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Chapter
DIFFUSION AND USAGE OF PUBLIC E-SERVICE
INDICATORS AND DRIVERS IN LEBANON
Rania F. Fakhoury1,* and Benoit Aubert2
1United Nations Development Programme
Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform Lebanon
2ICD International Business School Paris, France
ABSTRACT
Lebanon is making significant investments in e-government technology hoping to
improve its citizens’ quality of life while decreasing corruption. This chapter will study
the challenges and opportunities of achieving these objectives by implementing e-
government technology in an emerging country and providing strategies and policy
recommendations. A variety of important challenges facing e-government development
in Lebanon have been identified. The focus is on prioritizing e-service citizen demand
over government supply, on improving the strong technical resources available to reach
as many citizens as possible specifically in rural areas, and on improving the overall
development of e-government at the country level. This study is a longitudinal
contribution aimed at extracting the common drivers of the e-services availability and
diffusion across Lebanon by studying the relationship between demand and supply driven
indicators. The authors empirically address the explanation of the e-government
indicators and their correlation with the intention to use e-services. This quantitative
study shows that only the technical infrastructure has a positive strong correlation with
the behavioral intention to use e-services. The challenge facing the government is to
* Corresponding author: Rania F. Fakhoury is an ICT Project Manager coordinating and managing multiple project
entities for the government in the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the Minister of
State for Administrative Reform in Lebanon. Her main research interest is e-government. Her DBA thesis has
examined the impact of consumer education on the behavioral intentions to use e-government services in
Lebanon. She can be contacted on raniamag@gmail.com.
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
2
understand the citizens’ demands and coping strategies and to provide the proper human
and technical infrastructure that will facilitate the transition to e-services. This can be
achieved by investing in a new e-services infrastructure allowing citizens to efficiently
interact with the government. The government will hence achieve its objectives of better
serving its citizens who will be involved in the design and use of public services thus
ensuring the well-being of all.
Keywords: e-services, e-government, Lebanon
INTRODUCTION
One of the goals of the Government of Lebanon is to utilize e-government services to
fight corruption and to improve the citizens’ quality of life. It is thus essential to engage
stakeholders (citizens, civil society, public, and private sectors) to maximize learning and
the obtained benefits. Moreover, political will is a necessity to allow participation,
collaboration, and consensus on e-government priorities and targets (OMSAR, 2012).
The government needs to implement an effective communication plan to educate
stakeholders regarding the value and benefits of utilizing e-government services and
needs to make an effort to improve Lebanon’s weak legal environment by liberalizing,
regulating, and developing the telecommunications sector (Fakhoury & Baker, 2016).
This is ideally done by enhancing programs that highlight individual needs, by delivering
services with lower costs and less bureaucracy, and by taking into account new trends
such as e-participation and open government. This will also help develop a framework for
better e-governance thus increasing the social and economic impact of e-government at a
national level.
In this chapter, the authors analyze the available indicators on e-government
empirically addressing their correlation with a demand driven construct: the behavioral
intention to use e-services. In fact, the authors aim to uncover how the supply (or
availability) of the various public e-services in Lebanon can be associated to demand
(behavioral intention to use e-services).
This chapter is organized as follows. In the next section, a systematic analysis of the
main milestones of the e-government and of the challenges facing this issue is developed.
After that, the employed methodology is presented along with the survey field work and
the results of the empirical study with respect to the supply and demand sides. The final
section concludes by pointing to some concerns regarding the development of the e-
government and by making a connection with the current political situation and policy-
making in Lebanon.
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
3
LITERATURE REVIEW
E-Government
E-Government is a relatively old concept. Many scholars date the birth of this idea
back to 1993, attributing its inception to President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al
Gore during their election campaign. The idea was to put it into motion with the proposed
“Government Paperwork Elimination Act” during 1998-1999. Some experts disagree
with this estimate and believe it to be much older. Heeks (2011), for instance, claims that
e-governments originated in an article published in 1954 by Mr. W. Howard Gammon
called “The Automatic Handling of Office Paper Work” (Gammon, Diebold, & Davis,
1954). In the USA, the deployment of computer and telecommunication technologies has
begun as early as the 1950c in the local public government (Attour, 2013, p. 2).
