Introduction
The introduction of E-Government, notably in Lebanon, has triggered considerable interest and discussion concerning its functionality concerning public service delivery. Information management in E-Governance encompasses gathering, storing, and disseminating data to support decision-making processes and improve service deliveries. The scope of this literature review is to investigate the effects of E-Government on public service delivery in Lebanon, spotlighting the impediments, advantages and assumptions related to this shift. Through global case studies from countries like Estonia, Singapore and South Korea, people can get crucial insights into E-Government best practices and learn about the potential problems and pitfalls. This review aims to provide a depiction of E-Government implications for public service delivery in Lebanon and beyond through extensive evaluation.
Citizen Acceptance and Participation (600 words)
Implementing e-government initiatives regarding public services has changed the order of government bodies’ operations and has significantly impacted citizens’ involvement. Bertrand (2021) refers to the role of e-governance systems as transparency enhancers, efficiency providers and service providers. Government departments may use digital platforms to reduce or remove bureaucracy and give citizens access to a great range of services with just one click. Not only are the citizens happy with this transformation, but it also becomes a foundation to foster high trust and participation in governance. Bertrand’s (2021) study is invaluable because it clearly shows how e-government platforms can transform how citizens engage with the government by creating extra and better modes of communication and services.
Moreover, according to Hussain (2018), by building easy-to-understand interfaces that deliver user-specific experiences and provide timely and appropriate feedback, users will have a better experience. The role of the government can be more effective if the parties involved put first citizen comprehension and preference in designing e-government platforms. An inclusive digital hub can give citizens the skills and tools they require to use digital services actively. Such a versatile approach has not only a positive impact on the effectiveness of e-governance systems but, in the first place, stimulates active citizen participation in the governmental processes. Additionally, e-government’s impact e on citizens’ participation in service delivery goes beyond service delivery; it spans accountability and democracy. In line with these authors’ view, digital systems enable real-time tracking, data-driven decisions, and better visibility of government operations. With the help of interactive tools, the authorities can make the decisions less troublesome, be better prepared and improve voters’ trust. The utterly transparent narrative of e-government attempts shows the public how the institutions operate and helps promote confidence in the process. Hence, these citizens become engaged with their community by giving their input and involvement in policy-making and neighbourhood partnerships.
Implementing e-governments is vital to countries like Indonesia and its public service performance. As for the e-government research of Aritonang (2017), digital technologies could also eliminate appropriate borders on participation and reach where service delivery is simpler and more convenient for the public. Such change from the traditional paper-based manner of electronic government helps in raising the quality of service delivery and also enables a more effective and integrated approach towards the provision of government services, which benefits both the citizens and government agencies. Furthermore, initiating e-government drives also has many advantages beyond service delivery enhancements. Hariguna et.al (2020) notes that telematics can facilitate efficient public transportation and improved service delivery, integrate various agencies’ services, enhance the country’s public image, and encourage higher civic engagement. Providing the ICTs and the citizens’ participation makes more inclusive and participatory governance possible through electronic governance. Thus, the resulting digitalization modernizes the government’s work and establishes a modern, unique image of the country on a technical platform, which can draw in investors and lead to a digital mindset among the people. Also, health outcomes might be one of many things that effectively stimulate people’s adoption and participation. According to OECD (2017), the critical drivers for e-government public value are efficiency, user orientation, responsiveness and openness. This demonstrates the need for governments to specialize in making fast and transparent systems.
Challenges in the Existing Public Delivery Systems (700 words)
The implementation of e-government in Lebanon has brought about significant challenges in the existing public service delivery systems. El Hajj et al.(2023) state that one of the main difficulties is the digital gaps that appear when e-services development occurs is creating inequalities in ICT and e-service access and disparities in using these services among different segments of society. The separation establishes such a boundary that only privileged categories of the society may receive the e-government services, causing a deep concern over inclusivity and equity in service provision. Besides, the contrast is seen regarding those who are eager to carry out e-services and those who are not, meaning that there is a gap in understanding and approach to digital government platforms among citizens.
In addition, in developing countries, citizens’ low acceptance and use of e-services, as identified by Distel (2020), is a substantial barrier to the success of e-government projects. However, the incentives and campaigns through media to promote the use of electronic government services for citizens of developing nations, including Lebanon, face the dilemma of citizens who refuse to use e-services. Low adoption of e-services is, thus, one of the significant impediments to citizen uptake of digital government platforms, and it becomes evident that it is necessary to consider ways of overcoming such barriers. Additionally, the work by Harfouche et al. (2019) underscores the significance of reducing the digital divide in e-service utilization, which, in turn, heightens the values of e-service to citizens, thus increasing e-service Take-Up. This underlines the need to solve the causes of the disparities in the adoption and utilization of e-services so that a more inclusive and participatory digital governance area can be developed in Lebanon. Through discovering and realizing what led to these disparities, policymakers and players in the field can create interventions that address the digital divide, enable equitable access to services and boost citizens’ engagement with eGovernment. Addressing these issues is critical for Lebanon to gain the most out of its e-government system, facilitate the delivery of public services, and promote inclusive and responsive governance.
