This study examines citizens awareness and usage of government e-services. Governments use Web-based Internet applications to enhance their citizens access to government services. However, in a case study in Brunei Darussalam, it was found that the government s initiative in providing e-services in last few years has not been as successful as it could have been as the services have not been citizen-centric. This was due to the availability of e-services being unknown amongst the citizens and that a silo-based approach existed for each government ministry. One notable finding was that although the ICT literacy of Brunei citizens has rapidly improved, this has not been reflected in the citizens interaction with government. There are several challenges for citizens awareness and use of government e-services that occur on e-government initiatives. Failure in managing such problems, results in a high probability of these services becoming a white elephant , with inefficiency, wastefulness and cost overruns on e-government projects. E-government management agencies still do not have an organized citizens awareness strategy approach to managing knowledge in e-government initiatives. The proposed Government e Services Citizens Awareness Strategy (GeS-CAS) framework, incorporating communication, management and education strategies, can effectively be used to enable e-government agencies to deal with e-government projects problems and risks in an organised and efficient way. It is concluded that e-government initiatives management can be improved if the knowledge dimensions of the problems are well understood and are conveyed to the right people, at the right time and the right place, and are appropriately managed. This research has developed an integrated citizens awareness strategy Knowledge Management framework that provides a structured approach to achieving this which is easy to understand and put in to practice by e-government agencies, and can be used to solve citizen awareness problems, explore opportunities and make decisions.

From the perspective of a system developer, this study presents an in-depth analysis of the CiRM implementation process in Malaysian local government. The study was motivated by the lack of studies examining the CiRM implementation process initiatives in the local government sector. Furthermore, the performance of the Malaysian Government in this initiative has been subjected to various criticisms, i.e., not properly servicing its public. This raises the question as to what has happened during the period of the CiRM implementation process in Malaysia. As there has been a demand for local governments to invest more in CiRM projects, the need for existing and potential system developers in the Malaysian government to have an implementation framework that could guide their effort in implementing the system has become more vital. This study combines the case study research and grounded theory approaches. Twenty in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with system developers from ten local governments (i.e., five interviews from four pilot-cases and fifteen interviews from six primary-cases). The analyses of these data were divided in three main phases. The first phase involved a within and cross-case analyses of the pilot cases. The second and third phases involved a within and cross-case of the primary cases. These analyses enabled a set of determinants on CiRM implementation in the Malaysia local governments to be developed. The determinants were established by fitting their characteristics to the lifecycle of the CiRM system implementation process. Some of the determinants were found to be common to the existing literature while others were found to be enhancing the existing knowledge in CiRM implementation process. These determinants were then developed to shape a theoretical framework for the CiRM implementation process in the local Malaysian governments. This framework not only describes the main determinants in the implementation process, but also the forces and activities that lie within it.

This thesis analysed the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of mobile government services in Saudi Arabia using a mixed method approach combining surveys and semi-structured interviews with Saudi citizens and employees of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Three studies were conducted for the purpose of achieving the aims and objectives of the thesis. The first study shows that the high level of mobile penetration in the country suggests that there is already a demand of a greater range of m-government services despite the fact that still a large proportion of the Saudi population who do not have access to mobile technologies. Nevertheless, the results suggest that there is still a strong desire among users for the provision of mobile government services and the majority of respondents were willing to use such services and understand the benefits of using m-government. This thesis also shows a strong consensus among both government employees and citizens that m-government implementation would contribute to the technological development of the country. The findings of the second study suggest that the high level of mobile penetration offers an opportunity for the Saudi government to offer mobile government services. However, a number of barriers to mobile government exist, including poor quality and speed of internet, lack of customisation of services and data security and privacy issues as well as infrastructural challenges and bureaucratic attitude of the government departments. The third study focussed on the practicality of a mobile phone application, and for this purpose a mobile application for utility bills was developed and evaluated in terms of its usability, reliability and validity of the service. The thesis revealed that the majority of respondents were satisfied with the service usage, as application was easy to use without complications. However, participants were not comfortable to leave their details pertaining to credit card or any personal information. Misuse of information was major threat to participants, which further added reluctance to usage of the application. Respondents were willing to provide financial details if the service was authorised by government agencies. By exploring the opportunities of, and challenges facing m-government in Saudi Arabia, this thesis contributes to the m-government literature on developing countries in particular. This thesis offers important lessons for the m-government policy makers in Saudi Arabia and around the developing world.

