Cyberspace at the Grassroots: E-Governance and Citizen/Stakeholder Perceptions at the Local Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh has experimented with e-governance since the early 2000s and currently ranks among the top 10 least developed countries. The deployment of e-governance at the local level has provided benefits to the rural people, with local councils increasingly using information and communications technology (ICT) to expand community-based delivery systems and augment rural service delivery. One-stop cyber centres provide a range of services that are user-friendly, cost-effective and less time-consuming. This study focuses on five sub-districts to inquire about the range of services provided by the e-service centres there. It has recorded citizen perceptions and the level of their satisfaction and the observations of service providers about the e-service mechanism. It also identifies key challenges in service delivery. Citizen satisfaction was measured using 12 indicators, while the service provider observations focused on social issues, governance, resource and technical issues. The study found several issues requiring attention to consolidate the e-governance system in the country.

Keywords

E-governance e-service local councils computer-based technology Bangladesh

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Akhter

H. H.

(2005). Commitment for action: Assessing leadership for confronting the HIV/AIDS Epidemic across Asia—Focus on Bangladesh. USAID.

Akman

, Yazici

, Mishraa

, & Arifoglu

(2005). E-government: A global view and an empirical evaluation of some attributes of citizens. Government Information Quarterly , 22(2), 239–257.

Banglapedia. (2019). Comilla district. https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Comilla_District

BBS. (2013). District statistics, Comilla. http://203.112.218.65:8008/WebTestApplication/userfiles/Image/EcoCen13/DistReport/Comilla.pdf

BBS/GOB. (2019). Bangladesh Statistics 2019. Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Beeri

, Uster

, & Vigoda-Gadot

(2019). Does performance management relate to good governance? A study of its relationship with citizens' satisfaction with and trust in Israeli local government. Public Performance & Management Review , 42(2), 241–279.

Calista

D. J.

, & Melitski

(2007). E-government and e-governance: Converging constructs of public sector information and communications technologies. Public Administration Quarterly , 31(1/2), 87–120.

Carter

(2007). Turning the digital divide into a digital dividend: Some experiences from Manchester, U.K. In McMaster

, Wastell

, Femeley

, & DeGross

(Eds.), IFIP international federation for information processing: Organizational dynamics of technology-based innovation: Diversifying the research agenda (Vol. 235, pp. 19–29). Springer.

Cornwall

, & Gaventa

(2006). Participation in governance. In Huque

A. S.

& Zafarullah

(Eds.), International development governance (pp. 405–413). CRC Press.

10.

Curtin

G. G.

, Sommer

M. H.

, & Vis-Sommer

(Eds.). (2003). The world of e-Government . Routledge.

11.

Dunleavy

, Margetts

, Bastow

, & Tinkler

(2005). New public management is dead: Long live digital-era governance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory ,16(3), 467–494.

12.

Evans

J. R.

(2013). Quality and performance excellence (6th ed.). South Western/Cengage Learning.

13.

Evans

, & Yen

D. C.

(2006). E-government: Evolving relationship of citizens and government, domestic and international development. Government Information Quarterly , 23(2), 207–235.

14.

Faroqi

M. G.

(2015). An assessment of e-government: Case study on Union Digital Centres (UDC) in Bangladesh. Australian Journal of Sustainable Business and Society ,1(1), 84–96.

15.

Faroqi

M. G.

, & Collings

G. J.

(2019). Stakeholder involvement in union digital centers in Bangladesh. Information Development , 32(2), 208–223.

16.

Faroqi

M. G.

, Siddiquee

N. A.

, & Ullah

(2018). Sustainability of telecentres in developing countries: Lessons from Union Digital Centre in Bangladesh. Telematics and Informatics , 37, 113–127.

17.

Fox

A. M.

, Balarajan

, Cheng

, & Reich

M. R.

(2015). Measuring political commitment and opportunities to advance food and nutrition security: Piloting a rapid assessment tool. Health Policy and Planning , 30(5), 566–578.

18.

Garson

G. D.

(2006). Public information technology and e-Governance: Managing the virtual state . Jones and Bartlett.

19.

GOB. (2019). Bangladesh national web portal . https://bangladesh.gov.bd/index.php

20.

Grimsley

, & Meehan

(2007). e-Government information systems: Evaluation-led design for public value and client trust. European Journal of Information Systems , 16(2), 134–148.

21.

Gupta

M. P.

, & Jana

(2003). E-government evaluation: A framework and case study. Government Information Quarterly , 20(4), 365–387.

22.

Heeks

(2001). Building e-governance for development: A framework for national and donor action (i-Government Working Paper Series). Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester.

23.

Holliday

(2006). E-government and development. In Huque

A. S.

& Zafarullah

(Eds.), International development governance (pp. 515–528). CRC Press.

24.

Islam

M. S.

, & Hasan

M. N.

(2009). Multi-purpose community telecentres in Bangladesh: Problems and prospects. Electronic Library , 27(3), 537–553.

25.

Khadiza

N. S.

, & Ullah

M. N.

(2020). E-service delivery of union digital center in rural Bangladesh: A perspective analysis of client's satisfaction. International Journal of Social Sciences , 9(2), 75–84.

26.

Kooiman

(1999). Social-political governance: Overview, reflections and design. Public Management: An International Journal of Research and Theory , 1(1), 67–92.

27.

Kosenkov

(2018). U.N. e-Government development index. https://knoema.com/infographics/mctunlb/un-e-government-development-index

28.

Linders

, Liao

C. Z. P.

, & Wang

C. M.

(2015). Proactive e-governance: Flipping the service delivery model from pull to push in Taiwan. Government Information Quarterly , 35, S68–S76.

