Toward Delivery of Effective Mobile Government - Literature review Example

? Toward Delivery of Effective Mobile Government Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Conclusion 11 List of References 13 Introduction Mobile government is defined as the government’s effort to use information and communication technology to transform the efficiency, transparency, effectiveness and accountability of information and transactional exchanges within the government, between the governments and between the government and its citizens. With daily continuation of advancement in the new technology, the mobile government is becoming popular in developed and developing countries (Awan & Kushchu, 2004, pp.2-8). This service enables the government to reach its citizens and at the same time citizens to reach its government through less costly and less time consuming means. In Oman people can apply for jobs via SMS and at the same time the government can update its citizens and provide other services through the SMS. However, the success implementation of this program depends not only on the government support but also to the citizen’s willingness to accept and adopt the mobile government services. For that case it is important to note and understand the factors contributing to mobile government rather than traditional service delivery methods. In previous researches, adoption of the mobile government has determinants such as usefulness, ease of use, perceived risk, trustworthiness, compatibility, external influence, relative advantage, image and facilitating conditions (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). On the other hand, citizens are also influenced by certain factors for easy acceptability of the program. These factors include citizen’s trust, culture and gender difference. It should also be noted that as much as the mobile government implementation has brought many advantages to the new advanced world, it has also some disadvantages that has come with it although it is said that the advantages surpasses the disadvantages hence popularizing the program globally. Literature Review To begin the study of the mobile government within the Oman government, it is important to know and understand the country’s geographical and political position. Oman is a member of GCC which consists of countries like United Emirates, the Kingdome of Saudi Arabia, the State of Qatar, Kuwait and the kingdom Bahrain. GCC was formed in 1981 to develop, coordinate, integrate, and interconnect the member states in all aspects and at the same time strengthen ties among its people (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). Because of the availability of oil resources in the region, the GCC of that particular region was considered to be the richest worldwide by the GCC Statistical Department in the year 2005 that estimated Gross Domestic Product of US$ 324.36 billion. According to the 2004 census by the Ministry of National Economy, Oman had a population of 2.34 million people with a growth rate of 2 percent and a density of 7.6 persons per square kilometre. In 2003, the illiteracy level of the Omani population was 17.8 percent as compared to the 31.8 percent in 1993 meaning that the country has greatly invested in education in the past few years. This is important in the sense that for smooth implementation of the mobile government, it requires citizens with reasonable level of education and income. The statistics show that 5.9 percent of the population does hold post-secondary education qualifications hence it is easier to evaluate the population that could easily adapt to the mobile government. The Oman government had a vision 2020 to develop its economy, promote external economic relationship, diversify industries and develop a robust economy that has professional leadership and skilled labour force (Horst & Kuttschreuter, 2007, pp.1838-1852). To achieve these visions, it became apparent that Information Technology was an essential tool and hence the government started investing in the mobile government. Generally the ICT sector is still at an early stage in Oman and its surrounding countries but its gaining momentum at a high rate. A survey conducted in 2001 by NFO MERAC showed that around 17 percent of the GCC’s population reported shopping on line meaning that the ICT sector is gaining momentum in the region as well as the Oman government (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). Mobile government involves implementation of government services through a mobile phone to provide citizens and the civil servants the benefits of getting government services from anywhere and at any given time. Mobile technology implementation differentiates the mobile government from any other technological developments in the public sector including the electronic government. This is so because mobile government applications have differentiating factors in terms of better precision and personalization in targeting users and delivering services, more accessibility and availability to the users and lastly larger and wider user base. In other words, the mobile government has the three concepts of power to pull, power to push and power to reach (Horst & Kuttschreuter, 2007, pp.1838-1852). The power to pull is in its characteristic ability of convenient accessibility and availability. Mobile government facilitates adoption of online government services to its citizens through the convenience it offers to its citizens anytime and anywhere. The fact that mobile devices are always on and unlike the personal computers that are only switched on at the time of use differentiate the mobile government with other government technologies like the e-government. Being that mobile phones are designed to be carried around by the user, they act as an instant communication tool anywhere and at any time (Rogers, 1995, 23-28). The power to push as character is in its better precision and personalization in targeting users and delivering content. Unlike a computer that can be shared among different users, mobile phones are meant for a single user and hence personal information can reach a user only and no one else. Being that a mobile phone is perceived as a more personal, familiar, and friendly device, it increases the acceptability, adoption and usage of the online government services by its citizens. Its power of reach is in its larger and wider user base. The mobile government can reach a lot of people through the mobile device as compared to the wired internet user