Academic journals dedicated to this novel idea have emerged including E-
Government Quarterly (EGQ), International Journal of Electronic Government Research
(IJEGR), and Journal of E-Government (JEG), and a growing body of research has taken
place since then in the field. To illustrate this, in 2016, the e-government reference library
in the US has been found to contain 8,181 references touching on the issue of electronic
government and electronic governance.
Like any other conceptual model, scholars and practitioners have proposed different
definitions for e-government that cover several criteria (objectives, benefits, stakeholders,
main applications, and maturity stage) and depend on the current ICT sector and the
government in the country. One of the most comprehensive and exhaustive definitions
that leverages the innovative concept introduced in this study is defined in 2003 by the
World Bank as:
Use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area
Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations
with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a
variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved
interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to
information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be
less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost
reductions (World Bank, 2003)1.
Fakhoury & Aubert (2013) have identified two visions for e-government with a
different way of thinking:
1 http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict/brief/e-government
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
4
Table 1. Important Milestones in the History of E-Government
Year
Initiative
1950
In 1951, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly built the first commercial computer in
the United States called UNIVAC. The U.S. Census Department became their
first customer.
In 1954, the first computer payroll system was also deployed in the United States.
1954
The first research paper about e-government by W. Howard Gammon writing in
Public Administration Review (Gammon et al., 1954).
1993
Vice President Gore led the National Performance Review, which placed a strong
emphasis on the role of e-government in federal services.
1998-
1999
E-government in the United States was especially driven by the 1998
Government Paperwork Elimination Act and by President Clinton’s December
17, 1999 memorandum on E-Government, which ordered the top 500 forms used
by citizens to be placed online by December 2000. The memorandum also
directed agencies to construct a secure e-government infrastructure.
2003
Ake Gronlund attempted to formulate a foundational e-government theory
(Scholl, 2009).
2004-
2005
Dedicated e-Government Journals were founded including e-Government
Quarterly (eGQ), International Journal of Electronic Government Research
(IJEGR), and Journal of E- Government (JEG).
The UK launched the new strategy entitled Transformational Government -
Enabled by Technology in 2005.
2005
The first European, Asian, and American conferences about m-government,
where “m” refers to mobile technology.
2007
President Obama’s initiative on “Transparency and Open Government”.
2009
“A managed, citizen-centric, process of ICT-enabled change within the public
sector and in its relationships with the private and voluntary sectors, which puts
the needs of citizens and businesses at the heart of that process and which
achieves significant and transformational impacts on the efficiency and
effectiveness of government” in 2009 - OASIS (OASIS TGF Committee, 2014,
p. 5).
2013
Third wave of e-government: Lean-government or L-government.
A set of tools and a system to reduce costs and improve e-services based on a
philosophical approach to a smaller government (Savoldelli, Codagnone, &
Misuraca, 2014, p. 64). It embraces a minimalist approach by “doing more with
less” and using technology “by making the government smaller and viewing the
government within its environment and shifting power downward toward the
citizens” (Janssen & Estevez, 2013, p. 53).
2016
E-government reference library contains 8,181 references of peer-reviewed in
predominantly the English language. The number of qualifying references in the
library increased by 282 or 3.6% over version 11.5 (December 2015) and by 8.3
% over version 11.0 (July 2015). This publication period was another good one
for e-Government-related research adding a 3-digit number (628) of new peer-
reviewed academic references to the EGRL within 12 months.
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
5
• The first Technology Oriented places technology at the core of its business model
and uses it to deliver the same services as previously but with more efficiency.
