Factors Affecting Trust in Government's digital services in South Africa

Abstract

Governments have recognized the importance of transforming public services into digital services to deliver integrated, standardized, and high-quality services to the public, hence the heavy investment in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects to deliver innovative digital services and to open new channels for citizen engagement. As access to government’s digital services has become a human right in the digital age, government must ensure that quality and equitable digital services are accessible to all citizens. Despite the perceived benefits and opportunities offered by the digital services, uptake in South Africa remains relatively low, posing a challenge for the government. Trust is the precondition for the intention to use government’s digital services. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate and analyze factors that affect trust in government’s digital services in South Africa. This study adopted a qualitative research approach to conduct a systematic literature review. Fifteen articles, from credible online databases, were included in this study. The selected articles were published between 2019 and 2023 and were focused on South African Government. Findings show that government’s digital services improve accountability, transparency, efficiency and responsive of government, thereby increasing trust in government. However, challenges such as lack of political and management support, lack of ICT Infrastructure, poor privacy and security, lack of user participation in government innovation, affect trust in government digital services in South Africa.This study intended to make a practical contribution by providing government with research-based findings that may be used as an input into the strategies and policies developed to increase trust in government’s digital services, which may increase utilisation of digital services to build a digital society and to close the digital divide. This study also aimed to make a theoretical contribution towards the ongoing discourse on digital transformation of the public services to improve government efficiency and effectiveness.