An Evaluation of E-Government System Success in Service Provision in Kericho County, Kenya

Abstract

E-government is a form of e-business in governance and refers to the processes and structures needed to deliver electronic services to the public (citizens and businesses), collaborate with business partners and to conduct electronic transactions within an organizational entity. County governments being in a state of development has given rise to new business processes, different information flows, and changed policies, new kinds of records, advanced security measures, and new data management methods. The general objective of the study was to evaluate the e-government system in service provision in Kericho County. A descriptive study design was used to evaluate the e-government system in service provision in Kericho County. The population of the study comprised all the Kericho county government employees. A simple random sampling method was employed where 50 respondents from four major departments of IT, Accounting/Finance, Administration and Customer care across the county were interviewed. A self-administered five point Likert scale questionnaire was utilized for data collection. A reliability estimate of 0.75 was realized for the instrument using Cronbach reliability coefficient. Data collected was analysed using factor analysis and results presented in tables. This study established that the e-government system in Kericho county has the capacity to handle various operations in and contributes to the overall development in the since it will enhance service delivery while reducing wastages that used to be experienced in various departments. It also documented that the county government is relying so much on the system since most of its operations have been digitized and can now be accessed real time. This paper further documented that good identification of user needs and adequate training help in speeding up the success of the system. The study recommends more research to be conducted to clearly present measures that should be undertaken to address the challenges associated with implementation, management and use of the system especially because the counties are still struggling to attract the best calibre of skilled professionals to run and manage their systems.