• The second Citizen Oriented puts the citizen at the heart of the project.
Technology oriented. In the Technology Oriented vision, Fakhoury & Aubert (2013)
highlight that the use of information technology and communication (ICT) improves
services provided to end-users and increases the efficiency of public services. The design
of such projects takes into consideration the view of government, its interests, and needs
but ignores those of the users and their expectations. The major players; namely, the
government, international organization, and the private sector, have used information
technology and communication (ICT) as their Trojan horse. This has allowed them to
provide funds and to praise the socioeconomic benefits while claiming that the services
will cost less, be faster, and be more reliable. Factors such as the reform of public
administration, efficiency improvement, the reliability and timeliness of administrative
processes, corruption reduction, revenue increase, and decision making enhancement
within the government are among those benefits (Hu, Pan, Lu, & Wang, 2009).
Transformational-government initiated around 2005 aims at a radical organizational
transformation in order to innovate services. It is a technology-driven view that uses
technology to improve organizational structures with the goal of reaching more citizens.
This idea of transformation was first introduced in the World Bank’s definition of e-
governments as the “use by government agencies of information technologies (such as
Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that can transform relations
with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government” (World Bank, 2003)2.
Nevertheless, these projects disregard the needs of users and their interests and have
consequently ultimately failed. Indeed, potential users are very reluctant to utilize
electronic services (Heeks, 2002; Heeks & Santos, 2009) provided by public services
often evoking the question of trust or knowledge (Bannister & Connolly, 2011; Carter &
Bélanger, 2005).
Citizen oriented. The Citizen Oriented vision is not a new concept. It is similar to
the concept of “customer orientation” used in companies and is one of the pillars of the
“market orientation” tied to company performance (Gotteland, Haon, & Gauthier, 2007).
The concept of market orientation implies both responsive market orientation, which
addresses the expressed needs of customers, and proactive market orientation, which
addresses the latent needs of customers (Gotteland et al., 2007). Some researchers
(Axelsson, Melin, & Lindgren, 2010; Chan & Pan, 2008; Kolsaker & Lee-Kelley, 2008;
Reddick, 2011; Scholl, 2007; Wang, 2009) focus on the concept of citizen engagement
2 http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict/brief/e-government.
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
6
and participation although the tendency to explain the adoption of e-government through
given Information and Communication Technology (ICT) remains dominant. The Citizen
Oriented vision remains in how to achieve the ambitious objective (the citizen at the heart
of the action and the transformation of government) and the knowledge of the
methodology and procedures for citizen participation in the process.
The third wave of e-government dubbed Lean-government or L-government is a set
of tools and a system to reduce costs and improve e-services based on a philosophical
approach to a smaller government. This government is able to make public value such as
initiating trust in the public sector, saving time, finding what one is looking for, having
quick responses, etc.… (Savoldelli et al., 2014, p. 64). It embraces a minimalist approach
by “doing more with less” and using technology “by making the government smaller and
viewing the government within its environment and shifting power downward toward the
citizens” (Janssen & Estevez, 2013, p. 53).
In a recent study on barriers to the adoption of e-government, the authors insist on
finding “new or improved ways of interacting with stakeholders and citizens as sources
of knowledge” to improve e-government delivery and to create public value for the
citizens (Savoldelli et al., 2014, p. 68).
E-Government Challenges
Increase e-government usage. The adoption of e-government systems by end users
remains below expectations. The low adoption and use of e-government services by end
users, and more specifically the government to citizens (G2C) e-services are still major
barriers to successful e-government implementation (Ahmad, Markkula, & Oivo, 2012;
Heeks, 2002; Heeks & Santos, 2009; Hung, Chang, & Yu, 2006; Venkatesh, Chan, &
Thong, 2012).
