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Are Mauritians ready for e-Government services?
Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 536–539
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Government Information Quarterly j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / g ov i n f
Are Mauritians ready for e-Government services? Ramessur Taruna Shalini ⁎ University of Technology, Mauritius, La Tour Koenig, Pointe-aux-Sables, Mauritius
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Available online 24 April 2009 Keywords: e-Readiness e-Services Mauritius
a b s t r a c t Mauritius, a country that represents one of the leading advocates of e-Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, has taken significant action to improve e-readiness dimensions and as such ranks high in terms of e-readiness index with respect to other Sub-Saharan African countries, based on the United Nations Global eGovernment Readiness index. A close look at the usage rate of e-Government services such as online application, however, reveals that it is very low while online transaction is still rhetoric. This paper therefore assesses whether the high e-readiness index gives a true indication of the citizens' e-readiness using available secondary data sources. It further explores the factors facilitating and inhibiting citizens' ereadiness through the administration of a survey questionnaire. The main findings reveal that the barriers inhibiting citizens' e-readiness are resistance to change, absence of opportunities for e-participation and econsultation, and lack of awareness. The main facilitators of citizens' e-readiness emanating from the analysis are awareness campaigns which tease out the advantages of online public services compared to traditional methods of service delivery, building of trust in government, and managing change. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction According to Heeks (2001a, b), one of the preconditions for the success of e-governance in developing countries is e-readiness. Given that e-service is a subcomponent of e-governance, any acceptance of e-services in turn requires the building up of e-readiness. Various authors and organizations have measured the e-readiness of a country or group of countries based on different criteria (see Heeks, 2001a, b; Ndou, 2004; Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 2007 Model; United Nations e-Government Readiness Knowledge Base (UNKB); and Bui et al., 2002 and 2003). Very few studies, however, have attempted to assess the e-readiness of consumers/citizens (Kalkun & Kalvet, 2002 in the case of Estonia and eUser, 2004 for Europe) despite the fact that their opinions are of vital importance for the roll-out and take-up of e-services. Moreover, in policy research it makes sense to focus on those factors (other than socio-economic ones) which inhibit citizens from using public sector online services, given that these factors can be changed by the policies. On the other hand, while socio-economic factors such as income and educational level will always remain, knowledge about their effect on the use of e-services is of little practical value. With the above background in mind, this paper assesses the e-readiness of the citizens of a small island developing economy, Mauritius. The rationale for choosing Mauritius lies in the fact that compared to other African countries, according to the United Nations Global e-Government Readiness index (made up of three sub-indexes: Web Measure Index, Telecommunications Infrastructure Index, and ⁎ Fax: +230 234 6219. E-mail address: [email protected]. 0740-624X/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2008.12.016
Human Capital Index), Mauritius is in a much better position to become e-ready. For instance, though the United Nations Global e-Government Readiness Report, 2005 ranked Mauritius 63 on a worldwide basis, the report also states that Mauritius, with an index of 0.5086, is still leading Eastern Africa as shown in Table 1 below. The country ranks high in terms of coverage and sophistication of state-provided e-service and e-product availability, as well as ICT infrastructure capacity. A high level of supply, however, does not necessarily lead to the intensive use of online public service.1 For instance, a survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (C.S.O) in 2006 reveals that the number of internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants was only 10.9%. Moreover, among internet users some 34.5% used it at least once a day, 46.8% used it at least once a week but not everyday and 18.7% used it less than once a week. Given this background, the island seems an ideal choice for assessing e-readiness of citizens. It must be noted that assessing the e-readiness of citizens implies a focus on issues of social inclusiveness and take-up of eservices. In Mauritius, however, social inclusiveness is not a major issue given that according to the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) the country ranks high among African countries and among the three sub-indices constituting the DOI, those for “Opportunity” are high while those for “Utilization” are low. Hence this paper will focus only on the take-up issue and social inclusiveness is beyond the scope of this research.
1 This is confirmed by Capgemini’s (2004) findings, which state that in Estonia there is a large gap between the availability and use of online public services.
