The fundamental factor that creates barrier in the deployment of e-services in the government sector of Pakistan is a critic issue. These barriers are in both demand side as well as supply side of e-Government. As the technology is moving towards innovation, the governments all around the world are transforming their public administrations from conventional methods to new innovative methods. Electronic services are beneficial for citizens and government alike due to cost and time saving, simplification of the procedures, transparency in the governance processes and improvement of office management. Pakistan first took the initiative to incorporate e-Government services in the year 2002. The analysis of e-Government in Pakistan should be conducted through perspective of both parties. The supply-side perspective of the government is one side of the depiction that includes infrastructure, policies, employees behavior, skills etc. And, the demand-side depiction is the people's perspective regarding the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and users willingness. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model will provide the most preeminent insight in the demand side of e-Government in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan can incorporate the demand side factors side of e-Government services in developing countries like Pakistan.
Top1. Introduction
The advancement in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has expanded the use of internet into innovative e-Government services. This has enabled ICT to offer diverged services and ease of access to the citizens. As the technology is moving towards innovation. (Ahmad, Markkula, & Oivo, 2012). It is stated that the governments all around the world are transforming their public administrations from conventional methods to new innovative methods (West, 2004). The governments around the globe have realized the potential of innovative methods of ICT and its applications are ability to provide ease of accessibility to the service users. It also assists in making the services provided to the citizens more efficient.
The survey conducted by the United Nations in developing countries and discovered that approximately 190 countries around the world are making use of internet services to provide more efficient and competent services to the citizens (Munyoka & Manzira, 2013). However, majority of these countries are developed countries where contemporary ICT and web sites are being used for the government services (Bertot, Jaeger, & Grimes, 2010). Explained that the citizens in developed countries have become more internet-savvy and encompass high expectations from the government institutions regarding the quality of e-services etc. However, also argued that not only citizens are getting more and more attracted towards e-services, but, government are also opting for ICT due to obvious reasons (Alateyah, Crowder, & Wills, 2013).
According to Suki and Ramayah governments are finding it more convenient to provide electronic services due to the accessibility and affordability factor (Suki & Ramayah, 2010). Electronic services is beneficial for citizens and government alike due to cost and time saving, simplification of the procedures, transparency in the governance processes and improvement of office management system. Although the scope of these services is rapidly increasing in developed counties, but, the challenges that are faced during deployment and adoption of the Information Communiation Technoogy is complex (Ebrahim & Irani, 2005). The various survey conducted by United Nation last few decades, and highlighted that the lack of e-services in developing countries such as Pakistan is due to unavailability of proper technical skills, infrastructure, human resource capacity, effective government regulations, awareness among the citizens, users willingness and inexpensive technology etc. (Zeleti, 2010).
A government should look forward and can be best analyzed by considering at both party perspectives. The supply-side perspective of the government is one side of the depiction that includes infrastructure, policies etc. And, the demand-side depiction is the people’s perspective regarding the deployment of ICT (C. p. Lee, Chang, & Berry, 2011). The deployment of e-Government services as explained by (Qamar, Jan, Hasan, & MEMON, 2012) are explored that most significant party is the supply-side. The supply-side assist in understanding the problems associated with the delivery of Information Communcation Technoogy and policy development, including the local and national level e-services accessibility to the citizens. For comparison purpose the studies conducted on developed countries such as United Kinkdom, USA, Australia and Korea can be explored (S. M. Lee, Tan, & Trimi, 2005).
The fundamental factor that creates barrier in the deployment of e-services in the government sector of Pakistan is a critic issue. The question explored by this paper will be “What are the fundamental factors and barriers that affect the citizens and e-government adoption in Pakistan?”. These barriers are in both demand side as well as supply side of e-Government. Most of the research studies conducted previously have focus more on supply side. However, the demand side is as much important for the deployment of e-services as the supply side.