There is no doubt that e-government application in public administration and its productive use of information technologies (ICTs) would improve the interface between respective governments and their citizens in both service deliveries and provisions of basic needs. However, it is recognized that while there are many benefits that have been obtained by implementing e-government, there are many sectors of society that are not part of this growing electronic culture. Perhaps, economics, lack of access to the Internet and other technologies, low literacy levels and often lack of interest or willingness to use the new technologies, contributes to a country’s disparities in e-government practices. It is argued that the concept of citizen’s disparities in e-government application in public sectors is based on the hypothesis that there are both “information-haves and information-have-nots” in the ICT Era. In addition, the basis for such division may include demographic characteristics such as income, educations, ethnicity, regions and locality. Most of the governments all over the world recognized these fundamental divisional issues but fail to include them along the implementation of their e-government programs. Therefore, from a public policy perspective, the research questions to be asked are: does citizen’s disparity matter in a successful application of e-government in public sectors? How much do these fundamental disparities (such as illiteracy, economic conditions of individual citizens, family and groups, disabilities and lack of interest or willingness levels) prevent citizens from appreciating the application of e-government? How much do these issues impact on the relationship between government and the citizenry in relation to the thesis of e-government programs? What kinds of policies might be needed by governments to ensure that large segments of the citizens are included in the e-government implementations? This chapter seeks to address the digital divide associated with e-government, which can serve as impediment for application of ICT. As a case study, the chapter explores the various initiatives that have been undertaken by the Malaysian government to bridge the gap.
E-Government in Service Delivery and Citizen’s Satisfaction: A Case Study on Public Sectors in Bangladesh