R.T. Shalini / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 536–539 Table 1 e-Government readiness index for Eastern Africa. Country
2008 Index
2005 Index
2008 Ranking
2005 Ranking
Mauritius Seychelles Kenya Uganda Madagascar Zimbabwe Rwanda United Republic of Tazania Malawi Mozambique Djibouti Zambia Eritrea Comoros Ethiopia Burundi Somalia
0.5086 0.4942 0.3474 0.3133 0.3065 0.3000 0.2941 0.2929 0.2878 0.2559 0.2279 0.2266 0.1965 0.1896 0.1857 0.1788 –
0.5317 0.4884 0.3298 0.3081 0.2641 0.3316 0.2530 0.3020 0.2794 0.2448 0.2381 – 0.1849 0.1974 0.1360 0.1643 –
63 69 122 133 135 137 141 143 146 152 157 158 169 170 172 174 –
52 63 122 125 141 120 143 127 137 146 149 – 157 155 170 166 –
Region World
0.2879 0.4514
0.2836 0.4267
Source: United Nation e-Government Readiness Report (2008).
More specifically, the research questions to be addressed are: • • • • •
What are the potential determinants of citizens' e-readiness? What is the current status of citizens' e-readiness? What facilitates take-up of online public services? What inhibits take-up of online public services? What are the policy implications of the research findings in developing a roadmap for e-Government for the island?
2. Potential determinants of citizens' e-readiness in the context of Mauritius The following table shows the trend in the various indices which may affect citizens' e-readiness for e-services, using data made available from the survey carried out by the CSO in 2007. The figures and information from the above Table 2 show that though the country ranks high on the e-readiness index, its citizens, when examined for such criteria as computer and internet access and computer literacy, are not currently ready to use e-services. Hence there is a need for policymakers to deal with these dimensions if they want e-services to achieve their goals, otherwise citizens will be unprepared and this will result in low usage of e-services. In some areas government has already started to take action. For instance, concerning the low computer access, one of the reasons pointed out by citizens is the high costs. As such, to help in the purchase of computers government in collaboration with the Development Bank of Mauritius, provides a loan of up to Rs25,000 with a low interest rate of 3%. Concerning internet access it must be noted that the main reason why citizens do not have internet access is because they do not possess a PC (as noted above 68.4% of households who have a computer do have internet access). Moving to ICT literacy, it must be noted that in this sphere too, the government has taken several initiatives. For instance some primary (4.8%) and the majority of secondary (92.1%) schools are providing internet access for study purposes. Various projects have been undertaken to create ICT awareness among the public such as ICT 3 Training Programs (aimed at senior citizens, planters, students and unemployed), ICT Awareness Programs (aimed at women, students and unemployed). There is also the Cyber Caravan Project, launched in 2000, which aims at making IT facilities available to the community. These are just to name a few. However it must be noted that such initiatives are quite new and will take time to be fruitful in enhancing the e-readiness of citizens.
537
Given that mobile phone penetration is much higher than computers in homes, policymakers must think of considering mobile phones as a suitable vehicle for running a program to promote the uptake of technology across society. One major problem in Mauritius is the low usage rate of the internet. This low usage can be explained by the fact that in Mauritius citizens are not motivated to use e-services. The take-up of online services depends upon both rational and emotional arguments. Rational motives include concerns of economy of time and money in comparison with traditional service, and trust in terms of privacy, data protection, information security, or cybercrime. The low rate of trust Mauritians have in ICT should consequently inspire policymakers to show their firm commitment to investigating e-justice and cybercrime issues. It must be noted that trust goes beyond network level security, and it is vital to ensure that when dealing with a counter party over the internet or an extranet, the party is in fact who they purport to be and not a “fraudulent imposter”. Emotional arguments, on the other hand, vary amongst different user groups. In the case of senior citizens, the main reason not to use web-based services may be their desire to talk to civil servants. Furthermore, loss aversion theory (Kahneman & Tversky 1979) states that consumers are loath to give up benefits they already have in order to gain uncertain new benefits. Hence there is a need for policymakers to offer disproportionately more value in online benefits to persuade citizens to forgo the same amount of offline benefits. If the CSO survey results are compared with the data published by the UN, in terms of Web Measure Index (online presence of national websites), Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (internet Users/ 100 persons, PCs/100 persons, main telephones lines/100 persons, cellular telephones/100 persons, broad banding/100 persons), and Human Capital Index (adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio), it can be noted that, in a worldwide point-by-point comparison, Mauritius consistently lags behind in all these aspects and is thus ranked 63rd according to the UN Report. The above assessment, however, does not address the factors that inhibit and those that facilitate citizens' e-readiness. To provide some insights on these factors, a survey was conducted among the citizens. 