Feasibility and Sustainability Model for Identity Management

Introduction

Many countries have already implemented identity management by introducing national identity cards for their citizens, while others are still investigating the consequences of such an initiative from various angles, privacy and data security being the major concerns. There have been various motivators for governments to consider the option of issuing identification cards for citizens, ranging from protecting the country from terror attacks to achieving operational efficiency in providing services to citizens. However, there has been hardly any research on developing a model that could help a government analyze the feasibility and sustainability of an identity management system. This gap in the existing literature was the motivation for this study. We adopt case study based research methodology (Benbasat, Goldstein, & Mead, 1987) to design a model for determining the feasibility and sustainability of an identity management system.

Different countries have different perspectives on the various dimensions of identity management. The differences are visible in both motivators as well as inhibitors of the system. Considering these differences and the fact that the government of a country functions within an ecosystem of various organizations (namely, taxation department, electoral department, public distribution department etc.), similar differences would exist in the perspectives of these organizations as well. Hence, in determining the feasibility and sustainability of a common identity management system that could be used by each of these organizations, it is critical to understand and formulate the perspectives of each organization. Taking this into consideration, this study focuses on developing a model that would allow a government to understand the various factors acting as motivators and inhibitors for the adoption of an identity management system as perceived by the various organizations within the ecosystem.