29.

Misuraca

G. C.

(2007). e-Governance in Africa: From theory to action . International Development Research Centre.

30.

Moore

M. H.

(2014). Public value accounting: Establishing the philosophical basis. Public Administration Review , 74(4), 465–477.

31.

OECD. (2007). Towards better measurement of government (OECD Working Papers on Public Governance). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/301575636734

32.

Olasina

(2014). E-parliament services as tools for anti-corruption and transparency. International Journal of Electronic Governance , 7(1), 27–55.

33.

Parasuraman

, Zeithaml

V. A.

, & Berry

L. L.

(1985). A conceptual model of services quality and its implication for future research. Journal of Marketing , 49(4), 41–50.

34.

Parasuraman

, Zeithaml

V. A.

, & Berry

L. L.

(1988). Servqual: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing , 64(1), 12–40.

35.

Rahman

, & Bhuiyan

S. H.

(2014). Multi-purpose community telecentres in rural Bangladesh: A study of selected Union Information and Service Centers. Information Development , 32(1), 1–15.

36.

Reddick

G. C.

(2004). Citizen interaction with e-government: From the streets to servers? Government Information Quarterly , 22(1), 38–57.

37.

Riley

C. B.

(2003). The changing role of citizen in the e-Governance & e-Democracy equation . Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance. http://www.tanzaniagateway.org/docs/Changing_role_of_the_citizen_in_the_E-governance_E-democracy_equation_2003.pdf

38.

Sarker

A. E.

(2004). Administrative reform in Bangladesh: Three decades of failure. International Public Management Journal , 7(3), 365–384.

39.

Scott

, & Golden

(2009). Understanding net benefits: A citizen-based perspective on e-government success . Paper presented at the International Conference on Information Systems. https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/bitstream/handle/10379/1560/ICIS2009Finalv3.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

40.

Sheridan

, & Riley

T. B.

(2006). Comparing e-Government vs. e-Governance . eGov Monitor. Knowledge Asset Management Limited. https://www.geospatialworld.net/article/comparing-e-government-vs-e-governance/

41.

Siddiquee

N. A.

(2016). E-government and transformation of governance and service delivery in Bangladesh. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy , 10(3), 368–390.

42.

Siddiquee

N. A.

, & Faroqi

M. G.

(2021). The magic bullet for rural development? Exploring the impacts of community telecenters in Bangladesh. Information Development . https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666921997508

43.

Stoker

(2006). Public value management. American Review of Public Administration , 36(1), 41–57.

44.

Tamimi

, & Sebastianelli

(1996). How firms define and measure quality. Production and Inventory Management Journal , 37(3), 34–39.

45.

UKNAO. (2002). Better public services through e-Government: Report by the comptroller and auditor general . The Stationery Office. https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2002/04/0102704-Ies.pdf

46.

Ullah

M. S.

(2017). Empowerment of the rural poor through access to ICT: The case study of the Union Information and Service Centre initiative in Bangladesh. Journal of Creative Communication , 12(2), 1–17.

47.

United Nations (U.N.). (2003). E-Government survey, 2003 . Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.

48.

United Nations (U.N.). (2012). E-Government survey, 2012 . Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.

49.

United Nations (U.N.). (2018). E-Government survey, 2018 . Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.

50.

United Nations (U.N.). (2019). E-Government knowledgebase . https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Data/Region-Information

51.

van Velsen

, van der Geest

, ter Hedde

T. M.

, & Derks

(2009). Requirements engineering for e-Government services: A citizen-centric approach and case study. Government Information Quarterly , 26(3), 477–486.

52.

Venkatesha

, Chan

F. K. Y.

, & Thongc

J. Y. L.

(2012). Designing e-government services: Key service attributes and citizens' preference structures. Journal of Operations Management , 30(1–2), 116–133.

53.

Von Haldenwang

(2004). Electronic government (e-government) and development. European Journal of Development Research , 16(2), 417–432.

54.

Welch

E. W.

, Hinnat

C. C.

, & Moon

M. J.

(2005). Linking citizen satisfaction with e-government and trust in government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory , 15(3), 371–391.

55.

Wimmer

M. A.

(2002). A European perspective towards online one-stop government: The eGOV project. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications , 1(1), 92–103.

56.

Wimmer

M. A.

, & Tambouris

(2002). Online one-stop government: A working framework and requirements. In Traunmueller

(Ed.), Information systems: The e-Business challenge (pp. 117–130). Springer.

57.

World Bank. (2004). World development report 2004: Making services work for the people . The World Bank.

58.

World Bank/BBS/WFP. (2010). Final Upazila level povmap estimates 2010. http://203.112.218.65:8008/WebTestApplication/userfiles/Image/LatestReports/Bangladesh_ZilaUpazila_pov_est_2010.pdf

59.

Zafarullah

(2016). Public administration and bureaucracy. In Riaz

& Rahman

(Eds.), Routledge handbook of contemporary Bangladesh (pp. 94–108). Routledge.

60.

Zafarullah

, & Huque

A. S.

(2001). Public management for good governance: Reforms, regimes, and reality in Bangladesh. International Journal of Public Administration , 24(12), 1379–1403.

61.

Zambrano

(2008). E-governance and development: Service delivery to empower the poor. International Journal of Electronic Government Research , 4(2), 1–13.

62.

Zambrano

, & Seward

R. K.

(2013). From connectivity to service delivery: Case studies in e-Governance . UNDP.

63.

Zwass

(2006). The web-internet compound as the infrastructure of digital government. Business Process Management Journal , 12(1), 7–12.