In 2016, the e-government uptake was 48% in the EU28; however; there is a lot of
variation in the characteristics of the individuals using the internet for interacting with
public authorities. More than 80% of the citizens in the Nordic countries (Iceland,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) are using e-government services, while Italy has
a rate lower than 24% (European Commission, 2016). The UK, placed first in the
standings of the United Nations E-Government Survey in 2016, had 53% of its citizens
using the Internet to interact with public authorities in 2016. In the developing countries,
the usage of e-services varies. While around 41% of the citizens interact with public
authorities through the internet in Turkey, only 2% of the citizens are actually using e-
services in Egypt (United Nations, 2014).
A 2014 study on public segmentation and clustering in Lebanon underscores that
63% of the citizens do not have the intention to use public e-services (Chebaro,
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
7
Fakhoury, & Baker, 2016). There is a phenomenon of e-government usage divide (and
not a digital divide) across many countries that warrants close attention (United Nations,
2014). Gauld, Goldfinch, and Horsburgh (2010) show that for particular groups, a
preference remains for traditional dealing; i.e., non-digital, with the government, and the
use of transactional activities; i.e., e-service, remains the selected option of the minority.
Ahmad et al. (2012) indicate that although many governments are launching and
providing new e-services for all users, the low usage of e-services is a serious and
continuing problem for them. Hung et al. (2006) believe that the low acceptance of e-
services is “recognized as an endemic problem for government policy makers,
government agencies, and e-Government services providers” (p. 98). The main reason
behind this low usage is the gap between supply and demand. Heeks and Santos (2009)
indicate that the low usage is due to a gap in design-reality or in design factor, thus
between Where the e-government project wants to get us and the actual situation; namely,
Where we are now. According to them, the government does not involve all stakeholders,
including the citizens, while designing e-government services. Similarly, Nam (2014)
recommends investigating the types and determinants of e-government usage and the
purpose of specific e-services uptake over others. Reddick & Leonidas (2014)
demonstrate that end-users employ e-government services mainly when they are obliged
to use them. For example, in the US, healthcare.gov users “are obliged to register in order
to gain health insurance” (Anthopoulos, Reddick, Giannakidou, & Mavridis, 2016, p.
171).
Dijk et al. (2008) find that technical factors such as the lack of digital skills and the
lack of physical access, be it Internet or/and broadband connection, equally explain the
low usage. Internet connectivity and universal access for all citizens are among the
required resources or technical factors mentioned by many researchers in e-government
(Akman, Yazici, Mishra, & Arifoglu, 2005; Carter & Bélanger, 2005, 2009; Carter,
Shaupp, Hobbs, & Campbell, 2011; Economic & Social Commission for Estern Asia,
2009; Fang, 2002; Komito, 2005). The infrastructure is an important factor and is one of
the six critical pillars for E-readiness (Guha & Chakrabarti, 2014). Safeena and Kammani
(2013) indicate that “citizens with fulltime internet access are more likely to be aware of
and adopt e-government services” (p. 17). In Turkey for example, “it is almost impossible
to overcome the other problems of e-government without overcoming the technical
infrastructure problems” (Yildiz & Aysegul, 2013, p. 14). As such, these resources
provided by the government are a key factor related to the behavioral intention to use e-
government services.
Prioritize e-service citizen demand-side. With reference to Table 2 below, scholars
concur that the supply-side is what the government offers in terms of e-services online,
while the demand-side is the actual usage of the citizens taking their needs and wants into
account. E-government research should address the demand side in order to solve this gap
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
8
issue (Deursen, Dijk, & Ebbers, 2006). Surveys completed between years 2000 and 2004
for the local government in the Unites States cite the lack of citizen interest or demand as
a barrier to e-government in 23% of the tested cases (Coursey & Norris, 2008).
According to Gauld et al., 2010; Rana, Dwivedi, and Williams, 2013; and Reddick, 2005,
there is a lack of studies on the demand side.