The parallel between e-government and e-Inclusion research are critically important. It helps to understand how policies, society, organizations, and information technologies come together and it also helps to understand how the e-Inclusion factors impact e-government use and vice versa. This study attempts to explore the theoretical and practical intersections of e-Inclusion and e-adoption (Particularly e-government) and to show how they complement and possibly enrich the potential of e-Inclusion research. The rationale for this approach is that combining research on e-Inclusion and e-government has the potential to better understand the factors influencing e-Inclusion since they both share a common theme of Inclusive e-government. The aim of this research is to examine the factors that influence e-Inclusion in the context of e-government in the UK, through combining the decomposed theory of planned behaviour with Use and Gratification Theory (U&G). These two theories are used to develop a conceptual model for studying the multi-facetted dimensions of e-Inclusion. The two theories are chosen because of their appropriateness for e-Inclusion research; the critical factors that influence e-inclusion can be covered by (DTPB) constructs while the individual’s gratifications that determine using specific Internet activities is covered by (U&G) To fulfil the research aim and objectives, a quantitative research method was employed. The research subjects were citizens who are Internet users. Their views were sought through a survey that included 510 self-administered and group-administrated questionnaires. The conceptualisations of e-Inclusion and e-government have important implications for both researchers and policymakers. For researchers, this study delineates the complex and recursive relationships between e-Inclusion and e-government contributing towards the exiting limited body of knowledge in the field. For practice, it offers directions to help create a more comprehensive strategy that takes into consideration the alignment of e-government initiatives and e-inclusion policies.

This study explores the challenge of low citizen engagement and participation in e-Government in terms of lack of knowledge, experience, trust in e-Services and government itself. The research addressed the issues of factors that influence citizens' acceptance and adoption of e-government services in Libya, how to overcome the barriers, and determine serious games can promote citizen usage. This study applied an integrated approach utilising the Technology Acceptance Model and Trustworthiness Model theoretical models in a focused framework of intention to use. This research applied mixed research methodology, with exploratory sequential case study (quantitative) and qualitative investigation of the Libyan e-Government project and barriers to its implementation by semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, a quantitative survey questionnaire was used to validate the proposed framework, and a post-test questionnaire was also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the serious game. A conceptual framework was developed for all factors that may affect users’ intention to use e-Services and determine the adoption needs: the two main factors are e-Government adoption issues (including citizen trust in government, e-Services and the internet) and knowledge and experience. Using serious games is of a great value in learning and expanding knowledge, practicing and training, building self-confidence, and increasing security and privacy mechanisms. It would build trust between users and agencies by experiencing e-Services’ reliability, dependability, efficiency and capability, thus promoting adoption and use.

This research looks at using Inclusive Design as mean to bridge the age-based digital divide, by conducting Action research in a Local Council in the UK. Research on the digital divide looks at the inequality in technology access between different demographical characteristics. While this is very useful to highlight access inequality, it fails to address the steps required to bridge the gap. Some research even suggested that the digital divide is bridged and that research in this field is irrelevant. This is due to the narrow focus of some researchers about the digital divide. The focus should be not on whether older people possess Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products; it should be on how they use their products and what we can do to improve the person-technology fit. On the other hand, inclusive design has been a main driver to ensure that buildings and products do not prohibit people with disabilities from utilising the building or product. However, there is limited research about the extension of inclusive design practices in Information Systems (IS), particularly interface design and system design. Most of the current design guidelines and best practices do not provide a holistic view of the inclusive design process, thus leaving the designers on their own in terms of producing an easy interface for users, by just merely implementing the accessibility guidelines provided by the W3C to ensure inclusivity of the website or online service. Assuming that inclusivity is reached only by including screen readers and magnified modes to prospective users. The aim of the research is to provide a clear picture to discover the main challenges to Inclusive Design as well as provide a holistic and thorough inclusive design metric that allows designers to ensure that their proposed website or online service is inclusive of users from different age groups and capabilities. This design methodology can customisable according to the website or online service requirements, highlighting the important features to ensure inclusivity. Using Action research as methodology to investigate and improve design practices in a local council. The research employed a mixture of research methods to understand and intervene in the creation of an inclusive e-service during the implementation of the Care Act 2014 in the Local Council. First, semi structured interviews were conducted to provide insights of the changes that the Care Act 2014 which brought upon social care and the way that social care services are being provided in the county. Then, observations were performed during the design sessions of the online services in the Local Council to see how the design process is being carried out to ensure that the website is inclusive of all prospective users. Finally, when the website is fully developed it was tested on various users with from different age groups using the inclusivity index developed as part of the evaluation phase of the design methodology. In addition, interviews with older adults were conducted to understand the issues that make them using ICT difficult so the needs of these users were documented to help in the design process later on. The research indents to advance knowledge about inclusive design from practical and theoretical perspective. Practically, this research will help web designers and organisations looking to cater online services to as many people as possible and design methodology that fosters inclusivity. Moreover, this will help older adults to use online service by themselves, thus ensure that they can remain independent and exercise control over their needs from the government or otherwise. Theoretically, this research will help to shed the light on the digital divide and the ways to bridge this divide. By creating an inclusive design methodology that can fundamentally address the causes of the divide rather than just simply patch existing design methodologies.

