<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><bold>Background:</bold> Failures in e-government projects to deliver expected results are frequent in the context of developing countries. These are partly attributed to the lack of balanced attention to both technical and social aspects in the implementation. However, there has been limited research on these aspects in the least Developed Countries. <bold>Objectives:</bold> Taking a socio-technical perspective, this study aims at exploring the extent of changes and effects in the implementation of e-government service-oriented initiatives in Rwanda, one of the Least Developed Countries. <bold>Methods/Approach:</bold> An empirical investigation was conducted, via interviews at 8 agencies during the period from January 2017 to May 2018. This involved two case projects, an Enterprise Content Management System and a One-Stop e-government system. Furthermore, government documents and online material were analyzed. <bold>Results:</bold> A number of changes in technology, processes and people aspects were faced in both projects. However, those changes are coupled with secondary effects; there is a need for a better fit between technical systems and social systems of organizations implementing e-government; a larger gap was identified in the first case project. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Addressing the issues as a socio-technical system would contribute to improved work systems of agencies and better services.</p></abstract>

Background: Failures in e-government projects to deliver expected results are frequent in the context of developing countries. These are partly attributed to the lack of balanced attention to both technical and social aspects in the implementation. However, there has been limited research on these aspects in the least Developed Countries. Objectives: Taking a socio-technical perspective, this study aims at exploring the extent of changes and effects in the implementation of e-government service-oriented initiatives in Rwanda, one of the Least Developed Countries. Methods/Approach: An empirical investigation was conducted, via interviews at 8 agencies during the period from January 2017 to May 2018. This involved two case projects, an Enterprise Content Management System and a One-Stop e-government system. Furthermore, government documents and online material were analyzed. Results: A number of changes in technology, processes and people aspects were faced in both projects. However, those changes are coupled with secondary effects; there is a need for a better fit between technical systems and social systems of organizations implementing e-government; a larger gap was identified in the first case project. Conclusions: Addressing the issues as a socio-technical system would contribute to improved work systems of agencies and better services.

E-Government Implementation Process in Rwanda: Exploring Changes in a Sociotechnical Perspective

College of Science and Technology, School of ICT

Centre for Empirical Research on Information Systems

Business Systems Research Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Background: Failures in e-government projects to deliver expected results are frequent in the context of developing countries. These are partly attributed to...

E-Government Implementation Process in Rwanda: Exploring Changes in a Sociotechnical Perspective

Published Online: May 09, 2019

Page range: 53 - 73

Received: Jan 10, 2019

Accepted: Feb 22, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bsrj-2019-0005

Keywords
e-Government implementation, enterprise content management, ‘one-stop’, e-government, Rwanda, socio-technical theory

© 2019 Pierre Bakunzibake et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

E-Government Implementation Process in Rwanda: Exploring Changes in a Sociotechnical Perspective

Published Online: May 09, 2019

Page range: 53 - 73

Received: Jan 10, 2019

Accepted: Feb 22, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bsrj-2019-0005

Keywordse-Government implementation, enterprise content management, ‘one-stop’, e-government, Rwanda, socio-technical theory

© 2019 Pierre Bakunzibake et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
e-Government implementation, enterprise content management, ‘one-stop’, e-government, Rwanda, socio-technical theory