3. Methodological framework There exist several methods for assessing e-readiness such as statistical methods, best practices, historical analyses, and questionnaires. In this research paper the last method is used. The targeted population are the citizens of the island aged between 16–60 years old, since individuals in the age group below 16 and above 60, according to various CSO surveys on ICT usage, use online public services the least. The sample was chosen to be representative of all the nine districts of the island as shown in the Table 3 below. It must be noted that the sampling technique used was stratified, followed by convenience sampling. The questionnaire was categorized into three sections: Section A gathered information on general background of the respondents, Section B focussed on the factors facilitating citizens' e-readiness, and Section C emphasized the barriers inhibiting citizens' e-readiness. The response rate out of the 120 questionnaires distributed was 96%. The analyses that follow employed SPSS software and the results have also been analyzed using cross tabulation techniques. 4. Results findings and implications for e-Government Most of the respondents were between the ages of 25 and 45 and 60% of them were male. The majority of them (62%) worked in the public sector and 78% owned a computer. According to the respondents (69%), they are less motivated to use online public services since the websites are in English and not in their native language (Creole), and
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R.T. Shalini / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 536–539
Table 2 Trends in potential determinants of citizens' e-readiness, to serve as an indication of e-readiness on the part of citizens for e-services. Potential determinants
Trends
Indication on e-readiness
The number of fixed telephone lines was 357,300 in 2006, 36.4% higher than the 2000 figure of 262,000. Teledensity, defined as the number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, was 22.0 in 2000 and increased to around 28.4 in 2003, a level which was maintained until 2006. In 2006, 77.4% of households had a fixed telephone line. Mobile cellular phones In 2006, 98% of the population was covered by mobile cellular telephony, compared to the already high figure of 92% in 2000. The number of mobile cellular subscribers increased more than 300%, reaching 772,400 in 2006 compared to 174,500 in 2000, so that by 2002 cellular telephone lines outnumbered the number of fixed telephone lines. In 2006, 68.7% of households had mobile cellular telephone. Computer access Households owning a computer represented 24.2% of all households while those having internet access at home were 16.6%. Nearly 60.0% of households with no computer at home reported that a computer was not necessary. Some 72.0% of the households with no computer did not have the intention to buy one. 34.9% gave its high cost as the reason for not having one. Internet access Among households with computers, 68.4% had access to internet. The most common mode of access to internet was dial-up (76.0%) followed by ADSL (16.8%). Among households not having internet connection, some 43.4% reported that they do not intend to obtain internet connection. Tariffs The tariff for a three minute local call on a fixed telephone (off-peak time) declined to R1.80 in 2006 from R2.05 in 2005 and R3.00 in 2000. The tariff for internet connection per minute using dial-up access (off-peak time) decreased by 46.0% to R0.27 in 2006 from R0.50 in 2000, while internet access by household using DSL technology (128 kbps) cost R750 per month in 2006 compared to R1499 in 2003. IT literate In 2006, some 62.9% of persons aged 12 years and above did not have any knowledge of IT. Another 30.8% were IT literate, but did not have any IT qualification. Computer usage In 2006, 31.0% of persons aged 12 years and above reported using a computer. Some 45.9% of them reported using a computer at least once a day while another 43.6% used it at least once a week but not every day, and 10.5% less than once a week. The places of use were: at home (63.5%), school/educational institution (33.8%), work place (33.5%), and other (11.8%). Among persons using a computer at home, around 52.3% reported using the computer for entertainment purposes, 45.9% for playing games, and 19.6% for doing office work. Internet usage In 2006, the percentage of persons aged 12 years and above who used the internet from any place was 18.0%. Among internet users some 34.5% used it at least once a day, 46.8% used at least once a week but not everyday and 18.7% used less than once a week. The reported places of access to internet were: at home (69.8%), school/educational institution (21.0%), workplace (28.9%), cybercafé (8.4%) and other (4.4%) (Table 10). Among persons using the internet at home in 2006, 62.2% used the internet for email/chat, 76.2% for news or information, 27.3% for downloading games/music/software, 9.1% for distance learning and 7.7% for internet phone. DOI-Digital Opportunity DOI measures the magnitude of the digital divide. It is based on three categories of variables namely: Index Opportunity, infrastructure Infrastructure and Utilization. This index has improved from 0.45 in 2003 to 0.5 in 2006 and this figure is high compared to those exhibited by South Africa (0.38) and Seychelles (0.46). DAI-Digital Access Index DAI measures the overall ability of individuals in a country to access and use Information and Communication Technology. It is based on five categories of variables, namely: Infrastructure, Affordability, Knowledge, quality Quality and Usage. This index stood at 0.5 in 2006 and the two categories in which this index was poor were “Quality” and “Usage”. Fixed telephone lines