Over the years, various studies and strategies have revealed that the supply of e-
government services is mainly driven from the top down taking into consideration the
internal interest of the government (Coursey & Norris, 2008) while increasing the
involvement of citizens and prioritizing usage (Michael, Vandebeek, & Gemino, 2005).
In fact, the United Nations’ E-government survey has emphasized that examining the
demand-side is a “priority issue for many governments” (United Nations, 2012, p. 101),
and “improvements are needed to the demand-side of the equation” to “demonstrate the
benefits of e-government initiatives and ensuring continued support and funding” (United
Nations, 2014, p. 141). In 2016, the UN e-government survey highlighted that “one of the
most important new trends is the advancement of people-driven services that addresses
the growing demand for more personalized services that reflect individual needs, as well
as people’s aspiration to be more closely engaged in the design and delivery of services”
(United Nations, 2016, p. iii). One of the innovative approaches is e-consultation and e-
decision making. E-consultation is defined as “engaging citizens in contributions to and
deliberation on public policies and services”, while e-decision-making is “empowering
citizens through co-design of policy options and co-production of service components
and delivery modalities” (United Nations, 2016, p. 141).
Table 2. Definitions of E-government Supply-Side and Demand-Side
Supply-Side
Demand-Side
(Reddick, 2005)
What governments offer online
Citizen interaction with e-
government
(Coursey & Norris,
2008).
Availability of online public services
Citizen usage of e-government
services
(Dijk et al., 2008)
Transform traditional services into
digital ones as soon as possible and
develop services with websites
containing advanced properties and
transaction opportunities.
The actual needs, usage, and
usage capacities of citizens.
(Almahamid et al.,
2010)
What is offered.
What is used and takes into
account the needs of citizens
and business.
(Gauld et al., 2010)
Technology-focused and examines
e-government development and
delivery issues.
Public views of, and interactions
with, the government via
electronic channels.
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
9
Few scholars examine the demand-side of e-government services. Almahamid et al.,
(2010) emphasize that the e-government potential has not been fully attained due to the
gap between the supply side and the demand side. Dijk et al. (2008) recommend that
governments should add a “demand-side orientation and benchmarking for the supply of
government Internet” (p. 379). Some countries such as the European Union, Canada,
Korea, Brazil, and India are among the most proactive countries in addressing the
demand side of e-government (World Bank’s ISG e-government practice e-government,
2006), but the results are still work in progress. Axelsson et al. (2010) also note that the
citizens’ involvement in an e-service relates to the attitude toward this service.
METHODOLOGY
Research Model
The initial conceptual research model and research hypotheses have been developed
based on the literature review. From an academic point of view, the model aims at
determining the impact of e-government indicators on behavioral intention to use e-
government services (BI). Behavioral intention to use e-government services is the
dependent variable in the model, and it measures the strength of one’s intention to use e-
government services. This variable is one of the constructs of the Theory of Reasoned
Action (TRA) which is taken as a guiding framework for the technology acceptance
model (TAM) based upon the work of many scholars (Benbasat & Barki, 2007; Rana,
Williams, & Dwivedi, 2012; Venkatesh, Davis, & Morris, 2007). It has also been used in
all Technology Adoption Models, be it TAM2, TAM3, UTAUT, or UTAUTv2, and has
been validated in several e-government studies. The e-government development index
and its sub-indexes are the independent variables in the model.