In the on-going ICT world revolution, e-government applications are considered as one of the modern, growing, and important applications delivered over the Internet. These applications, enabling citizens to interact with government, have emerged in recent years, and are likely to have a positive impact on citizens, government, business and society. It is known that e-government is a new concept. Therefore, much effort is needed in achieving its prime objectives assessment strategies for both the public and private sectors. In this context, new technologies provide several benefits to government over traditional technologies. The literature review, completed by the researcher, indicated that there is a gap between practice and theory identified by the absence of a comprehensive assessment framework for e-government systems and readiness. Most of the assessment frameworks, reviewed for the study, are varied in terms of philosophies, objectives, methodologies, approaches. This implies that there is no assessment framework that is likely to cover all e-government readiness aspects. This research proposed to develop a comprehensive framework of associated guidelines and tools to support e-government Information Systems Readiness (EGISR) and Cloud Computing. The developed framework contains the internal as well as external factors affecting e-government readiness and has been categorised into four main layers namely i.e. technology readiness, organisation readiness, people/stakeholders readiness, and environment readiness. It is important to mention that the developed framework has been empirically tested and validated in a real environment taken the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a case study, surveying 600 citizens, 125 staff, and 25 officials. This research is one of the first studies in the Arab world which has focused on these three samples/perspectives and Cloud Computing. The finalised framework provides a comprehensive structure for the e-government readiness assessment process and Cloud Computing to help decision makers, in government, in setting up vision and a strategic action plan for the future of e-government. In addition it identities key elements and stages needed to implement such action plans. We believe that the assessment framework establishes an appropriate tool to assess e-government readiness. It can also be used as an effecting evaluation framework to determine the degree of progress already made, by government organisations, towards e-government implementation and maintenance.

This research contributes to the debate about the impacts of ICTs on the business of local government. It conceptualises the city as a site of local governance where ICTs have an impact on the social, political and economic complexities. Indeed, the starting point of this research is the widely held view that technology holds promise to alleviate both economic and democratic challenges faced by local government today. The conceptual framework combines Manuel Castells' Network Society with theories of democracy, governance and citizenship, as well as the so-called 'new economy'. Furthermore, the role and purpose of e-government is explored from the citizen/user perspective. Technology implementation in local government is contrasted combining the 'top-down' perspective of policy-makers with 'bottom-up' experiences of frontline officers and citizens. The research design is a case study of the City of Manchester with European benchmarking perspectives. The research found that whilst technology offers promise in theory, its implementation in a real context rarely fulfils that potential from an economic efficiency or democratic engagement perspective. It is concluded that ICTs are often used to trigger a desired behaviour related to the local government modernisation policy agenda. However, a lack of clarity and shared understanding between managers, users and citizens about the purpose of that technology lead to patchy implementation and poor take-up. Furthermore, the justification for new technology is often based on managerial and narrow values steeped in assumptions about rationality, economic efficiency or competitiveness. These managerial priorities are often camouflaged with a broader discourse of empowerment or inclusion, or sold as 'must haves' for which there is no alternative. Overall, in Manchester it is found that ICTs tend to increase the distance between the local government service provider and the user (citizen) as access channels are made 'corporate'. Moreover, the fragmented and atomised nature of communites is highlighted through the use of modern ICTs when the primary motives are to do with the interests of the private consumer-citizen. However, the benchmarking case study discovered that there can be alternatives and that citizens are more likely to adopt online access channels if they have higher levels of trust towards local government. The research concludes that local government should take their democratic governance role equally seriously as its economic governance role in designing and implementing technology. Incorporating broader democratic values into ICT policy and programmes is likely to broaden the appeal among the citizens, as well as steer the unknown 'spin-offs' and consequences of new technology in the direction of collective, public interest rather than individual, private interest. Democratic governance and socially inclusive policy-making serve as an insurance policy against the risks (e.g. in the field of privacy, economic viability, accountability) in the future electronically networked city.