with only some degree of interactivity, although this is mostly limited to downloading forms. Hence to make them more motivated, they suggested that any e-Government project should be geared towards the creation of transactional websites. Another important factor noted by the respondents was that they are not using online public services simply because they are not aware of such services. As such, general awareness of online public services in the country can be driven by internet cafes, news media, tertiary institutions, businesses, and organizations. An awareness program in itself will not be sufficient; it must be accompanied by a campaign
Table 3 Sampling method. Region/districts
Population size aged between 16–60
% of total island population aged between 16–60
Sample size
Port-Louis Pamplemousses Riviere du Rempart Flacq Grand Port Savanne Plaines Wilhems Moka Black River Total
125,567 120,118 92,857 123,446 102,392 63,921 342,876 73,285 55,879
13 11 8 12 10 6 29 7 4
15 13 10 14 12 7 35 9 5 120
e-Ready (not a negative effect as decrease in fixed telephone lines is due to increasing use of mobile cellular phones) e-Ready
Not e-ready
Not e-ready
e-ready
Not e-ready Not e-ready
Not e-ready
e-Ready in sub-index “Opportunity,” but not e-ready in sub-index “Utilization” Not e-ready in the categories “Quality” and “Usage”
encouraging users and potential users to bring a positive attitude to ICT use. For example, to embrace smart cards, people will have to change from their traditional physical money transactions and adopt the card system. Building of trust was pointed out as an important factor in facilitating citizens' e-readiness. The respondents (79%) claimed that the use of public e-services depends on users' broader social attitudes more than on their ICT literacy. The more trust and interest users have towards the government the more active they are in using variety of public services. Additionally, the interviewees noted that while government websites do provide a lot of information on policies and programs, budgets, laws and regulations and other briefs of key, they lack e-participation and e-consultation — opportunities for involvement in decision-making processes and offering of public policy topics online for discussion with real time and archived access to audios and videos of public meetings. This is of prime importance in a small island like Mauritius where it is easy to move geographically since as long as the online public services do not allow participation and people will continue to use the traditional paperbased services as moving physically to the service providers is not costly. It must be noted that the guidelines for a road map for the successful implementation of e-Government must involve the following major steps: baseline assessment, master plan, and implementation. In the Mauritian context, the first two steps are
R.T. Shalini / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 536–539
already in place with the coming up of the e-Government Master Plan prepared by the Government of Mauritius. The major step remains that of implementation. Given that one of the major barriers pointed out by the respondents is resistance to change, special attention should be paid to managing change in order to prevent resistance; in other words, the actions for implementing the e-Government Master Plan should be treated as a change management process. This in turn implies the creation of a Change Management System, involving process enablement, people enablement, infrastructure enablement, and system enablement. Given the specificity of the island, the crucial area for facilitating citizens' e-readiness is people enablement. This has to do with ensuring that the right human resources are in place for managing and driving the change. Change takes time and for people enablement this implies efforts aimed at changing practices, knowledge and skills, behavior, beliefs, and values. 5. Conclusion The results of the research project reveal that a high e-readiness index may be only indicating that a country is e-ready in terms of ICT infrastructure and infostructure,2 institutions, policies, and political commitment, but it is a very poor measure of the e-readiness of citizens. To summarize the findings, it can be said that Mauritius is eready but the Mauritians are not, and the main factors preventing the citizens from being e-ready are resistance to change, static websites, and a lack of awareness and trust in online public services. Such findings imply that any e-Government Master Plan must be treated as a change management process, with special emphasis on people enablement aimed at changing practices, knowledge and skills,
2 The term infostructure indicates the casting of informational standards and knowledge stores, in the role of public goods, capable of increasing aggregate welfare, and consequently competing with the schools, roads and bridges of traditional public infrastructure expenditure.
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behavior, beliefs, and values. Moreover it must be noted that once the implementation phase of any online public service is over, steps must be taken to ensure the sustainability of such services, such as the need for a trusted environment and a suitable legal framework, in order to facilitate the progressive transition of humanity to working and living and learning in the wired world.