The United Nations’ Electronic Government Development Index (EGDI) is a
composite index based on online services, telecommunications infrastructure, and human
capital and is a quantitative appraisal of the use of e-government as a tool in the delivery
of services to the public. The E-Government Development Index (EGDI), which is
calculated every two years, is a “weighted average of normalized scores on the three most
important dimensions of e-government, namely: scope and quality of online services
(Online Service Index, OSI), status of the development of telecommunication
infrastructure (Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, TII) and inherent human capital
(Human Capital Index, HCI)” (United Nations, 2016, p. 131). The Telecommunication
Infrastructure Index (TII) is “an arithmetic average composite of five indicators: (i)
estimated internet users per 100 inhabitants; (ii) number of main fixed telephone lines per
100 inhabitants; (iii) number of mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants; (iv) number of
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
10
wireless broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants; and (v) number of fixed broadband
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants” (United Nations, 2016, p. 132). The Human Capital
Index (HCI) consists of “four components, namely: (i) adult literacy rate; (ii) the
combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio; (iii) expected years of
schooling; and (iv) average years of schooling” (United Nations, 2016, p. 134). The
online services (OSI) include the rating of the national portal, e-services portal, and e-
participation portal as well as the website of the Ministries of Education, Health, Finance,
Social Services, and Labor and Environment.
The supply-side variables; namely, EGDI, TII, OSI, and HCI are representative of the
main government, administrative functions, and public services offered in a country (Seri,
Bianchi, & Matteucci, 2014). BI is a demand-side indicator that captures the intention of
the demand of citizens to use e-services.
The aim of the research model is to determine the relationship between the demand-
side and the supply-side of e-government. Consequently, a positive relationship between
e-government indexes and the intention to use e-services is to be expected. In fact,
according to the literature review, the availability of infrastructure, online services, and
human capital is bound to increase the intention to use these services.
Therefore, the resulting hypotheses are:
H1: The E-government Development Index has a positive impact on the behavioral
intention to use e-government services.
H2: The Human Capital Index has a positive impact on the behavioral intention to
use e-government services.
H3: The Telecommunication Infrastructure Index has a positive impact on the
behavioral intention to use e-government services.
H4: The Online Service Index has a positive impact on the behavioral intention to use
e-government services.
Research Context
The study is conducted in Lebanon, a small country located in Southwest Asia, at the
eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The Lebanese economy depends largely on
services, and it is driven by the banking sector in addition to tourism mainly from the
Arab countries and Lebanese expats.
Lebanon has undertaken a series of initiatives over the past fifteen years to develop a
vision, policy, and strategy for e-government based on administrative reform. In 2003,
the Lebanese government, through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
and the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR), developed
the “National e-Strategy” the mission of which was “moving the economy and society of
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
11
Lebanon towards a Knowledge Based Society in the shortest possible time while at the
same time addressing related challenges and opportunities that Lebanon is facing”
(OMSAR, 2003, p. 28). In 2008, the e-government strategy was revised and adapted to
the current state of ICT. The overall objective of this strategy is to realize economic and
social benefits in addition to quality-of-life improvements for all Lebanese citizens. By
2016, Lebanon had improved its e-government performance and “made the leap from
middle-EGDI to high-EGDI values” (United Nations, 2016, p. 108).
One of the key objectives of the e-government is to decrease corruption. Lebanon
was ranked 136 over 176 countries in 2016 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
Citizens are often confronted with the obligation of paying bribes to government
employees or intermediaries in order to have a transaction completed with any agency or
ministry in the republic. E-government transactions are intended to limit both nepotism,
better known in Lebanon as “wasta” and bribery (Alawadhi & Morris, 2009). Currently,
the United Nations’ Electronic Government Development Index for 2016 ranked
Lebanon in the 73rd place globally (United Nations, 2016).
Figure 1. The Proposed Conceptual Model.
Research Methodology: Measurement and Scaling
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
12
The BI scales have been adapted from prior research on e-government and from the
technology adoption literature (Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012). This item has been
measured using a seven-point Likert scale, with the anchors being 1 for “strongly
disagree” and 7 for “strongly agree”. The BI measurement was taken in both 2014 and
2016, and an average has been consolidated for values above or equal to 5. The value for
2012 were taken from a study where 15% of citizens have the intention to use public e-
services (Harfouche & Robbin, 2012).
This paper relies on a number of data sets collected by UNDESA. The primary
variables of interest; namely, EGDI, HCI, OSI, and TTI have been taken from the United
Nations survey (United Nations, 2012, 2014, 2016).
