.
 To understand the concept and importance of sustainable e-government implementation
in public sector.
 To analyse the challenges faced during sustainable e-government implementation in
public sector.
 To evaluate the impact of implementing sustainable e-government in public sector as
management perspective.
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1.3 Research questions
The research will investigate how a sustainable e-government can be implemented in Public
sector; the key issues that might impact implementation; and how these issues could be managed.
1.4 Research problem
One of the main challenges which are faced by the public sector at present is related to
the issues of maintenance of a database of different organisational units, processing and
communication (Casalino, 2014). Through implementing information and communication
technology, public sectors can easily carry out their business activities in an effective manner.
Implementing e-government can provide many benefits to the public sector. Privacy is one of the
main issue while implementation of e-government in public companies. Abu-Shanab, (2014)
identified a critical barrier on the way e-government implementation that are confidentiality and
privacy. Privacy is known as the guarantee of an appropriate level of protection related to
information attribute to an individual. Sun, Ku and Shih, ( 2015) state that government should
focus on protecting individual privacy. Along with this, it is essential to deal effectively with
privacy issues in e-networks for increasing citizens confidence in the use of e-government
services..
2. Literature review
2.1 Introduction
Literature review constitutes an important part of the research which is aiming to provide
an in-depth information on the selected topic. Different author’s views and opinions on the
selected topic will be incorporated in this section. This section will cover the concept and
importance of e-government, and the challenges faced during e-government implementation in
public sector will be analysed.
2.2 The concept and importance of e-government implementation in public sector
Concept of e-government
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According to the views of Weerakkody, Baire and Choudrie, (2006), sustainable e-
government refers to the efficient use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in
other to carry out all the public services in an effective manner. It can also be stated that through
the use of ICT, public services can be delivered on time without any problem. Abasilim and
Edet, (2015) defined e-government as the use and application of ICT to properly manage all
activities and operations of government in a systematic manner. Some important objectives of e-
government are; to improve government processes, develop external interaction and connect with
the people. In view of these objectives, Pathak and Kaur, (2014) state that there are different
factors which should be considered at the time of implementing e-government. Some of the
factors are; proper organisational arrangement, implementing effective decision-making process,
skilled staff, etc. Sarrayrih and Sriram, (2015) stated that e-government basically deals with the
development of online government services for business such as e-participation, e-tax, etc.
Importance of e-government
According to the views of Mathapoly-Codjoe, (2015), e-government provides efficient
distribution and management of information to citizens. It also provides power to the people in
the decision-making process and provides access to information from any department of
government. It also ensures that each and every activity within the public-sector firm can be
easily managed without any problem (Pascual, 2014).
2.3 The challenges faced during e-government implementation in public sector
According to the views of Ntulo and Otike, (2013), e-government implementation is a
challenging task for government due to following reasons:
Lack of ICT infrastructure and knowledge
For public sectors, ICT is known as the driving force when implementing e-government
services (Venkatesh, Thong and Hu, 2016). For instance, public organisations will seek to work
with other different firms in other to communicate official task and therefore, basic ICT
infrastructure will be required to make this happen. Khanh, (2014), observed that in some part of
the world, there is a lack of basic infrastructure in the public sector because people are unaware
of the use of ICT technology. Bryson, (2018), also stresses the absence of skilled workers for
handling the various ICT technologies. If employees are not capable enough to handle new
technologies would impact the successful implementation of sustainable e-government. Due to
the lack of skills, public sector firms are resistance to adopting ICT technologies. As in public
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sector, people prefer paperwork and handling flies from one desk to another (Alenezi, Tarhini
and Sharma, 2015).
Privacy and security
According to the views of Zachariah, (2015), privacy and security are one of the major
obstacles in the implementation of sustainable e-government. Privacy is known as the guarantee
of an appropriate level of protection of all the important information (Mohamed and Xavier,
2016). Sun, Ku and Shih, (2015) argued that while implementing e-government, it is important to
focus on issues such as website tracking, mishandling of private information, etc. which is
universally frequent. It is important for public sectors to ensure that management all e-
government services should be safe and secured.
Policy and regulatory issues
Sun, Ku and Shih, (2015) pointed out that e-government implementation is not just a
technical issue but also an organisational issue. It is because the implementation of e-government
principles and functions requires a range of new rules and policies for addressing the electronic
activities. To deal with e-government, it is important to sign a digital agreement (Elbahnasawy,
2014). Also, it is important to establish legal reforms for making sure that no issues arise due to
policy and regulation (Cordella and Tempini, 2015).
2.4 The impact of implementing e-government in public sector as management perspective
Wihlborg, Zheng and Pardo, (2018) states that implementation of e-government has made
it easier for the public sectors to carry out their business activities in an effective manner. It also
reduces the wastage of time and money for managing work as well as improving communication
channels (Weerakkody, Irani and Hindi, 2015). Public sectors can easily use effective
communication technology which helps in communicating directly with consumers and the
public. For an effective e-government delivery, it is important to have proper information system
integration and harmonization between disparate firms (Moon, Choe and Swar, 2016).