References Bui, T., Sebastian, I., Jones, W. and Naklada, S. (2002). e-Commerce Readiness in East Asian APEC Economies, The Pacific Research Institute for Information Systems Management (PRIISM). Honolulu, Hawaii. Bui, T. X., Sankaran, S., & Sebastian, I. M. (2003). A framework for measuring national e-readiness. International Journal of Electronic Business, 1(1), 3−22. Capgemini (2004). Online availability of public services: How is Europe progressing? Retrieved January 24, 2008, from http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/ 2005/all_about/egovernment/index_en.htm eUser (2004). Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://www.euser-eu.org/Default.asp? MenuID=8 Economist Intelligence Unit (2007). The 2007 e-readiness rankings: Raising the bar. A white paper from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Heeks, R. (2001a). Understanding e-Governance for Development. iGovernment Working paper series published by Institutes for Development Policy and Management Paper No. 11. Heeks, R. (2001b), “Building e-Governance for Development: A Framework for National and Donor Action” iGovernment Working paper series published by Institutes for Development Policy and Management Paper No. 12. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263−291. Kalkun, M., & Kalvet, T. (2002). Digitaalne lõhe ja selle ületamise võimalused (Digital divide and ways to overcome it). Praxis: Tallinn www.praxis.ee Ndou, V. (2004). E-government for developing countries: Opportunities and Challenges. Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, 18(1), 1−24. United Nations Global e-Government Readiness Report (2005). From e-Government to e-Inclusion. UNPAN/2005/14. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Division for Public Administration and Development Management. United Nations Publication.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Government Information Quarterly j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / g ov i n f
Are Mauritians ready for e-Government services? Ramessur Taruna Shalini ⁎ University of Technology, Mauritius, La Tour Koenig, Pointe-aux-Sables, Mauritius
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Available online 24 April 2009 Keywords: e-Readiness e-Services Mauritius
a b s t r a c t Mauritius, a country that represents one of the leading advocates of e-Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, has taken significant action to improve e-readiness dimensions and as such ranks high in terms of e-readiness index with respect to other Sub-Saharan African countries, based on the United Nations Global eGovernment Readiness index. A close look at the usage rate of e-Government services such as online application, however, reveals that it is very low while online transaction is still rhetoric. This paper therefore assesses whether the high e-readiness index gives a true indication of the citizens' e-readiness using available secondary data sources. It further explores the factors facilitating and inhibiting citizens' ereadiness through the administration of a survey questionnaire. The main findings reveal that the barriers inhibiting citizens' e-readiness are resistance to change, absence of opportunities for e-participation and econsultation, and lack of awareness. The main facilitators of citizens' e-readiness emanating from the analysis are awareness campaigns which tease out the advantages of online public services compared to traditional methods of service delivery, building of trust in government, and managing change. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction According to Heeks (2001a, b), one of the preconditions for the success of e-governance in developing countries is e-readiness. Given that e-service is a subcomponent of e-governance, any acceptance of e-services in turn requires the building up of e-readiness. Various authors and organizations have measured the e-readiness of a country or group of countries based on different criteria (see Heeks, 2001a, b; Ndou, 2004; Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 2007 Model; United Nations e-Government Readiness Knowledge Base (UNKB); and Bui et al., 2002 and 2003). Very few studies, however, have attempted to assess the e-readiness of consumers/citizens (Kalkun & Kalvet, 2002 in the case of Estonia and eUser, 2004 for Europe) despite the fact that their opinions are of vital importance for the roll-out and take-up of e-services. Moreover, in policy research it makes sense to focus on those factors (other than socio-economic ones) which inhibit citizens from using public sector online services, given that these factors can be changed by the policies. On the other hand, while socio-economic factors such as income and educational level will always remain, knowledge about their effect on the use of e-services is of little practical value. With the above background in mind, this paper assesses the e-readiness of the citizens of a small island developing economy, Mauritius. The rationale for choosing Mauritius lies in the fact that compared to other African countries, according to the United Nations Global e-Government Readiness index (made up of three sub-indexes: Web Measure Index, Telecommunications Infrastructure Index, and ⁎ Fax: +230 234 6219. E-mail address: [email protected]. 0740-624X/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2008.12.016
Human Capital Index), Mauritius is in a much better position to become e-ready. For instance, though the United Nations Global e-Government Readiness Report, 2005 ranked Mauritius 63 on a worldwide basis, the report also states that Mauritius, with an index of 0.5086, is still leading Eastern Africa as shown in Table 1 below. The country ranks high in terms of coverage and sophistication of state-provided e-service and e-product availability, as well as ICT infrastructure capacity. A high level of supply, however, does not necessarily lead to the intensive use of online public service.1 For instance, a survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (C.S.O) in 2006 reveals that the number of internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants was only 10.9%. Moreover, among internet users some 34.5% used it at least once a day, 46.8% used it at least once a week but not everyday and 18.7% used it less than once a week. Given this background, the island seems an ideal choice for assessing e-readiness of citizens. It must be noted that assessing the e-readiness of citizens implies a focus on issues of social inclusiveness and take-up of eservices. In Mauritius, however, social inclusiveness is not a major issue given that according to the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) the country ranks high among African countries and among the three sub-indices constituting the DOI, those for “Opportunity” are high while those for “Utilization” are low. Hence this paper will focus only on the take-up issue and social inclusiveness is beyond the scope of this research.