community. Mobile government can also reach a variety of audience including those people without computer knowledge but are active users of the mobile phone (Horst & Kuttschreuter, 2007, pp.1838-1852). There have been several studies on investigating the adoption of the mobile government by the Omar government using technology acceptance theories and models such as; the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Technology Acceptance Model, the Diffusion of Innovation and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. For the development of mobile government, three interrelated initiatives are of importance; advancements in mobile and wireless technology, the acceptance of the mobile government by the general public and finally the development of government applications and service (Davis, 1989, pp.319-339). The mobile technology has already been adopted in the private sector that is now enjoying its efficiency in productivity and hence profitability. On the other hand, there still exist significant challenges on the part of government adoption to the mobile government. Introduction of mobile technology is inevitable but its impact on the government structure, decision making process and political culture is yet to be concluded. The mobile government can be applied in several ways such as; Government to Citizen, most of government services is aimed at responding to individual’s routine concerns and government transactions (Schneider & Perry, 2000, pp.8-23). With 3G phone system, the government can communicate by phones through the internet or messages directly to its citizens. In the same way, citizens can also reach for information to the government through the mobile phones at any place without having to go in person. There is government to business application of the mobile government. Apart from serving its citizens, government also has business transactions with organizations as well as individuals. These may involve renewing registrations, downloading tender among others. Government to business transaction saves time for queuing and is also efficient in terms of communication as a skill (Rogers, 1995, 23-28). There is also government to government application. Most government process requires collaboration and inputs from different public organizations. The mobile government facilitates streamlining collaboration and coordination of inter-governmental organization. Lastly there is government to Employee application where employers can communicate directly to their employees at whatever time and place. All this application of mobile government is of great use both to the government and citizens among other stake holders. Both the government and the citizens save on time, costs there is efficiency as well (Kushchu & Kuscu, 2003, pp.2-22). While looking at mobile government, its advantages and disadvantages cannot be left out. Its advantages include, it facilitates communication interactions between institutions, citizens and business. It enhances efficiency and effectiveness of the services offered and reduces costs to both the user and the service provider. Although mobile government might not be the best communication channel, still it plays major roles such as; improvement of service delivery and citizens social welfare, reduction in users and organizations time, efforts and costs. Gives one an opportunity to learn more since one can attain information at any given time at any given place. Another advantage is that, it helps achieve specific policy outcomes by enabling stakeholders to share information and ideas on a more personal level than the business level. It facilitates government reforms by advocating for transparency by allowing information sharing by everyone from any other place. It promotes good governance by building trust between the government and its citizens by allowing open transparency and accountability (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). For efficient implementation of the mobile government there are various factors both technical and non-technical that have to be considered and closely monitored. This includes government design and development, the mobile government needs proper planning to avoid failures. This could be achieved through involving public and private parties to design, development and integration process. Another important factor is considering the funding cost of the entire systems development. Costs should not be minimized at the perfection of the program. The integration process should keenly be monitored for efficiency in functioning. Another most important aspect to consider is the targeted consumer. The phone technology should be that which can serve as many people as possible and efficiently. The citizen’s culture should be understood and considered. There should be a difference from that service and the existing ones there should be considered that culture is different from one region to another and it affects one attitudes and perspective way of looking at life (Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004, pp.18-22). While looking at the advantages and benefits of mobile government, it should also be noted that there does exist some disadvantages too that include; not all people have phones or even have the phones that have the capability to connect to the internet. Current study also found that social importance was unimportant to many Oman citizens hence they do not see the mobile need so much. Mobile government is efficient and cost saving but it denies individuals the face to face interaction which is also important in developing personal relation and skills as well. Mobile use also becomes addictive and hence many people tend to put their trust in the gadgets which should not be the case. Lack of awareness of the latest technologies might be a hindrance to the mobile government where there are some people who are mobile illiterate and may not be able to get information as per their wish (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). Unlike in the business enterprises, the government structure could be little more complex since it has unique characteristics as compared to the business enterprises. People do not expect to be offered the same mobile service offered by the private sector to be equal to that of the government. The government has all the required resources and hence should meet peoples need for better services in mobile technology. This paper looks at the impact of mobile government with a response model that specifies three interrelated