This section revisits the concept of e-Government, e-Government system and factors affecting this system.
There are many definitions of e-Government. According to the United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration (2002), e-Government refers to the delivery of public services and dissemination of government information to the public via the Internet. E-Government is considered as a platform for the government and its citizens to communicate with each other in a timely and cost-effective manner (Angelopoulos, Kitsios, & Papadopoulos, 2010; Evans, & Ye, 2006; Latre et al., 2010). Heeks (2001, 2005) and Rotchanakitumnuai (2008) commented that information technology (IT) is critical to enhance the performance of the public sector in terms of provision of public services. Davies (2007) also affirmed that the value of a government network would be created by using “sophisticated web of technology to support communication and coordination between a diverse network of stakeholders” (p. 11). To make it simple, e-Government is defined as the delivery of the information and services by the public sector via electronic means (Tolbert, & Mossberger, 2006).
Accordingly, e-Government system is the use of IT applications as parts of an integrated architecture framework to deliver public services and to allow various groups of stakeholders to be connected with government and with one another. However, e-Government system is not only about the deployment of technology or techno-based means, but it is about the interconnection and interdependence between the use of technology, strategy, policy, organisational structure, and stakeholders (Angelopoulos, Kitsios, & Papadopoulos, 2010; Yildiz, 2007). These parts of the system must work in a synchronized manner in order to make the system function well, i.e. to transform government as a whole by making it more transparent, responsive, accessible, effective and efficient.