1 This is confirmed by Capgemini’s (2004) findings, which state that in Estonia there is a large gap between the availability and use of online public services.
R.T. Shalini / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 536–539 Table 1 e-Government readiness index for Eastern Africa. Country
2008 Index
2005 Index
2008 Ranking
2005 Ranking
Mauritius Seychelles Kenya Uganda Madagascar Zimbabwe Rwanda United Republic of Tazania Malawi Mozambique Djibouti Zambia Eritrea Comoros Ethiopia Burundi Somalia
0.5086 0.4942 0.3474 0.3133 0.3065 0.3000 0.2941 0.2929 0.2878 0.2559 0.2279 0.2266 0.1965 0.1896 0.1857 0.1788 –
0.5317 0.4884 0.3298 0.3081 0.2641 0.3316 0.2530 0.3020 0.2794 0.2448 0.2381 – 0.1849 0.1974 0.1360 0.1643 –
63 69 122 133 135 137 141 143 146 152 157 158 169 170 172 174 –
52 63 122 125 141 120 143 127 137 146 149 – 157 155 170 166 –
Region World
0.2879 0.4514
0.2836 0.4267
Source: United Nation e-Government Readiness Report (2008).
More specifically, the research questions to be addressed are: • • • • •
What are the potential determinants of citizens' e-readiness? What is the current status of citizens' e-readiness? What facilitates take-up of online public services? What inhibits take-up of online public services? What are the policy implications of the research findings in developing a roadmap for e-Government for the island?
2. Potential determinants of citizens' e-readiness in the context of Mauritius The following table shows the trend in the various indices which may affect citizens' e-readiness for e-services, using data made available from the survey carried out by the CSO in 2007. The figures and information from the above Table 2 show that though the country ranks high on the e-readiness index, its citizens, when examined for such criteria as computer and internet access and computer literacy, are not currently ready to use e-services. Hence there is a need for policymakers to deal with these dimensions if they want e-services to achieve their goals, otherwise citizens will be unprepared and this will result in low usage of e-services. In some areas government has already started to take action. For instance, concerning the low computer access, one of the reasons pointed out by citizens is the high costs. As such, to help in the purchase of computers government in collaboration with the Development Bank of Mauritius, provides a loan of up to Rs25,000 with a low interest rate of 3%. Concerning internet access it must be noted that the main reason why citizens do not have internet access is because they do not possess a PC (as noted above 68.4% of households who have a computer do have internet access). Moving to ICT literacy, it must be noted that in this sphere too, the government has taken several initiatives. For instance some primary (4.8%) and the majority of secondary (92.1%) schools are providing internet access for study purposes. Various projects have been undertaken to create ICT awareness among the public such as ICT 3 Training Programs (aimed at senior citizens, planters, students and unemployed), ICT Awareness Programs (aimed at women, students and unemployed). There is also the Cyber Caravan Project, launched in 2000, which aims at making IT facilities available to the community. These are just to name a few. However it must be noted that such initiatives are quite new and will take time to be fruitful in enhancing the e-readiness of citizens.
537
Given that mobile phone penetration is much higher than computers in homes, policymakers must think of considering mobile phones as a suitable vehicle for running a program to promote the uptake of technology across society. One major problem in Mauritius is the low usage rate of the internet. This low usage can be explained by the fact that in Mauritius citizens are not motivated to use e-services. The take-up of online services depends upon both rational and emotional arguments. Rational motives include concerns of economy of time and money in comparison with traditional service, and trust in terms of privacy, data protection, information security, or cybercrime. The low rate of trust Mauritians have in ICT should consequently inspire policymakers to show their firm commitment to investigating e-justice and cybercrime issues. It must be noted that trust goes beyond network level security, and it is vital to ensure that when dealing with a counter party over the internet or an extranet, the party is in fact who they purport to be and not a “fraudulent imposter”. Emotional arguments, on the other hand, vary amongst different user groups. In the case of senior citizens, the main reason not to use web-based services may be their desire to talk to civil servants. Furthermore, loss aversion theory (Kahneman & Tversky 1979) states that consumers are loath to give up benefits they already have in order to gain uncertain new benefits. Hence there is a need for policymakers to offer disproportionately more value in online benefits to persuade citizens to forgo the same amount of offline benefits. If the CSO survey results are compared with the data published by the UN, in terms of Web Measure Index (online presence of national websites), Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (internet Users/ 100 persons, PCs/100 persons, main telephones lines/100 persons, cellular telephones/100 persons, broad banding/100 persons), and Human Capital Index (adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio), it can be noted that, in a worldwide point-by-point comparison, Mauritius consistently lags behind in all these aspects and is thus ranked 63rd according to the UN Report. The above assessment, however, does not address the factors that inhibit and those that facilitate citizens' e-readiness. To provide some insights on these factors, a survey was conducted among the citizens. 