Survey Fieldwork
The first web survey measuring BI started in January 2014 and lasted until April
2014. The quantitative study has been conducted with Lebanese citizens, so a sample of
around 262 Lebanese citizens have responded to this survey. The second survey started in
October 2015 and lasted until September 2016. A sample of around 93 Lebanese citizens
were the respondents of this survey.
Research Results
The hypotheses aim at measuring the correlation between the e-government index
and its sub-indexes; i.e., the supply-side variables, with the behavioral intention to use e-
government services; i.e., the demand-side variable.
To examine the purported associations of the behavioral intention to use e-
government services and e-government indexes, the authors performed a bivariate
correlation analysis of several variables, including the composite index of e-government
development, TII, OSI, HCI, and BI. Table 4 below presents a summary of the results
that suggest a strong and significant correlation between BI and TII (r = 0.999; p = 0.02<
0.05) and HCI (r = -0.999; p = 0.32 < 0.05), while the association is positive for TII and
negative for HCI. The results also demonstrate that the associations between BI and
EGDI/OSI are quite insignificant.
Findings, Limitations and Directions for Future Research
Findings. In this chapter, a review on e-government at the international level has
been made, focusing on international measures and capturing data from the Lebanese
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
13
citizens. It is an attempt to analyze the drivers of public e-services across a longitudinal
dimension. The authors have coupled indicators of e-services availability with the
intention to use them in order to have a more comprehensive picture of the diffusion
processes in a developing country from both the supply and the demand sides. To this
end, the explanatory variables EGDI, HCI, OSI, and TII have been investigated, with the
expectation that different diffusion stages and types of e-services may respond differently
to these sets of variables.
Table 3. Summary Statistics of the Main Variables of Interest
Constructs
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
EGDI
0.484
0.4388
0.5139
0.4982
0.5646
TII
0.1930
0.1965
0.2728
0.4030
0.4911
HCI
0.8706
0.8583
0.7917
0.7374
0.6882
OSI
0.3913
0.2667
0.4711
0.3543
0.5145
BI
N/A
N/A
15%
47.3%
71.8%
Table 4. Summary of the Correlations Analysis Results
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
14
Results disclose that the maturity of a country’s ICT infrastructure, as measured by
TII, is a major driver of the country’s diffusion of public e-services. Several scholars
have already confirmed this finding (Akman et al., 2005; Carter & Bélanger, 2005, 2009;
Carter et al., 2011; Economic and Social Commission for Estern Asia, 2009; Fang, 2002;
Komito, 2005; Seri et al., 2014). In Lebanon, major efforts have been made to boost the
Internet market, whether wired or wireless broadband, by the Ministry of
Telecommunications. In 2015, the ministry launched “a five-year plan to revamp
Lebanon telecoms infrastructure, assuring that Internet users across the country would
enjoy fiber-optic connectivity by the year 2020” (IDAL, 2015, p. 5). It has been
specifically working on introducing the 4G service to cover the whole country within
2017 and the launching of the 5G connection by the year 2020. In 2013, the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) report qualified Lebanon as being among the “most
dynamic countries” when it comes to working on ICT progress. In fact, by end of 2016,
over 74% of the population was using the Internet.
Moreover, as indirectly inferred from the literature stressing the role of education in
the diffusion of e-services (Akman et al., 2005; Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2009; Al-Sobhi
& Weerakkody, 2011; Al Athmay, 2013; Beynon-Davies, 2005; Fakhoury & Aubert,
2014; Sio, Lai, & Pires, 2010; Suki & Ramayah, 2010; Venkatesh & Bala, 2008;
Weerakkody & Choudrie, 2005), human capital is inversely related to the demand of e-
government from citizens. The downtrend; i.e., negative trend, in the Human Capital
Index (HCI) indicator in Lebanon may explain this result; however, further investigations
should be pursued to understand this relationship. On the other hand, the ICT capacity
building program is still work in progress although several initiatives have been
implemented to promote ICT in the public community, in general, and in education, in
particular (Economic and Social Commission for Estern Asia, 2013). The newest project
“e-Learning Project for the Government of Lebanon” that targets the employees of the
public sector in Lebanon was launched in October 2016.
