Shaun Pather

ICT EVALUATION: ARE WE ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS?

The evaluation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in development activities has metamorphised through different phases in the last 30 years. In this paper we explore the experiences of ICT evaluation in the broad business environment and draw parallels with the ICT for development (ICTD) environment. The paper motivates the need for a fundamental paradigm shift in ICTD evaluation. We argue that it is not sufficient to focus on the easily measurable tangible and quantifiable benefits of ICT. We motivate that the intangible benefits of ICT on development such as empowerment, self‐esteem and social cohesion are more important from a developmental perspective. Consequently, a more detailed exploration of the theoretical and methodological implications of this shift in the ICTD field is warranted.

The e-Government evaluation challenge: A South African Batho Pele-aligned service quality approach

Abstract Over the past decade, governments have embarked on major Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investments in an attempt to take advantage of the benefits of the internet in extending the channels by which services are provided to their respective citizenries. With the increasing reliance on ICTs, one of the challenges facing public sector managers is how to evaluate the success or effectiveness of their ICT investments. Given the citizen-focused objectives of governments, service quality approaches offer a suitable frame for evaluating ICT effectiveness. This paper therefore extends current e-Service quality research into the e-Government domain. The paper reports on the development of a multi-item instrument for evaluating the e-Service quality constructs of an e-Government website in South Africa. The development of this instrument also takes into account the service delivery principles which have been adopted by the South African government viz. the Batho Pele program. The study shows that there are six service quality dimensions applicable in e-Government evaluation, viz. website design, navigation, communication, site aesthetics, information quality, and security. The generic instrument allows practitioners to modify and utilise it according to their needs.

The chameleon: a metaphor for the Chief Information Officer

The role of CIO has been around for a little more than 20 years. In that time it has evolved significantly. Much has been written about the specific challenges faced by incumbents, describing the characteristics needed to be a business-focused executive leading a technology-intensive function. One aspect that has not been given enough consideration is that, because of the specific nature of role and use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in organisations and the different strategic and tactical issues faced by a CIO, the most needed characteristics may vary according to time and circumstance. Eight specific challenges that make the role difficult are identified and different perspectives on the competencies needed are reviewed. This paper, through literature review and discussion, examines the specific challenges faced by ICT leaders and suggests that a range of personal characteristics are needed for long term success and that these can be compared to key features of the humble chameleon: 1. The ability to change 2. The ability to see in multiple directions 3. The ability to strike fast when required, and 4. The ability to hang on when the going gets tough!

Public Access Computing in South Africa: Old Lessons and New Challenges

The public access computing (PAC) ecosystem in South Africa includes public libraries, telecenters, and cybercafés. These PAC venues offer marginalized and underserved populations opportunities to use computers and the Internet to meet their information needs. Based primarily on interviews with telecenters and cybercafé staff, and on focus group workshops with telecenter and cybercafé users, we assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of telecenters and cybercafés and their contribution to community development. Government‐sponsored telecenters continue to exhibit the same problems reported a decade ago, and libraries are slow in offering technological services. However, cybercafés set up through entrepreneurial initiatives fulfill an increasingly important niche and introduce a strategic business model for entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities. Learning from the experience of cybercafés can be an effective way to overcome the shortcomings of telecenter experiences of the last decade in South Africa. New business models in the PAC ecosystem, such as the entrepreneur model, need to be rooted within a developmental agenda in order to ensure that ICT facilitate meaningful outcomes amongst needy communities and that a local context for the social appropriation and effective use of ICTs prevails.

Implications of e-Service Quality Dimensions for the Information Systems Function

The measurement of Information Systems (IS) effectiveness has been prominent on the research agenda since the 1980s. Consequently various approaches for measuring IS effectiveness have been produced including that of service quality. This approach has its roots in the marketing discipline where service quality is primarily used to measure business success via a customer satisfaction set of dimensions. With the advent of e-commerce, many studies have focused on online service quality measurement from the marketing perspective. There has been scant attention however, to the role of the IS function in achieving acceptable levels of online service quality. In acknowledging the elevated role of the IS function in the e-commerce environment, the primary objective of this paper, is to highlight the issues around service quality, and in doing so shift this research agenda into the domain of IS management. In light of this a review of both traditional and electronic service quality research is provided. A comprehensive set of e-Service Quality dimensions are consequently synthesized and discussed. Finally, the authors explore the implications of these dimensions for the IS function. The paper concludes by suggesting that an important contributor to IS success in the e-Commerce environment relates to the degree in which IS functionaries embrace Service Quality attributes in the planning, design, implementation and management of IS.

A Strategy for Evaluating Socio-Economic Outcomes of an ICT4D Programme

Over the years business researchers have been challenged in their quest to develop evaluation models and instruments to evaluate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) effectiveness. In the current era in which ICT4D (ICT for Development) has been firmly entrenched on the social and development agenda, researchers have been confronted with the same challenge. This paper reports on the design of an investigation for the evaluation of socio economic outcomes of a national programme of community-based telecentres. The paper describes the challenges that were encountered in developing a suitable design frame to conduct the study. In presenting the research design, we discuss the rationale, and motivations for various design decisions. Additionally the paper highlights the short sightedness of implementers of ICT4D projects in incorporating monitoring and evaluation strategies during the conceptualization and implementation of ICT interventions.

A Citizen-Centric Framework for Assessing E-Government Effectiveness

In a quest to offer better services to both citizens and businesses throughout Africa, efforts to adopt e‐government projects are gaining momentum. As a result of this, there is a need for effective measurement of delivery and quality of such e‐services. Currently, there are several metrics applied to measure and rank the e‐readiness of various African countries. However, while these measures have provided a source of comparative analysis between different e‐government projects, they are far from being perfect. For example, most of these measures are diverse and difficult to compare, since they assume ‘one size fits all’ and ignore differing environmental, cultural and contextual factors of various countries. Further criticisms of these measures are that they are ‘first generation metrics’ designed for developed countries, as opposed to developing countries.

Providing a holistic perspective to evaluating e-service quality in web-based systems: a multi-stakeholder approach

Over a period spanning approximately twenty five years IS researchers have been plagued by the problem of how to evaluate IS effectiveness or success. After the advent of the WWW in the 1990s, questions have arisen regarding the relevance of previously established evaluation approaches to the evaluation of web-based IS. In this paper, we describe a holistic approach to Information Systems (IS) evaluation, focusing on web-based applications. In this context, a holistic perspective refers to a multi-stakeholder evaluation regarding perceptions of IS Success. The paper presents the results of a study in which a web-based IS at a national telecommunications company in South Africa was evaluated using e-Service Quality (e-SQ) constructs. The study demonstrates the operationalisation of an e-SQ instrument for the purposes of evaluating IS effectiveness amongst multi-stakeholders. Evidence is provided that measuring attitudes of different stakeholders provides a more holistic perspective of IS success.

The Adoption of e-Commerce in the Lesotho Tourism Industry

Over the years, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been revolutionising global markets. In developed nations, for example, there has been a push for developing countries to adopt ICT as leverage towards improving their economic development. However, in the current era, ICT adoption has not been as widespread as anticipated in some parts of the world, with its use in developing countries especially, lagging behind. This is particularly so amongst the small, medium, micro‐enterprise (SMME) sector, important drivers of the economy in the developing world. SMMEs in developing countries have been hindered in the uptake of ICTs, largely due to underlying issues such as the high cost of ICT, inadequate and unreliable infrastructure, as well as lack of policy necessary to promote competition and growth within the ICT sectors.