3. Methodological framework There exist several methods for assessing e-readiness such as statistical methods, best practices, historical analyses, and questionnaires. In this research paper the last method is used. The targeted population are the citizens of the island aged between 16–60 years old, since individuals in the age group below 16 and above 60, according to various CSO surveys on ICT usage, use online public services the least. The sample was chosen to be representative of all the nine districts of the island as shown in the Table 3 below. It must be noted that the sampling technique used was stratified, followed by convenience sampling. The questionnaire was categorized into three sections: Section A gathered information on general background of the respondents, Section B focussed on the factors facilitating citizens' e-readiness, and Section C emphasized the barriers inhibiting citizens' e-readiness. The response rate out of the 120 questionnaires distributed was 96%. The analyses that follow employed SPSS software and the results have also been analyzed using cross tabulation techniques. 4. Results findings and implications for e-Government Most of the respondents were between the ages of 25 and 45 and 60% of them were male. The majority of them (62%) worked in the public sector and 78% owned a computer. According to the respondents (69%), they are less motivated to use online public services since the websites are in English and not in their native language (Creole), and
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Table 2 Trends in potential determinants of citizens' e-readiness, to serve as an indication of e-readiness on the part of citizens for e-services. Potential determinants
Trends
Indication on e-readiness
The number of fixed telephone lines was 357,300 in 2006, 36.4% higher than the 2000 figure of 262,000. Teledensity, defined as the number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, was 22.0 in 2000 and increased to around 28.4 in 2003, a level which was maintained until 2006. In 2006, 77.4% of households had a fixed telephone line. Mobile cellular phones In 2006, 98% of the population was covered by mobile cellular telephony, compared to the already high figure of 92% in 2000. The number of mobile cellular subscribers increased more than 300%, reaching 772,400 in 2006 compared to 174,500 in 2000, so that by 2002 cellular telephone lines outnumbered the number of fixed telephone lines. In 2006, 68.7% of households had mobile cellular telephone. Computer access Households owning a computer represented 24.2% of all households while those having internet access at home were 16.6%. Nearly 60.0% of households with no computer at home reported that a computer was not necessary. Some 72.0% of the households with no computer did not have the intention to buy one. 34.9% gave its high cost as the reason for not having one. Internet access Among households with computers, 68.4% had access to internet. The most common mode of access to internet was dial-up (76.0%) followed by ADSL (16.8%). Among households not having internet connection, some 43.4% reported that they do not intend to obtain internet connection. Tariffs The tariff for a three minute local call on a fixed telephone (off-peak time) declined to R1.80 in 2006 from R2.05 in 2005 and R3.00 in 2000. The tariff for internet connection per minute using dial-up access (off-peak time) decreased by 46.0% to R0.27 in 2006 from R0.50 in 2000, while internet access by household using DSL technology (128 kbps) cost R750 per month in 2006 compared to R1499 in 2003. IT literate In 2006, some 62.9% of persons aged 12 years and above did not have any knowledge of IT. Another 30.8% were IT literate, but did not have any IT qualification. Computer usage In 2006, 31.0% of persons aged 12 years and above reported using a computer. Some 45.9% of them reported using a computer at least once a day while another 43.6% used it at least once a week but not every day, and 10.5% less than once a week. The places of use were: at home (63.5%), school/educational institution (33.8%), work place (33.5%), and other (11.8%). Among persons using a computer at home, around 52.3% reported using the computer for entertainment purposes, 45.9% for playing games, and 19.6% for doing office work. Internet usage In 2006, the percentage of persons aged 12 years and above who used the internet from any place was 18.0%. Among internet users some 34.5% used it at least once a day, 46.8% used at least once a week but not everyday and 18.7% used less than once a week. The reported places of access to internet were: at home (69.8%), school/educational institution (21.0%), workplace (28.9%), cybercafé (8.4%) and other (4.4%) (Table 10). Among persons using the internet at home in 2006, 62.2% used the internet for email/chat, 76.2% for news or information, 27.3% for downloading games/music/software, 9.1% for distance learning and 7.7% for internet phone. DOI-Digital Opportunity DOI measures the magnitude of the digital divide. It is based on three categories of variables namely: Index Opportunity, infrastructure Infrastructure and Utilization. This index has improved from 0.45 in 2003 to 0.5 in 2006 and this figure is high compared to those exhibited by South Africa (0.38) and Seychelles (0.46). DAI-Digital Access Index DAI measures the overall ability of individuals in a country to access and use Information and Communication Technology. It is based on five categories of variables, namely: Infrastructure, Affordability, Knowledge, quality Quality and Usage. This index stood at 0.5 in 2006 and the two categories in which this index was poor were “Quality” and “Usage”. Fixed telephone lines
