Title:
Adoption
Processes of E-Government: The Case of Local Councils in Kenya
Abstract: Technologies of
E-Government have increasingly become one of the alternatives to enable
governance at the local levels. The current governance model has
largely been influenced by the management paradigm of New Public
Management (NPM) since the mid 1980s. The argument is that NPM has now
found a ‘voice’ with the emergence of the E-Government. E-Government as
a result of its technologies is becoming more ubiquitous, and in the
process, changing the concept of governance. This situation is
especially poignant in developing countries where there are increasing
calls to improve governance to achieve a better life for their
citizens. This study seeks to investigate managerial processes involved
in the adoption of E-Government at the local levels. The consideration
of local councils is the interface they provide for use of any
E-Government applications adopted. This was a qualitative study based
in one of the local councils in Kenya. The study relied on secondary
data as well as interviews of various stakeholders involved in the
adoption process. The theoretical base for this research was
interpretive in nature and borrowed from a number of theoretical
lenses. The results indicated to a large extent that adoption processes
are largely at a very nascent stage in which actors are involved in
'sense making' activities. Notable activities coalesce around
interpretation, legitimization and mobilization of resources for the
processes. In addition, social exclusion is a bigger challenge as the
Government grapples with how to make services available to various
population groups.
Author: Nixon
Muganda-Ochara