E-Government in Iraq - Research Proposal Example

?e-Government Table of Contents Proposed 3 2.Aims and Objectives of Research 3 3.Summary and Outline of the Topic 4 4.Novelty and Importance of Proposed Work 6 5.Literature Review 7 6.Research Methods, Design 9 7.Ethical Issues and Risks 10 8.References 11 1. Proposed Title The proposed research title is ‘e-Government in Iraq’. The concept of e-government can be recognised as one of the major revolutionised elements to modernise the existing functions of different governmental organisations. The proposed research area would be beneficial for the government of Iraq in order to strengthen the operations performed by its organisations and make them more approachable for the people of the country. According to the present day context, e-government is one of the widely used Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools that enable the governmental institutions to transform their broad assortment of operational activities. Moreover, the notion of e-government incorporates essential ICT mechanisms that further develop the functions of the governmental institutions and make them more accessible, accountable as well as transparent process (Al-Khouri, 2011). 2. Aims and Objectives of Research The prime objectives of this research proposal will be focused upon highlighting the importance, benefits as well as the effectiveness of e-government especially for Iraq. Moreover, the aims of the proposal will also reflect the efficiency of e-government in terms of reducing operational costs, time and efforts of the governmental institutions. The rationale for conducting this research proposal can be understood with reference to the fact that the implementation of e-government is highly important for Iraq to effectively organise and manage broad array of activities that are performed by different governmental institutions of the country. The idea of e-government can provide the country with effective support towards enhancing business or operational performances of the institutions from different disciplines including education, business, military and finance among others. With this regard, it can be stated that the specific aims of the proposed study will be beneficial for Iraq to involve e-government practices within its range of governmental activities. The main research questions have been depicted hereunder. What is the importance of e-government in Iraq? What are the advantages and drawbacks that face by Iraq through adopting as well as implementing e-government initiative? What are the lessons for Iraq from leading countries on the way of information society? 3. Summary and Outline of the Topic The rapid development of the ICT can be considered as one of the imperative aspects for the countries to build an efficient working environment that can enable their respective government to address various needs and desires of the citizens. With this regard, the implementation of e-government tool is regarded as one of the major potentials that enable the government of various nations to improve and modernise the existing performance of the governmental institutions (Rokhman, 2011). The increasing extent of e-government in the global countries ensures enhancing the quality of life of the citizens for the purpose of assuring greater convenience to avail various governmental supports. Due to increased level of globalisation, market competition and internationalisation, the governmental institutions tend to foster e-government process in order to boost their efficiency as well as integrate workers, partners and citizens in an effective manner (Wong & et. al., 2011). The broad execution of e-government in the governmental processes involve various ICT tools in order to provide services to the citizens, businesses, workers as well as other non-governmental institutions. Moreover, fostering an effective association with the government as well as the citizens can be considered as one of the major roles of e-government. Therefore, the scope of e-government involves broad assortment of functions to address the needs of the citizens belonging to various nations. The major scopes of e-government are such as Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Employees (G2E), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Government (G2G) as well as Government-to-Non-Profit (G2N) (Fang, 2002). The structure of the proposed research has been outlined hereunder: 4. Novelty and Importance of Proposed Work E-government is the process of employing information technology by any specific country in terms of performing broad array of governmental operations for delivering significant benefits to the public or businesses. The effective use of information technology significantly enables the citizens to access various governmental services concerning different issues. The e-government process can further be identified as the most innovative ICT process that incorporates a range of services for the governments to provide effective support for citizens, businesses, employees and others. The facet of e-government has been viewed to engage advanced information technological related aspects that facilitate the government of any nation to efficiently operate its range of administrative as well as public services, rendered by its different institutions (Silcock, 2001). The functions of e-government provide several advantages to both the government and the public as well. A few of the major benefits of e-government have been provided hereunder. The major importance of e-government is to exchange different valuable information relating to tax compliances, voting registrations as well as public utility services. Furthermore, it forms a sort of citizen-centric culture that further enable to design services available for the citizens within the country relating to their convenience and effectiveness (International Telecommunication Union, 2009). The concept of e-government also provides substantial benefits for the government of any nation in terms of public procurement. Through executing innovative electronic applications, the government of any country can easily access towards administering its various departments and identify the effectiveness of its range of public services within the country. In the context of executing e-government processes within administrative and public services, the governments can easily perform its range of procurement activities in a more convenient as well as a cost-effective manner (United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management, 2012). 5. Literature Review The increasing implementation of IT has been viewed to be rapidly transforming the global countries to strengthen their range of public and administrative functions (Bhatnagar, 2004). With this regard, (Jaegar & Thomson 2003; The State of New Jersey 2001) recognised that the notion of e-commerce significantly provides immense benefits for the governments, citizens as well as the businesses across the globe. Jaegar & Thomson (2003) stated that the practice of e-government is one of the key processes to achieve substantial goals including minimising distance between government and general public, reducing operational costs and most significantly maximising service effectiveness. However, the technological element i.e. e-government also constitutes different challenges like guiding policies as well as laws along with various regulatory, economic and rights of the citizens related concerns (Jaegar & Thomson, 2003; The State of New Jersey, 2001). Moreover, as per the observation of (Ndou, 2004; Gronlund & Horan, 2004), the initiatives of the governments to perform their different operational functions by the integration of ICTs bear superior governance of strengthening relationships and fostering partnership with