with only some degree of interactivity, although this is mostly limited to downloading forms. Hence to make them more motivated, they suggested that any e-Government project should be geared towards the creation of transactional websites. Another important factor noted by the respondents was that they are not using online public services simply because they are not aware of such services. As such, general awareness of online public services in the country can be driven by internet cafes, news media, tertiary institutions, businesses, and organizations. An awareness program in itself will not be sufficient; it must be accompanied by a campaign
Table 3 Sampling method. Region/districts
Population size aged between 16–60
% of total island population aged between 16–60
Sample size
Port-Louis Pamplemousses Riviere du Rempart Flacq Grand Port Savanne Plaines Wilhems Moka Black River Total
125,567 120,118 92,857 123,446 102,392 63,921 342,876 73,285 55,879
13 11 8 12 10 6 29 7 4
15 13 10 14 12 7 35 9 5 120
e-Ready (not a negative effect as decrease in fixed telephone lines is due to increasing use of mobile cellular phones) e-Ready
Not e-ready
Not e-ready
e-ready
Not e-ready Not e-ready
Not e-ready
e-Ready in sub-index “Opportunity,” but not e-ready in sub-index “Utilization” Not e-ready in the categories “Quality” and “Usage”
encouraging users and potential users to bring a positive attitude to ICT use. For example, to embrace smart cards, people will have to change from their traditional physical money transactions and adopt the card system. Building of trust was pointed out as an important factor in facilitating citizens' e-readiness. The respondents (79%) claimed that the use of public e-services depends on users' broader social attitudes more than on their ICT literacy. The more trust and interest users have towards the government the more active they are in using variety of public services. Additionally, the interviewees noted that while government websites do provide a lot of information on policies and programs, budgets, laws and regulations and other briefs of key, they lack e-participation and e-consultation — opportunities for involvement in decision-making processes and offering of public policy topics online for discussion with real time and archived access to audios and videos of public meetings. This is of prime importance in a small island like Mauritius where it is easy to move geographically since as long as the online public services do not allow participation and people will continue to use the traditional paperbased services as moving physically to the service providers is not costly. It must be noted that the guidelines for a road map for the successful implementation of e-Government must involve the following major steps: baseline assessment, master plan, and implementation. In the Mauritian context, the first two steps are
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already in place with the coming up of the e-Government Master Plan prepared by the Government of Mauritius. The major step remains that of implementation. Given that one of the major barriers pointed out by the respondents is resistance to change, special attention should be paid to managing change in order to prevent resistance; in other words, the actions for implementing the e-Government Master Plan should be treated as a change management process. This in turn implies the creation of a Change Management System, involving process enablement, people enablement, infrastructure enablement, and system enablement. Given the specificity of the island, the crucial area for facilitating citizens' e-readiness is people enablement. This has to do with ensuring that the right human resources are in place for managing and driving the change. Change takes time and for people enablement this implies efforts aimed at changing practices, knowledge and skills, behavior, beliefs, and values. 5. Conclusion The results of the research project reveal that a high e-readiness index may be only indicating that a country is e-ready in terms of ICT infrastructure and infostructure,2 institutions, policies, and political commitment, but it is a very poor measure of the e-readiness of citizens. To summarize the findings, it can be said that Mauritius is eready but the Mauritians are not, and the main factors preventing the citizens from being e-ready are resistance to change, static websites, and a lack of awareness and trust in online public services. Such findings imply that any e-Government Master Plan must be treated as a change management process, with special emphasis on people enablement aimed at changing practices, knowledge and skills,
2 The term infostructure indicates the casting of informational standards and knowledge stores, in the role of public goods, capable of increasing aggregate welfare, and consequently competing with the schools, roads and bridges of traditional public infrastructure expenditure.
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behavior, beliefs, and values. Moreover it must be noted that once the implementation phase of any online public service is over, steps must be taken to ensure the sustainability of such services, such as the need for a trusted environment and a suitable legal framework, in order to facilitate the progressive transition of humanity to working and living and learning in the wired world.
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