An Investigation of the Critical Factors for Evaluating the Public Value of e-Government: A Thematic Analysis

Introduction

Electronic government (e-government) generally refers to as the delivery of government information and services through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) (Akman, Yazici, Mishra, & Arifoglu, 2005; Horan & Abhichandani, 2006). It has developed rapidly around the world over the past decade (Stojanovic, Stojannovic, & Apostolou, 2006; Nasim & Sushil, 2010; Hassan, Shehab, & Peppard, 2011; Zhao, 2011). This can be demonstrated by more than 98% of the United Nations’ member countries with some kinds of e-government presence online (United Nations, 2010). Such a rapid development worldwide in e-government is due to the capacity of e-government for creating public values such as efficiency, accountability, responsiveness, democracy, and equity for citizens (Nour, AbdelRahman, & Fadlalla, 2008; Karunasena & Deng, 2012a).

With the rapid development of e-government worldwide, evaluating the performance of e-government becomes necessary (Bend, 2004; Karunasena, Deng, & Singh, 2011). Such a study not only helps individual governments to understand the value for their e-government investments but also to improve their e-government performance by formulating appropriate policies and strategies for continuous development of e-government (Karunasena et al., 2011). There are various methodologies for evaluating the performance of e-government from different perspectives. Wangpipatwong, Chutimaskul, and Papasratorn (2009), for example, propose a methodology for evaluating the quality of e-services provided by government websites in Thailand. Gauld, Gray and McComb (2009) propose a methodology for evaluating the responsiveness of e-government in Australia and New Zealand. Deng (2008) carries out a benchmarking study on e-government performance using an objective multicriteria analysis approach. There is, however, a lack of studies on evaluating the performance of e-government from the perspective of the value that e-government creates for citizens (Karunasena & Deng, 2012b).

The concept of public value is becoming increasingly popular as an inclusive framework for assessing the performance of public services in the public sector (Moore, 1995; Kelly, Mulgan, & Muers, 2002). The popularity of this concept is due to its capacity for assessing the benefits of public services from the perspective of citizens (Kelly et al., 2002). E-government is an innovative way of delivering public services through the use of ICTs (United Nations, 2003; Meynhardt, 2009). As a result, public value can be used as an effective means for evaluating the performance of e-government (Heeks, 2008). Several frameworks are developed for evaluating the public value of e-government in developed countries. Existing frameworks, however, are inappropriate for effectively identifying the critical factors for evaluating the public value of e-government in developing countries (Karunasena & Deng, 2012a).

This study aims to identify the critical factors for evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka. A theory-driven thematic analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001) is performed on the qualitative data collected in Sri Lanka for identifying the critical factors. The identification of the critical factors would be greatly helpful to e-government stakeholders to understand the effectiveness of e-government in Sri Lanka. This helps the Sri Lankan government to formulate appropriate policies and strategies for the development of e-government. Furthermore, this study is helpful to Sri Lankan government for demonstrating its accountability for the investment in e-government made by international donor agencies.