Development level of electronic government services. An empirical study of e-government websites in Pakistan

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-05-2018-0045
Pages33-46
Published date04 February 2019
Date04 February 2019
AuthorNadia Butt,Nosheen Fatima Warraich,Muzammil Tahira
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information in society,Information literacy,Library & information services
Development level of electronic
government services
An empirical study of e-government
websites in Pakistan
Nadia Butt and Nosheen Fatima Warraich
Department of Information Management, University of the Punjab,
Lahore, Pakistan, and
Muzammil Tahira
University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to explore theemerging trends of e-government in Pakistan with an empirical
investigation of the e-government websitesand the services they provide to the citizens of Pakistan. It also
investigates the level of development of these e-government websites in the Punjab Web portal. The
governments in Asian countries, including Pakistan, have been struggling to switch their services from
traditionalon-spot services to online services. Focal points of the studyare development level of e-government
websites,available e-services and quality.
Design/methodology/approach The e-government Web portal of Punjab province with 38
websites is center of attention in present study. Websites content analysis method is used to study e-
government websites (N= 38) from the Punjab Web portal. It used the Four-Stage Development Model
for the four stages, namely, publishing,interacting,transactingand transforming, to study the
phenomena.
Findings The ndings showed thatmost of the websites on the Web portal were at the rst (publishing)
and second (interacting)stage of development. For the provision of effectiveonline services, websites need to
be on the third (transacting)and fourth (transforming) stage. Only a few websites in the PunjabWeb portal
were the on transacting and transforming stages providing a mature level of services. In total, 40different
types of servicesare identied in 38 websites of Punjab e-government Webportal.
Practical implications E-government, Web portalsare developed to give citizens a single, easy access
point to several departmentswebsites and their services. This baseline study recommends to update
e-government websites periodically and put more focus on technological and contextualfeatures to enhance
the accessibilityand usability of the websites.
Originality/value This is rst empirical study of e-governmentwebsites to explore their services and
examine existinglevel of website development in this region.
Keywords E-service, E-government, Developmental stage model, Government services,
Government transformation, Web portal
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The managing of public services with the implementation of Information Technologyis an
emerging phenomenon inthe developing world, and the concept of e-government (electronic
government) has been attracting fame over the past decade. In developing countries,
governments are also introducinge-government services for its citizens to createthe culture
of good governance in its true terms. Pakistan is a developing country in South Asia with
Electronic
government
services
33
Received8 May 2018
Revised28 July 2018
12September 2018
26September 2018
Accepted28 September 2018
GlobalKnowledge, Memory and
Communication
Vol.68 No. 1/2, 2019
pp. 33-46
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9342
DOI 10.1108/GKMC-05-2018-0045
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2514-9342.htm

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