Empirical studies that reviewed e-government status in developing countries found that e-government research scholars preferred to ask, ‘What is happening?’ rather than ‘Why is it happening?’. This showed little use of theory when it came to e-government study. Although high failure rates can happen anywhere, e-government research seemingly forgets to raise the question of why. To fill this gap, actor-network theory (ANT) was employed by this thesis as an analytical lens to investigate the failure case study of the Smart ID Card project, which was expected to revolutionise Thai public services with a single multi-propose ID card. Critical realism was the philosophical standpoint that framed the basic thinking in this study. It was intended to reflect on the e-government failure phenomenon; query its realities, and find a new set of answers. To achieve the aim of this study, both documentary research and in-depth interviews with relevant key persons were conducted, in order to synthesise the casual relationship and failure mechanisms in the Smart ID Card project. Firstly, the lens of ANT observed the causes of failure that originated from the problematization process, which referred to the role of the focal actor, the Cabinet, and less room for other actors (e.g. main public agencies and citizens) to negotiate in forming the actor-network of the Smart ID Card project. This led to unrealistic, unreachable objectives in the actor-network and opened the door to failure right from the beginning. Secondly, the interessement process, which had great importance in locking actors into position, was incomplete. Thus, the focal actor failed to enact standardisation, laws, regulations and a budget through negligence or lack of concern. This resulted in the failure of both human and non-human actors to enter the actor-network. Thirdly, the uncontrolled chaos in the enrolment process weakened endurance of the actor-network in facing its obstacles, for example, the emergence of a counter-network, which aimed to attack the main actor-network, the transformation of a non-human actor (Smart ID Card) that became a Trojan actor, and the instability of the focal actor. These obstacles brought disassociation among actors in the actor-network and led to the final moment, the betrayal. Fourthly, the betrayal resulted from errors in the earlier moments, which caused betrayal everywhere in the actor-network. All relevant human and non-human actors betrayed the actor-network by not working or supporting it properly in attempting to achieve its goals. Finally, the actor-network of the Smart ID Card project collapsed and could not function to reach its objectives. This meant that the Smart ID Card project did not revolutionise Thai public services as planned. This thesis is one of few theory based-works that contribute to the use of ANT modification as a unique vehicle for investigating failure phenomenon, especially in e-government projects in developing countries. The lessons learned from the story of failure in this study provide new solutions that open the door to successful e-government development.

This thesis investigates whether different public accountability forums interact with one another when they oversee the same decision maker. It contributes to the larger study of how decision makers are held to account in constitutional democracies where the simultaneous operation of multiple accountability relationships has become routine. Looking beyond the dominant assumption that multiple forums autonomously assess a decision maker's accountability against different and diverging standards, I aim to understand whether forums can influence the standards against which other forums evaluate the same decision maker. I draw on political and normative understandings of public accountability to answer one central question: do different public accountability forums interact with one another in a way that influences the scope of what a decision maker is obliged to account for and the normative standards against which that account is evaluated? Answering this research question involves examining the mechanisms by which interactions might occur and the motivations of actors to interact. I begin by critically reviewing the literature on multiple accountabilities, arguing that existing approaches can only partially explain how public accountability is constructed in multiple accountability regimes. I argue the focus on typologies of accountability emphasise the attributes of individual forums and overlook the broader dynamics of the accountability regime. I then develop an analytical framework to examine how the interactions between different forums, and other actors, might reshape the accountability dialogue. This framework is used to analyse the case of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in Australia (2008-2012). By presenting a contextSrich analysis of interactions between forums, and other actors, I find that multiple forums act in concert with one another and other actors to contest and then reshape the standards against which the two decision makers are evaluated. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of recognising accountability interactions for understanding multiple accountability regimes.