Rapid Advances in Information and Communication Technology

Question: Describe about the Rapid advances in Information and Communication Technology. Answer: Research background The development of applications including e-learning, e-government, e-commerce and e-health has been facilitated with the rapid advancement of information and communication technology. The initiation of e-government was in early 1990s and at that time, the ICT technologies were used for improving the public organizations activities. The United Nations approved the establishment of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in 2001. It influenced the establishment of comprehensive, sustainable and forward looking national strategies as an integral part of national development plans and poverty reduction strategies including the sector and ICT strategies (ITU, 2010b). It has been reported that within 161 countries in ITU, 84% countries already have ICT strategies, thus meeting the WSIS target of national ICT strategies (ITU, 2010b). For public sectors, the e-government innovation has become the key focus and the national and local government throughout the world is trying to enhanc e awareness of ICT usage for increasing the efficiency of accessing information and for the provision of electronic public services. E-government is becoming the most investigated ICT applications in recent future and it is attracting major focus of research and development (Pudjianto and Hangjung, 2009). In the previous literatures, the benefits offered by e-government to the business, citizen as well as government has been highlighted. In addition, many researchers have been attempting to investigate the e-government application adoption along with its implementation strategies in public organizations. This is because e-government promises to reduce paper work, to provide governmental services and corruption alleviation (Ndou, 2004). Within the mixed research related to e-government, one key domain is dealing with goals and value setting which should be achieved by implementing e-government applications and initiatives including accountability, efficiency, transparency, democratic responsiveness and free access to information (Ndou, 2004). In this context, Riley (2001) claimed that in general, the values of e-government tools are limited, but after applying the specific goals and objectives, the values of e-government applications enhances. Another domain deals with the factors which are promoting or interfering with the e-government tools adoption (Nour et al., 2008; Kumar et al., 2007). These factors and their effects upon the implementation of e-government is explained by the use of some models combining these factors, thereby helping the organizations, local and national government to understand the adoption processes. Therefore, this research is justified for analyzing the adoption processes which is a criti cal issue in developing countries. Previous literature revealed that the successful completion of e-government has not been reported in developing countries. The failure of 60-80% government projects has been reported for not achieving desired goals (Heeks, 2003; UN, 2008a). Researchers reported that some crucial aspects should be taken into account during the initiatives of e-government projects; these include political, cultural, economic and technological infrastructure related conditions. The argument was that, the values which are being adopted should match the settings where the e-government is carried out. It has been also revealed that failure happens due to the incompatibility within the targeted values, goals and the context of implementation. An insufficient settings-based framework was established for improved adoption of e-government and for recognizing the crucial issues and factors influencing adoption process, in a developing country. In this research, Libya is the focused context where the government has undertaken the initiative of ICT strategy implementation in 1990s. ICT is an extremely efficient tool for improving the efficiency of the government services. The actual achievements commenced through the establishment of the modern digitalized national telecommunication network. In 2004, the National Information Centre (NIC) had been established by the government in 2004 as the formal body for coordinating e-government in Libya. In 2001, the formulation of the national Strategy for ICT was its foundation. As the e-government has recently come into sight in developing countries including Libya, there are many remaining issues. Characterizing these issues is necessary for overwhelming these in-built challenges. Statement of the Problem In spite of the wide recognition of e-government in public sector, there are a number of issues remaining in the adoption and diffusion procedures. There are two main sources from where the research problems are identified: For developing the research background of e-government, analyzing the issues faced by the developed countries and characterizing the literature gap is important. The initial study would be carried out in Libya. In this context, interviews with key executives for understanding the influence from the country in adopting e-government would be conducted. Additionally, the interfering issues and the influencing factors for adoption process would also be discussed. The key findings from previous literatures along with the primary data collected from the study would highlight different issues which would help to identify the issues discussed below: The e-government is not only a technological project, rather is a process of reengineering that can affect business, economy, organization, human and politics. Thus, the change would include the basic factors including political, cultural and social factors. These factors Inspite of having wider impact upon developing countries such as the African and Arabic countries, gained least attention in strategic agenda settings. In Libya, it has