According to the views of Moon, Choe and Swar, (2016), management support is important
while implementing e-government policies in public sector. There are various issues related to
security that can be raised during the implementation. Information can be easily hacked, misused
and stolen by other people (Gunawardana and Kapurubandara, 2018). The implementation of
sustainable e-government implies various objectives and level of transformation in public
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services. It allows people and citizen, business and government entities to access all the
information provided by the government, which helps in improving the quality of services (Nica,
2015). According to the view of Bannister, (2015), implementation of sustainable e-government
also helps minimise the cost and levels of organisational process through streamlining digital
technology. E-government has been established as an effective mechanism for increasing
government productivity and efficiency and a key enabler of citizen-centric services.
Sharma, (2017)state that implementation of e-government is not a pure technical issue
only but also an organisation issue. There are some organisational challenges included in it such
as support of top management, resistance of change to electronic ways and lack of qualified
personnel training. As per the management perspective there are many issues that can delay
progress of e-government implementation (Weerakkody and Choudrie, 2006). The complexity
and variety of e-government initiatives implies the existence of a extensive range of issues and
barriers in management and implementation. To manage all the personnel and information
provided by customers is to not easy task because government. In contrary to this Venkatesh,
Thong and Hu, (2016) There are different types of issues that are faced in relation with
implementation of e-government in countries. With this respect, one of the main problem
identified is towards the preference of people. When the system that is used by government is not
easy, it become difficult of the people to use then to get benefited. On the other hand, when the
system that is used is easy, then it becomes favourable enough to user them and to get benefited
with it. In addition to this, another type of issues that are faced in relation the issue of e-
government is the changes that taken place towards the technology. Time to time it is identified
frequent changes due to which it becomes difficult for people use the system (Weerakkody and
Hindi, 2015). When system are changed, then the way for making use of these aspects changes
and thus general public face difficulties. All these type of consideration should be made from the
side of government so that they are able to deliver proper quality of support to public.
2.5 Conclusion
From the literature review chapter, it is seen that e-government plays a significant role in
the public sector with respect to the delivery of quality services. Government organisations are
facing issues of improving the quality of services to citizens. The implementation of sustainable
e-government is one of the challenging phases. However, once it is implemented successfully,
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then it provides lots of benefits such as managing information without losing data which builds
and enhances citizen confidence.
3. Methodology
3.1 Introduction
Research methodology section covers different tools and techniques that will help in
carrying out research in the right direction. It includes the type of investigation, research
philosophy, research design, etc. and all other aspects which help in reaching valid outcomes are
also explained. The present research is on sustainable e-government implementation in public
sector. Hence, qualitative investigation would be conducted to identify the issues and challenges
faced while implementing sustainable e-government. Furthermore, the research will provide
benefits and limitations of each chosen method.
3.2 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is known as the ideas and beliefs of the researcher on the selected
topic. While undertaking research, the scholar brings up some beliefs and assumptions which are
based on their own knowledge. There are various types of research philosophies that are
interpretivism, realism and positivism (Kerr, Eckert and Wandwabwa, 2016). The interpretivism
philosophy is proven to be beneficial at the time when qualitative investigation is undertaken. It
aids researcher to incorporate his own views and opinions on the research issues. Apart from
this, in positivism philosophy, it contends a phenomenon which is isolated, and that observation
is repeatable. Epistemology in philoshy is the study of the nature and possibility of knowledge
and justified belief (Attar, Haghighat. and Ghassemi, 2016). It lead to analyse the nature of
knowledge and way it related to similar notions such as truth, belief and justification. On the
other side, ontology is concerned identifying in most general terms as a kind of things which
really exsist (Raynor, Ayubcha and Alavi, 2017).
The present research is based on studying sustainable e-government implementation in public
sector, therefore, interpretivism philosophy will be used for the research as it will facilitate in
reaching the valid outcome and providing suggestions for the same. It can be critically evaluated
that positivism philosophy sticks in real fact which is not easy to interpret based on own
assumption. However, interpretivism is effective enough to develop a deep understanding of the
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selected topic (Attar, Haghighat. and Ghassemi, 2016). Also, interpretivism will provide
detailed information related to the action which is taken from various activities.
Research approach:
Research approach is known as plan and procedure which consist of different steps of
broad assumption to detailed method of collection of information and analysis. There are two
types of research approach that is inductive and deductive. Inductive approach is related with the
generation of new theory developing from data. Along with this it aims to focus on exploring
new phenomena (Bailly and Comino, 2017).. On the other side in deductive approach, it started
with hypothesis and it moves from generalise principles which are known to be true. In the
present research inductive approach will be used because it is generally associated with
qualitative research. Reason behind selecting this technique is that it will help in collecting the
general information first then focus on specific one.
Advantage of using this approach is that it begins with detailed observation of the world and
move toward the abstracts generalisation and ideas. On the other side limitation of this approach
is that it is limited Muriana and Vizzini, 2017.
.
3.4 Research design
.
