The “I” Between G and C: E‐Government Intermediaries in Developing Countries

Abstract

While there has been a rapid growth in e-Government initiatives in developing countries, whether it has led to providing effective government services to the citizens has remained a question of concern. Evidence suggests that this objective is far from being met. The main hurdle has been that an overwhelming part of the citizens in these countries do not have the capability to either access government information physically or to use it effectively even when they can access it. In this paper, the conjecture is made that linking citizens to government in developing countries require an intermediary. Based on prior articulations of this concept, this paper develops the entity Intermediary and explicates its role in the government to citizen interaction process 12 .

Improving qualities of e‐government services in Rwanda: A service provider perspective

“…Development work does not end upon the launch of an e‐government service (Bertot & Jaeger, ); it is continuous. As we investigate qualities of e‐government services in an LDC, it is important to recognize the dominant use of intermediaries; they intervene between the government and citizens to support citizens who cannot access or use information and services (Sein, ). Service providers welcomed the idea of getting users' feedback.…”

The role telecentres play in providing e‐government services in rural areas

“…However, organised intermediary functions have, to a large degree, been neglected and must be heavily emphasised, to develop telecentres into important actors in the distribution of e‐government and in development in general. Sein () has shown that intermediaries can play an important role in PIAP use in general and in e‐government use in particular, and in our opinion, the public sector has to take responsibility also for the demand side. This can be done through a public/private partnership with these potential intermediaries.…”

Intermediaries: bridges across the digital divide

“…Our conceptualization is based on our own research work and on the few topologies that exist in the e-government literature (Sein, 2011;Sorrentino & Niehaves, 2010). We also draw upon research that has explicitly delved into the roles of Intermediaries (Al-Sobhi et al, 2010;OECD, 2010).…”

“…However, with a few notable exceptions, their involvement directly in the interaction process has received less explicit attention. Among the exceptions have been terming these third parties as intermediaries (Heeks, 2002), examining their roles in mediation (Beck, Madon, & Sahay, 2004;Madon & Sahay, 2002) and categorizing the different types of intermediaries in the specific context of e-government (Al-Sobhi, Weerakkody, & Kamal, 2010;Sein, 2011;Sorrentino & Niehaves, 2010). What is lacking is a systematic conceptualization of their characteristics, roles and form of intermediation in the wider context of ICT for development in general.…”

“…Even among the literate, resources (time, money), knowledge and motivation to use ICT is low (Heeks, 2000). The vast majority of the population simply do not know what information is available, where to find it and how to use it (Sein, 2011). There is a gender, social and educational divide as well (Warschauer, 2003).…”