issue (Schneider & Perry, 2000, pp.8-23). It outlines on what is special or unique about the mobile government, it identifies challenges that are faced by the government in adopting the mobile government technology and lastly through looking at various mobile government applications, it enumerates the government efforts to keep up with those challenges. Generally it can be observed that the mobile government policies do gain the general public like the citizens and private organizations than it gains the government itself. This is so because the mobile government will only lead to new job description and duties and improves relationship between the government and its citizens but it will not necessarily result to significant changes in the government structure, hierarchical decision making process and politically oriented culture. Despite the actual gain on the government, there are various efficiency gains in terms of speed, better services and reduced costs (Kushchu & Kuscu, 2003, pp.2-22). Despite the governments little gain in the mobile implementation, most governments still have the pressure to adopt and implement the technology. The reasons for the increased pressure on government vary, as some reasons are technology related, some are related to public expectations and the government’s position to improve its services. The pressure that most government faces on the mobile technology could be summarized as; meeting increased expectations. When people are aware of a new service in the market, they tend to expect more from the government in terms of service deliverance. They will require accurate information wherever they are working from. There is pressure towards adoption of new technologies. With rapid globalization, the emergency of mobile internet in the market has pushed many governments to adapt to new technology so as not to be left behind in the global in innovation. The introduction of 3G mobile network services has made mobile government application more reliable than even the wired internet (Davis, 1989, pp.319-339). There is also the pressure of improving the e-government, the mobile government is not a replacement for the electronic government rather it is an improvement to the electronic government and there is a pressure to improve on existing technologies. There is also pressure on the governments towards catching up with globalization in government’s activities. Sophisticated applications are invented on a day to day basis and are being adopted both locally and internationally and hence the government also needs to catch up in the globalization. Also the pressure the governments faces is that of increased efficiency and effectiveness and governments cost reduction. If this service provides faster responses and reaches to a wider user base with less cost, then it is the responsibility of the government to adapt to such a technology that will reduce its costs but at the same time bring efficiency. Lastly, the governments are pressured to support economic development. In places where there is still no infrastructure, mobile phones are used instead of wired internet and hence information can still be accessed even from a more remote area. The above factors have pushed many governments to adopt and implement the mobile technology (Schneider & Perry, 2000, pp.8-23). Having looked at that, it is not wrong to say that mobile government is a more advanced and efficient and less costly as compared to electronic government. Electronic government on one hand requires a lot of infrastructure in terms of cable wiring and may not be accessed in a poor infrastructure environment (Davis, 1989, pp.319-339). On the other hand, mobile government does not require infrastructure to function and it can work from any place and at any time. Internet cost is much beyond the purchasing power of an average citizen in the Arabic world. In Oman, it was researched by Oman Telecommunication Company in 2003 that a dial up connection to the internet costs around AUS$ 0.78 per hour. Apart from being expensive, the electronic government is not that personalized and one’s personal information can easily be exposed. The mobile government on the other hand is more of a personal property with one user only who is the owner hence minimizing the chances of one’s personal information exposure (Awan & Kushchu, 2004, pp.2-8). Conclusion As technology is advancing rapidly, more and more communication channels are erupting and with each they come with advantages as well as disadvantages. Mobile government has proved to be more efficiency and effectiveness in terms of delivery of services to all the stakeholders. The system has proved that it can be accessed anywhere and at any time without constrains since phones are more portable and easy to move with without the need of switching them off. On the other hand, despite the advancement in knowledge, there are still some hindrances that affect it as a new technology (Davis, 1989, pp.319-339). The implementation process still has a lot of challenges that still needs to be perfected. This includes attaining the level where everybody is mobile phone literate and coming with alternatives that will safeguard each person’s culture. For perfect execution, the government needs to correlate with its citizens as well as all its stake holders. List of References Awan, M. Y., & Kushchu, I., 2004. “Global Acceptance of Mobile ID card”. European Conference on E-Government (ECEG 2004). Trinity College, Dublin, 2-8 Davis, F., 1989. “Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and User acceptance of information technology” MIS Quarterly, (13:3), pp.319-339. Dillon, A., & Morris M., Eds., 1996. User Acceptance of New Information Technology: Theories and Models, Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Medford NJ, 2-15 Ghyasi, A. F. & Kushchu I., 2004. m-Government: Cases of Developing Countries, Mobile Government Lab., 18-22 Horst, M., & Kuttschreuter, M., 2007. ‘Perceived usefulness, personal experiences, risk perception and trust as determinants of adoption of e-government services in The Netherlands’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 1838-1852. Kushchu, I., & Kuscu, H., 2003. “From E-government to M-government: Facing the Inevitable”. The proceeding of European conference on E-Governemnt (ECEG 2003). Trinity College, Dublin, 2-22 Rogers, E., 1995. Diffusion of Innovations, Free Press, New York, 23-28 Schneider, G. P. & Perry, J. T. (2000) Electronic Commerce, Cambridge MA, Course Technology, 8-23 Read More