been reported that these factors play a major role in guiding the decision making processes and shaping peoples lifestyle. Thus, through effective efforts and making right choices and actions, better adoption of this process can be achieved. According to Heeks and Bailur (2007), there were fewer studies related to the success and failure of e-government in Africa. Therefore, initially, the broader literature related to failure or success of ICT projects in developed countries can be analyzed through different models. The issue related to the use of previously existing models in the current context of developing countries is that these models might not be suitable for developing countries as the requirements of developing countries may be different in a different context. Thus, a crucial requirement of development of a conceptual framework is there which can map out and increase the transparency of specific requirements of developing countries. Research Aim The aim of this research is to establish a framework for adoption of e-government for identifying the crucial factors that affects the e-government adoption in Libya. It would give a direction to the policy makers for making the right decision for e-government adoption in Libyas public sectors. Research Questions What critical success factors (CSFs) help in implementing e-government initiative in Libya? How these identified Critical Success factors can be useful in formulating comprehensive structure of e-government in Libya state? Research Scope The research would investigate the adoption of e-government in Libyas public sectors. However, the research focus would be government-to-government domain instead of government to citizen domain. Research Objectives To achieve the expected goal of the research, the following research objectives would be investigated: To form the state of art in e-government along with the characterization of the e-government concepts through different perspectives. To recognize the barriers, challenges and scopes for hindering or supporting e-government adoption in Arabic and African countries. To investigate the models and framework that would be used for e-government adoption in the context of developing countries. To characterize the critical success factors promoting e-government adoption in Libyas public sector. To establish an adoption framework for e-government that would direct the policy makers to use effective decision making processes through the use of initiative from Libyas public organization. Significance of the Research The research study is conducted for investigating the adoption of e-government applications in developed countries. As the developing countries have been shown to have low level of diffusion and adoption, this research is important for politicians, researchers, policy and decision makers and professionals. The study findings would be guiding the policy makers to take correct decisions at both organizational and national levels for improving the environments and to make the public sector suitable for sustaining the change process. Through the following points the research significance can be analyzed: 1.7.1 Add to research in contextual factors Most of the previous literatures related to e-government application has been focused upon the technical factors including assessment surveys and training programs (Chowdhury et al., 2006; Edington and Shin, 2006; AL-Shehry et al., 2006; Esteves and Joseph, 2008). Thus, this research is providing a holistic view through the consideration of contextual issues in both non-technical and technical terms contributing in the adoption of e-government. 1.7.2 Add to research in Africa and the Arab World Governments in Africa and Arabian countries are implementing the digital knowledge. Nevertheless, the research related to e-government is relatively low. More investigation, assessment and improvement are needed for sustaining the adoption of e-government in these countries. 1.7.3 Add to research in Libya This research study would raise the necessity of adopting e-government in Libya as a crucial aspect for professionals and academics. In Libya, e-government is at a preliminary stage, as there is very little research done on it. This research would help to characterize the challenges and opportunities for adaptation of the process of change. In addition, the finding and analysis of the research would give significant information and guidance for correct decision making regarding e-government adoption on Libya. 1.7.4 Contextualize in the trends in Libya Libya has become the fastest growing state in Africa after the recent development of telecommunication and related economic growth along with the initiation of oil production in 1990s. Libyas government allowed new legislation and investments which depicts that the country is growing towards liberalization, structural change and privatization. This investment is promoting the country to be associated with global network. Contribution to knowledge The current research would involve significant knowledge and practice related to the e-government in Arabian and African countries by reflecting on organizational, technical and environmental factors. The assessment of previous literature related to e-government throughout the world has revealed that understanding both the promoters as well as the hindrance to the adoption of e-government in Libya is quite difficult. This current study is highlighting an e-government adoption framework to assist Libya and other developing countries having similar context to make appropriate decisions to enhance the effectiveness of e-government plan implementation. Therefore, in conclusion, the research is significant enough and has new things to be identified in this domain along with knowledge contribution in: Identifying critical success factors for adopting e-government in Libyas public sectors. Establishing an e-government adoption framework suitable for developing countries and public sectors.