ICT Influencing eGovernment Network Externalities: Is the Government Social Networking System the Road to eDemocracy and Trust?

• Main Authors: Zeleti, Fatemeh Ahmadi, Uusitalo, Olavi
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Education; Public access; Social networks; Social research; Society; Studies; Technological change; Trust
• ISSN: 2049-1026; 2049-1034

Effective, efficient and transparent citizen communication with government representatives raises interest of the researchers to perform academic and nonacademic studies. Nowadays, in developed countries, large numbers of citizens are benefiting eGovernment services and information which are widely accessible. Information kiosks, net bank, healthcare systems, mobile government, Internet and media are the examples of such services. However in all the offered government services and information or eGovernment context in general, citizen's democracy and trust play a crucial role in the advancement of eGovernment implementation and progress. EDemocracy which stands for electronic democracy is the use of ICT to engage citizens to participate in government and political decision making. EDemocracy is strongly linked to trust. Trust is established when one person can rely on the decision and action other person make. In democratic countries, trust has been established. However, in Iran, government still struggle with injecting eGovernment content and value to both government employees and regular citizens. Efficient, effective and transparent e-payment, e-healthcare, e-justice, e-education and other eGovernment services can surely bring value to people's life. What is actually lacking in the eGovernment and ICT academic studies in Iran is the study of benefits ICT emergence can have in the establishment of Government Social Networking System (GSNS) on influencing eGovernment network externalities. Thus, the researchers have studied eGovernment network externalities of Iran. The aim of the research is to examine if GSNS can contribute on eGovernment network externalities in Iran. Moreover, the researchers have deliberated if government technological support and ICT can enhance eDemocracy and trust in Iran. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods had been applied. Self-administrative questionnaire containing seven structured questions were distributed to 800 Iranians. The result was shocking. Only few numbers of respondents were fully familiar with eGovernment and GSNS. When it comes to democracy and trust issues, respondents appear to be so resistive. They make a variety of dissimilar statements while supporting their statements with interesting but disappointing reasons. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]