The relationship between behavioral intentions to use e-services and the availability
of online services is not significant. The Lebanese government e-services are still at the
informational stage. In fact, in 2016, the sub-index OSI I points for emerging information
on services, and OSI II points for enhanced information on services, were respectively
100% and 86% (United Nations, 2016). The first stage of developing a model for e-
government consists of “cataloguing, providing government information by creating
government agency websites, and one-way communication between the government and
the different stakeholders is possible” (Yildiz, 2007, p. 652). Although few websites,
such as Ogero, the local telecommunication operator, and the Ministry of Finance offer
the e-payment option, the remaining e-services are informational. The phenomenal
growth of the Information Technology industry due to the advent of Web 2.0 in 2010,
mobile, and social networks has given Information and Communication Technology
Diffusion and Usage of Public E-Service Indicators and Drivers in Lebanon
15
(ICT) a social dimension that end users in Lebanon have not found in the services of the
e-government, most of which are left at informational stage.
Overall, the results are not encouraging, and most of the expected signs of the
coefficients are not confirmed, specifically the relationship between the e-government
index and the behavioral intention to use e-services. This study yields clear policy
implications concerning the e-government development in Lebanon.
First, the political instability in Lebanon is a continuous threat to its e-government.
This political insecurity and the prolonged uncertainty in Lebanon since 2005 are
important obstacles to the deployment of the ICT sector in the country. For instance,
wars, terrorism, and political upheavals are external developments that increase the risk
of new investments in ICT in general and in the e-government in specific. Due to this
instability, there is no continuation in the e-government services in the country (Fakhoury
& Aubert, 2015; Fakhoury & Baker, 2016). Institutions and policies play a decisive role
in fostering or inhibiting the diffusion of a new technology such as e-government.
The lack of political will is also a concern. For a long-term transition to digital
transformation, the government requires a more direct involvement from policy makers in
order to promote and facilitate the deployment of the e-government. Although the
situation regarding the e-government has slightly improved over the past few years as
several ministries have developed and launched e-services, Lebanon still has a lot to do in
terms of e-government commitment and supporting policies. There is a real lack of
political will on the side of Lebanese decision makers in the government when it comes
to digital transformation issues. This represents a serious challenge for the further
development of any e-government strategy that requires public backing. In a country
suffering from security and infrastructure problems as well as political instability such as
Lebanon, the deployment of e-services is not a priority on the government’s agenda
(Economic and Social Commission for Estern Asia, 2007).
The lack of awareness is equally a key challenge for the expansion of the few e-
services in developing countries alongside limited financial resources as previously stated
in the literature. In Lebanon, the lack of awareness regarding e-services when it comes to
the population generates important misunderstandings around the costs, benefits, and the
potential of e-services (Fakhoury & Baker, 2016).
LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
First, it is important to recognize that the primary limitation of this study is the
testing and the validation of the model in a developing country within an unstable
political, social, and economic situation. Another concern is the use of secondary data to
test the model. In terms of comparisons, this study is limited due to the lack of similar
previous studies in similar countries, in general, and in Lebanon, in specific.
Rania F. Fakhoury and Benoit Aubert
16
Looking at the future research agenda, this study’s analysis confirms the urgent need
to construct longer series of appropriate longitudinal data for different countries including
Lebanon. More generally, the need to understand the many drivers and determinants of e-
services diffusion remains a relevant necessity and asks for better and more objective
harmonized data. Future research collecting data from e-services would advance our
understanding of these determinants and their effect on user acceptance of e-government
services.
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