Electronic Government Implementation: A Comparison Between Developed and Developing Countries

Introduction

“Electronic government” or “digital government” refers to the initiative taken by governmental agencies and organizations to use the Internet technology in increasing their working effectiveness and efficiency. It is a permanent commitment made by the government to improve the relationship between the private citizen and the public sector through enhanced, cost-effective, and efficient delivery of services, information, and knowledge. Broadly defined, electronic government includes the use of all information and communication technologies, from fax machines to wireless palm pilots, to facilitate the daily administration of government, exclusively as an Internet driven activity that improves citizen’s access to government information, services and expertise to ensure citizen’s participation in, and satisfaction with government process (UN and ASPA, 2001). Narrowly defined, electronic government is the production and delivery of government services through IT applications; used to simplify and improve transactions between governments and constituents, businesses, and other government agencies (Sprecher, 2000).

Electronic government can improve communication between government agencies and their constituents by providing access to information and services online at relatively low cost, and provide public services through Web sites. The Economist magazine estimates that the potential savings of implementing electronic government could be as much as $110 billion and 144 billion English Pounds in the US and Europe respectively (Symonds, 2000). In recent years, electronic government has attracted more and more research interest and focus from industries, national governments, and universities (Barnes and Vidgen, 2006; Bertot and Jaeger, 2006; Chen et al. 2006; Carter and Belanger, 2005; Grönlund and Horan 2004; Chircu and Lee, 2003; Huang, D’Ambra and Bhalla, 2002; Huang, Siau and Wei, 2004; Jaeger, 2006; Jain and Patnayakuni, 2003; Moon and Norris, 2005; Navarra and Cornford, 2003).