Furthermore, not only does the digital divide problem stand in the way, but the low citizen acceptance and the integration challenge of e-government into public services delivery mechanisms presented by OECD (2024) is another barrier. A co-existence of the age-old method of using paper-based processes and modern digital platforms could deleterious effect on the efficient operations of government, such as oversupply of workload, waste of resources, and reluctance to change. Thus, integrating public facets into the e-governance framework is a complex matter; therefore, it is only logical to argue that the potential of e-governance in promoting good service delivery is undone. Resolving this challenge is an extensive process that can be achieved through a multifaceted strategy integrated into the business procedure by ensuring digitalization is embraced, workflows are rethought, and a culture of innovation and flexibility is instilled in the public institutions.
Moreover, this data security and privacy issue will also be another concern for e-government implementation in Lebanon. Hence, along with the digitalization of public services, suddenly, the need to take care of and protect the citizens’ data emerges while, at the same time, their privacy should be respected. Insufficient and outdated cybersecurity systems and data protection methods could be responsible for severely eroding trust among online service users. Properly silencing these issues implies that robust data protection laws should be put in place with secure infrastructure and clear policies covering citizen information protection and compliance with data privacy laws. The virtual government system has to be safe and trustworthy for users to do electronic services.
E-government deployment in Lebanon is impeded by regulatory barriers and bureaucratic procedures specifically influencing the attitude and subjective norms on E-government user intention. As Gultom (2020) noticed, these factors can help overcome these challenges, such as legal reforms, more advanced procedures, and more muscular inter-agency coordination crucial for providing digital service delivery more effectively. Amending the regulations, harmonizing the methods, and fostering the partnership among governmental organs will contribute to a smooth transition to e-government that increases data coherence between the various sectors, thus paving the way for adequate service provision. Overcoming the main structural problems in Lebanon will create a favorable environment for e-government programmes and produce more effective public service delivery.
Moreover, there is another hurdle in adopting e-government services due to the need for sufficient digital literacy and e-skills of citizens in Lebanon, which was mentioned in the article of Fakhoury (n,d). Little or no knowledge of the use of the technology, training programs that fail to tap into the citizen resources, and poor awareness about the tools can cause citizen participation in online government platforms to stall. To resolve this problem, multidisciplinary approaches around digital skills awareness, capacity-building, and program implementation can be useful to improve digital literacy nationwide so the benefits of electronic government can be provided to more people in Lebanon.
References
Aritonang, D. M. (2017). The impact of the e-government system on public service quality in Indonesia. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 13(35), 99-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.19044/esj.2017.v13n35p99
Distel, B. (2020). Assessing citizens’ non-adoption of public e-services in Germany. Information Polity, 25(3), 339-360.https://content.iospress.com/articles/information-polity/ip190214
El Hajj, B., Karadas, G., & Zargar, P. (2023). How E-Government Can Help Societies during a Crisis: Implications of UTAUT Model in Lebanon. Sustainability, 15(6), 5368. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065368
Fakhoury, R., & Chebaro, B. Mukhtar: A Human Intermediary Solution for E-government in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rania-Fakhoury/publication/345391270_Mukhtar_A_Human_Intermediary_Solution_for_E-government_in_Lebanon_Jordan_and_Iraq/links/
Gultom, S. (2020). The influence of attitude and subjective norm on citizen’s intention to use E-government services. Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues, 9(M), 173-187.
Harfouche, A., & Kalika, M. (2019). eGovernment Implementation and Acceptance: Challenges to Increase Public eServices Take-Up in Lebanon. In AMCIS 2009 Doctoral Consortium (Americas Conference on Information Systems). AIS Electronic Library (AISeL).https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/301347295.pdf
Hariguna, T., Ruangkanjanases, A., & Sarmini. (2021). Public behaviour as an output of e-government service: the role of new technology integrated into e-government and antecedent of relationship quality. Sustainability, 13(13), 7464. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137464
Hussain, J., Ul Hassan, A., Muhammad Bilal, H. S., Ali, R., Afzal, M., Hussain, S., … & Lee, S. (2018). Model-based adaptive user interface based on context and user experience evaluation. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, 12, 1-16.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12193-018-0258-2
Mensah, I. K., Zeng, G., & Mwakapesa, D. S. (2022). Understanding the drivers of the public value of e-government: Validation of a public value e-government adoption model. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 962615.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9513459/
OECD. (2017). PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION AND DIGITAL GOVERNMENT. OECD iLibrary. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/gov_glance-2017-72-en.pdf?expires=1711475868&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=C8426E8210A1E77898FA2526B6DC2039
OECD. (2024). Digital Government in Lebanon: Governance for Coherent and Sustainable Policy Implementation. OECD iLibrary. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/a711b0c1-en/index.html?itemId=%2Fcontent%2Fpublication%2Fa711b0c1-en
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