The research design is known as the systematic process of presenting the information in
an effective manner in the line of research aims (Wright, Wahoush and Jack, 2016). There are
different types of research design that are exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. For the
present research, descriptive research design will be used. It aids in describing a population
which would be covered in the study. Also, it would shed light on current issues and problems
through a process of the collection of information which helps in describing the situation
completely. Reason behind selecting this method is that it will provide detail information related
to population which is covered in the study. There some benefits of using this research design
such as it consume less time and very effective for analysing the non-quantified topic. On the
other side confidentiality is one of primary weakness of descriptive research design (Mammen,
Norton and Butz, 2016).
.
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3.5 Data collection
Data collection is known as the process through which various range of information can
be gathered from different sources. It is essential for the investigator to be careful while selecting
a source because it directly affects the findings (Bailly and Comino, 2017). Two sources from
where information can be gather is primary and secondary. Primary information is that
information which is new and not published by any other author.. The methods to collect primary
information is a survey, questionnaire, interview, etc. Primary information is highly effective,
and provides a high level of assistance to the researcher for addressing the research problem.
While the secondary source provides information, which is already published by authors in their
books and journals (Landau, and Lev-Ari, 2016). This information is less reliable as compared
to the primary information. To collect secondary information, the researcher can select books,
journals and the internet. For carrying out present research both primary and secondary methods
will be considered. Therefore, primary information will be collected through the survey and
secondary information would be gathered from books and journals. The reason behind selecting
this primary method is to assess the views of managers and gather specific information so that
sustainable e-government can be implemented effectively. The main reason for collecting
information from both the sources is that it leads to provide appropriate, and specific
information.
Sampling: Sampling in research is known as group of people, objects or items which are
taken from the large number of population for measurement. There are two types of sampling
methods that are probabilistic and non-probabilistic (Kalra, Phadnis and Joshi, 2017). For the
present research probabilistic sampling method will be used in which random sampling will be
considered. In random sampling method people get equal chance to be selected in entire
populations which reduce the chances of bias. Here 20 manager will be selected from public
company for survey.
3.6 Data analysis
Data analysis is essential chapter which help in evaluating the collected information in an
effective manner. This section covers a process of using tools and techniques to evaluate the
collected information (Mebius, Kennedy and Howick, 2016). The reason behind selecting the
technique is to convert the raw data into a meaningful information. There are two techniques for
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analysing the collected information that is qualitative and quantitative. In the present research,
qualitative techniques will be used. In this technique, all the information is presented in non-
numerical form. For conducting the qualitative analysis the research will use thematic method.
Other different method that can be used for data analysis are statistical tool such as SPSS, T-test
etc. In this all the information is analysed and present in numerical form.
Thematic analysis is one of the common form of analysing in qualitative research. It focuses on
pointing, examining and recording themes in data. Different themes are prepared on the basis of
result and interpretation of the same is done (Abidin, Rusli and Khan, 2016). Also, various
tables and charts will be prepared to present the findings in a systematic manner. The reason
behind selecting this technique is that it helps in presenting the findings in accordance with the
research topic. The process of qualitative data analysis is organising the data, identify
framework, sort data in to framework, use the framework for descriptive analysis, second order
analysis
3.7 Ethical considerations
Ethics is essential in the entire research for completing in an effective manner. It is
important for the investigation to keep all respondent’s personal information confidential and
destroy them after use (Winit‐Watjana, 2016). In addition, no respondent should be forced to
participate in the survey and reason behind conducting the research need to be made clear. Also,
all the information which is collected from the secondary sources should be properly cited from
authentic sources. All the respondents who are involved in the survey will be protected so that
they do not get harm. Along with this any of the participants can withdraw from the survey
whenever they want (Bathelt and Glückler, 2017). While carrying out research if any
participants not feed safe or feel uncomfortable then they can quit from survey anytime. Along
with this all the things which can harm respondent will be kept far in order to provide them safe
environment.
3.8 Validity and reliability
Issues which can be faced by the scholar relating to the reliability and validity of the
qualitative data are such as credibility, authenticity and trustworthiness (Peter, Werner and
Alavi, 2017).
Trustworthiness: Trustworthiness is referring to the evidence for the results reported is sound and
when the augment made based on result is strong.
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Credibility: Credibility is the first aspect or criteria which can be established and it is one of the
essential aspects in order to establish Trustworthiness. his is because credibility essentially asks
the researcher to clearly link the research study’s findings with reality in order to demonstrate the
truth of the research study’s findings (Médici and Allen, 2016). Further to enhance the credibility
of the research some of the strategies are adopted by the scholar.
Authenticity: Authenticity criteria are criteria for decisive the goodness, reliability, validity,
and consistency of qualitative research. It can be contrasted with the trustworthiness criteria on
foundational grounds.
3.9 Conclusion
From the above section, it is concluded that there are different tools and techniques that
can be considered in making the research effective. Primary sources of data collection can
provide specific information on the e-government implementation of public sector. Further, it is
important for the investigation to ensure that information is collected from different authentic
and highly reliable sources.
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