Evaluating the Impact of e-Government Initiatives on Citizens: Empowerment or Tokenism?

Abstract

Evaluation of public sector automation platforms, also known as e-government platforms is complicated due to several incoherent e-government maturity models. Further, these e-government maturity models are not specifically tailored to evaluating e-government platforms from a citizen perspective. A key component of a citizen facing e-government platform is the level to which it enables citizen participation to a level that they feel empowered. This study applied the Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation to evaluate the e-government platforms in Kenya. The results indicate that the e-government platforms in Kenya are still at the levels of non-participation and tokenism. The e-government platforms are yet to reach the highest level of citizen participation known as citizen empowerment. The study enhances our understanding of e-government evaluation from a citizen view and can be useful to policy makers during the design and implementation of e-government platforms