MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS INFLUENCING CITIZENS TO USE M-GOVERNMENT

SERVICES: A CASE OF KENYAN MINISTRIES

Case Study: Government Ministries in Kenya

Authors: Clement Marini, Everlyne Makhanu and Joseph Sevilla

(Strathmore University)

Introduction

At present these is an impressive increase in the use of and access to mobile technology, in both developed and developing countries. Mobile cellular is the most rapidly adopted technology in history and the most popular and widespread personal technology worldwide. The high Mobile penetration suggests that mobiles have come to be considered as alternative modes of e-service delivery by Governments.

Literature Review.

M-Government is a sub-segment of e- Government - which is defined as a strategy and its implementation involving the utilization of all kinds of wireless and mobile technology, services, applications and devices for improving benefits to the parties involved in e-government including citizens, businesses and all government units (Kushchu & Kuscu, 2003).

M-government helps governments to provide anytime and anywhere services for citizens.

Literature Review

According to Hellström (2009) there is a very wide range of potential governance related services which can be delivered and communicated via mobile phones, including services relating to health care, agriculture, education, employment, transportation law and order, tax, judicial and legal systems, among other services.

Mobile phones help to create an informative, connected, innovative, participative and converging society all over the world.

Literature Review Contd.

Literature also reveals that in developing regions with poor infrastructure, going mobile may be the only viable option to improve service delivery in the public sector, but do we have policies already in place to guide on the implementation?

The Kenyan Government has rolled out M-Government projects before but what was the motivation towards their implementation, what is the perception towards this by the citizen’s?

Area sector Project/ application

Government news/ Information updates Road safety (Transport Licensing Board)

e-Service DeliveryProject (Ministry of Migration, Directorate of e-Gov)

Emergency /notification

Voter registration (ElectoralCommission of )

Employment Services Kazi560 (M4G, One World )

Health projects(selected projects where the Ministry of Health is involve)

Bloodbank SMS

Episuveyor (Datadyne. Ministry of Health)

Financial Services Bill payment E-bill and SMS Alert (Kenya Power & Lighting Company Ltd)

SMS and Direct Email innovation(HELB, Adtel)

Crises management Violence- Prevention Tool (Oxfam GB, Peace Net)

Ushahidi

Education services Examination results (Kenya National Examinations Council, Ministry of Education)

SEMA Project (Ministry of Education, DFID)

List of m-government applications in Kenya

Problem Statement

Mobile phones have been cited by many as the best technology for interacting with citizens due to its widespread user uptake (Kumar & Sinha, 2009), it still does not fully deliver its promises, in particular in delivering services to the citizens of Kenya.

The Government of Kenya has so far not fully utilized the idea of using mobile phones as a tool for service delivery and a way to communicate with the citizens

Research Objective

To find out the motivational factors that explains the emergence of m-Government services in the Ministries.

Design Methodology

The study used a descriptive survey design to analyze whether m-government services are associated with improved service delivery to citizens. Descriptive employed questionnaire and interview techniques to collect data about m-government services in the Government Ministries. These data could was used to recommend specific strategies for improving service delivery to citizens.

Participants of the study

The study involved citizens who were also the customers of Government Ministries.

There were also senior ICT respondents from each of the Government Ministries.

Findings/Results

41.2% of the respondents contacted the ministry via mobile phone, 28% visited in person, 22.8% used the internet and 3.3% made contact through writing.

Majority of the respondents (58.8%) were not aware of any Government services that are delivered and communicated via mobile phones with the remaining 41.2% respondents saying they were aware.

In relation to satisfaction with M-Government services, 17.1% respondents were very dissatisfied and 47.9% respondents were somewhat dissatisfied with only 14.7% saying they were satisfied.

Cost of mobile phone technology as form of service delivery

63%

37% expensive costrelatively lower cost

Security and privacy of contacting the Ministry via Mobile

56%

44%Yes No

Reason of preferring m-Government services

efficient solutions to government's service delivery challenges

relatively low cost of mobile phone techonology

Normal way of doing things

Reach areas where there is no ICT in-frastructure

Access through shared usage and ownership

increasing services penetration rate

other

Conclusions

Services must be easy to use with valuable and timely content in order to ensure the service is relevant for end users.

Government needs to pay close attention to re-engineering processes, reforming institutions, and creating an environment for greater accountability and transparency.

The service must be accessible at a lower cost to the end user than non-mobile or non-electronic alternatives.

Transition from manual delivery to m-government can require an overhaul of existing processes and breaking down departmental silos.

The Government should ensure the longevity of the projects to ensure they serve the citizens as expected.

Recommendations

The study recognized that m-Government services have a cumulative effect on service delivery to citizens. For example, formulating adequate policies to utilize m-Government services is understood to be a process rather than a response to a discrete event. Further study is need to identify the role of m-Government project on service delivery over time, is recognized. This will help determine where the projects still serve the value they were implemented for.

Thank you