the civil communities. E-government can also help the governments to represent numerous supports concerning the deliverance of effective services to the communities and businesses within the nation. It also ensures towards facilitating adequate assistance to the citizens in terms of measuring the availability of services that are provided by the governmental or public institutions (Ndou, 2004; Gronlund & Horan, 2004). (Heeks 2005; European Commission, n.d.) noted that the idea of e-government as an effective process of ICT also tends to face different challenges associated with preserving personal privacy, executing proper security control, building efficient e-government infrastructure and ensuring offering consistent services to the citizens. It is in this context, the e-government service of various countries is likely to face challenges due to inadequate measures of the governments in relation to provide satisfactory services to the citizens and businesses of a particular country (Heeks, 2005; European Commission, n.d.). As per the observation of (Nkwe, 2012; OECD, 2005), e-government is an effective approach of information technology that tends to offer adequate potentials for a nation to attain sustainable development. The approach is beneficial for the developing countries in terms of adopting as well as developing immediate measures concerning the needs and difficulties that are faced by the citizens or businesses within the nation. With this regard, the potential effect of e-government can be influenced through forming new type of governmental structure that can further transform the interrelation between the government and the private institutions (Nkwe, 2012; Alshawi, 2007). 6. Research Methods, Design Research mothodology can be defined as a structured examination to analyse diffeerent sorts of information, facts and ideas about a specific subject area. It basically includes the assortment of research questions, the explicit theoretical framework and the appropriate selection of the research methods such as primary or secondary research that is essential to accomplish the research objectives (Flick, 2011). From the perspective of conducting research of e-government in Iraq, the methodology will be focused on qualitative approach. The facet of qualitative research approach can be reffered as an effective research technique that enables to apparently clarify various quaries through analysisng academic or theoritical observations. The approach is regarded as a relevant research technique that can facilitate towards recognising various issues and their possible solutions through analysisng numerous academic literatures. Therefore, the qualitative apoproach will be beneficial for the proposed research that can further enable to collect an indepth perception about the significane of e-govrenemnt in Iraq (Creswell, 2003). In relation to research methodology, literature based research by taking into consideration the evidences related to e-government in the USA and the UK will be discussed. Moreover, the design of this research will be focused on encompassing different areas of the research including research objectives, relevant academic implications, methodology to be used as well as evaluating research findings (New York University, 2011). 7. Ethical Issues and Risks The research concerning the effect of e-government in Iraq can be influenced by certain ethical concerns due to its qualitative nature. The qualitative research method often involves various ethical issues and risks due to its lack of experimental or practical observations. The qualitative research provides an in-depth knowledge through representing different theoretical implications. However, it has also certain major limitations that can affect concerning quality and relevance of the research study. Therefore, the knowledge generated from the qualitative research may not be generalised as compared to other research approaches. Moreover, the qualitative research can also raise certain risks or issues in terms of developing quantitative predictions of the overall research findings that further affect on the credibility of the research topic (Williams, 2007). 8. References Alshawi, S. & et. al., 2007. E-Government Evaluation Factors: Citizen’s Perspective. Proceedings of European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, pp. 28.1-28.12. Al-Khouri, A. M., 2011. An Innovative Approach for E-Government Transformation. International Journal of Managing Value and Supply Chains (IJMVSC) Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 22-43. Bhatnagar, S., 2004. E-Government: From Vision to Implementation - A Practical Guide With Case Studies. United States: SAGE. Creswell, J. W., 2003. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches. United States: SAGE. European Commission, No Date. The Importance of Interoperability for eGovernment Services. Commission Staff Working Paper. [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/servlets/Doc2bb8.pdf?id=1675 [Accessed March 13, 2013]. Fang, Z., 2002. E-Government in Digital Era: Concept, Practice, and Development. International Journal of The Computer, The Internet and Management, Vol. 10, No.2, pp. 1-22. Flick, U., 2011. Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner's Guide to Doing a Research Project. United States: SAGE. Gronlund, A. & Horan, T. A., 2004.. Introducing E-Gov: History, Definitions, and Issues. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 15, pp. 713-729. Heeks, R., 2005. Implementing and Managing E-Government: An International Text. United States: SAGE. International Telecommunication Union, 2009. Introduction: E-Government Readiness Assessment Framework. A Framework for e-Government Readiness and Action Priorities [Online] Available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/docs/eGovernment%20toolkitFINAL.pdf [Accessed March 13, 2013]. Jaegar, P. T. & Thomson, K. M., 2003. E-Government Around the World: Lessons, Challenges, and Future Directions. Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 20, pp. 389-394. Ndou, V., 2004. E – Government for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges. EJISDC, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-24. New York University, 2011. What Is Research Design? The Context of Design. [Online] Available at: http://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/methods/005847ch1.pdf [Accessed March 13, 2013]. Nkwe, N., 2012. E-Government: Challenges and Opportunities in Botswana. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 2, No. 17, pp. 39-48. OECD, 2005. OECD e-Government Studies e-Government for Better Government. France: OECD Publishing. Rokhman, A., 2011. E-Government Adoption in Developing Countries; the Case of Indonesia. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 228-236. Silcock, R., 2001. What is e-Government. Stages of e-Government. [Online] Available at: http://catedras.fsoc.uba.ar/rusailh/Unidad%202/Silcock%202001,%20What%20is%20E-gov.pdf [Accessed March 13, 2013]. The State of New Jersey, 2001. Connecting Government with the People. Delivering on E-Government. [Online] Available at: http://www.state.nj.us/it/egovernment.pdf [Accessed March 13, 2013]. United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management, 2012. E-Government Survey 2012. Economic and Social Affairs. [Online] Available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan048065.pdf [Accessed March 13, 2013]. Williams, C., 2007. Research Methods. Journal of Business and Economic Research, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 65-72. Wong, M. S. & et. al., 2011. The Use of Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) in Evaluating Japan's E-government Services. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 6, Iss. 2, pp. 17-30 Read More