Advancing e-Government in Developing Countries: a quantitative analysis towards citizen-cenric public services within sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Most studies have examined efficiencies from a public sector institutional context, there is limited research on e-government ‘efficiencies’ from a citizen-centric perspective. There is evidence of a dearth in the extant literature related to e-government costs and benefits and the need for more empirical work in this area. We draw on the e-government literature to collate the most frequently cited benefits and costs of e-government and explore these in more detail from citizen preferences. We conducted a survey in the respective cities of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Lagos (Nigeria) and Johannesburg (South Africa). The sample of citizens was drawn from each respective Chamber of Commerce database for Ethiopia and South Africa, and for Nigeria a purchased database of businesses, based on stratified random sampling. Samples were randomly identified from both sectors ensuring all locations were covered with a total sample size of 1,297 respondents. We found, in particular, that time and cost were important in an individual’s decision to opt for e-government and a range of other factors associated with cost-benefit of public e-services to citizens. These factors will help identify the value to citizens of the different types of online public services that they demand. Our study is believed to be unique in considering quantifiable empirical data to provide insights for policy implications and the further advancement of e-government in developing countries.