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Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2021
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| _version_ | 1867613938211880960 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mokoena, Edgar |
| author2 | Kinghorn, Johann |
| author_browse | Kinghorn, Johann Mokoena, Edgar |
| author_facet | Kinghorn, Johann Mokoena, Edgar |
| author_sort | Mokoena, Edgar |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/109855 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:44:05.289Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/109855 Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites Mokoena, Edgar Kinghorn, Johann Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science. Democratic E-governance Website Model (DEWEM) World Wide Web (WWW) E-government -- Services for Electronic government -- Services for Internet in public administration -- Services for South Africa -- Politics and government Government Websites -- South Africa Electronic government information -- South Africa Computer network resources -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2021. ENBLISH ABSTRACT: Over the last 3 decades electronically mediated communication has fundamentally changed the way that people, organisations and governments communicate – internally as well as externally.This thesis aims to determine to what extent the South African government succeeds in utilising the advantages of electronic communication. Because electronics have invaded all aspects of organisations, the thesis needs to demarcate its attention. It does so by focusing only on national government, and only on government’s presence on the World Wide Web (WWW). In doing so the leading assumption is that a government’s communication activity ought to aim at achieving sound governance (not only using the web as a tool for self-introduction). Despite the large volume of literature on Electronic Government (E-Gov) there is still no standardised approach to the measurement of the quality of specific instances. Many evaluation instruments have been used, but all of them are derived from (and customised for) commercial organisations. In this thesis the choice is made to use a framework that was published in late 2019 – known as the Democratic E-governance Website Model (DEWEM) – as the platform on which the instrument of analysis was designed. The DEWEM was developed specifically as a conceptual framework for the evaluation of E-Gov governance. The thesis finds that the majority of websites of the national government of South Africa are technically and aesthetically functional, but only when evaluated against standards of 20 years ago. With notably few exceptions, no use is made of functionalities that are available in the WWW of 2020. Furthermore, the level of ‘governance’ is found to be very low, as the websites are used predominantly as sites to portray formal documents and personalities. Chapter 1 discusses the problematic regarding the measurement of governments’ use of electronics for governance purposes. Chapter 2 analyses the literature on E-Gov service quality. Chapter 3 focuses on the literature on E-Gov governance. Chapter 4 profiles the DEWEM framework. Chapter 5 adapts the DEWEM into an instrument of analysis and proceeds to perform the analysis. Chapter 6 offers the findings.The thesis not only delivers relatively objective and literature-based findings with regard to the use of the WWW by the South African government, but also develops an evaluation methodology that may be used for evaluations of other levels of government in future. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Elektronies gemediëerde kommunikasie het oor die afgelope 3 dekades fundamentele veranderinge meegebring in die wyse waarop mense, organisasies en regerings kommunikeer – intern sowel as ekstern. Hierdie tesis pak die taak aan om te probeer vasstel in watter mate die Suid-Afrikaanse regering daarin slaag om die voordele van elektroniese kommunikasie behoorlik te benut. Omdat elektronika soveel aanwendings het, is die tesis beperk tot slegs die nasionale regering, en slegs tot die mate wat die Wêreldwye Web (WWW) benut word. Die tesis gaan uit van die aanname dat die kommunikasie wat van ‘n regering uitgaan, in beginsel op landsbestuur (‘governance‘) gerig behoort te wees (en nie slegs as ‘n instrument vir self-bekendstelling nie). Alhoewel daar ‘n baie groot volume van literatuur oor Elektroniese Regering (ER) beskikbaar is, is dit steeds onduidelik hoe om die gehalte daarvan te meet. Verskeie metingsinstrumente is in die verlede gebruik, maar is almal oorspronklik ontwikkel vir kommersiële organisasies. In hierdie tesis word gekies om ‘n model wat in 2019 ontwikkel is – bekend as die DEWEM – te gebruik as platform vir die ontwikkeling van die metingsinstrument. Die DEWEM is spesifiek ontwikkel om die ‘governance‘ aspek van Elektroniese Regering konseptueel te profileer. Die tesis vind dat die meerderheid van webwerwe van die Suid-Afrikaanse nasionale regering tegnies en esteties funksioneel is, maar dan gemeet aan Webstandaarde van 20 jaar gelede. Met opmerklik min uitsonderings, benut die regering nie die funksies wat in die WWW in 2020 beskikbaar is nie. Voorts is die vlak van ‘governance’ besonder laag en word die Web hoofsaaklik gebruik as ‘n bekendstelling van nasionale departemente se formele dokumente en persoonlikhede. Hoofstuk 1 bespreek die problematiek betreffende die meting van regerings se gebruik van elektronika vir landsbestuur doeleindes. Hoofstuk 2 analiseer die literatuur oor ER dienskwaliteit. Hoofstuk 3 fokus op die literatuur oor ER ‘governance’ kwaliteit. Hoofstuk 4 ontleed die DEWEM raamwerk. Hoofstuk 5 verwerk die DEWEM raamwerk tot ‘n metingsinstrument en pas dit toe op geselekteerde webwerwe van die nasionale regering. Hoofstuk 6 bied die bevindinge aan. Die tesis lewer nie alleen relatief objektiewe, en literatuur-gebaseerde, bevindinge oor die stand van Web-gebruik in die Suid-Afrikaanse regering nie, maar ontwikkel ook ‘n metodologie vir sodanige evaluerings, wat in die toekoms ook vir ander vlakke van regering gebruik kan word. Masters 2021-02-17T05:37:02Z 2021-04-21T14:29:03Z 2021-02-17T05:37:02Z 2021-04-21T14:29:03Z 2021-03 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109855 en_ZA Stellenbosch University v, 119 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Democratic E-governance Website Model (DEWEM) World Wide Web (WWW) E-government -- Services for Electronic government -- Services for Internet in public administration -- Services for South Africa -- Politics and government Government Websites -- South Africa Electronic government information -- South Africa Computer network resources -- South Africa UCTD Mokoena, Edgar Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| title | Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| title_full | Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| title_fullStr | Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| title_short | Electronic Government and Governance in South Africa – an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| title_sort | electronic government and governance in south africa an evaluation of selected national government websites |
| topic | Democratic E-governance Website Model (DEWEM) World Wide Web (WWW) E-government -- Services for Electronic government -- Services for Internet in public administration -- Services for South Africa -- Politics and government Government Websites -- South Africa Electronic government information -- South Africa Computer network resources -- South Africa UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109855 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mokoenaedgar electronicgovernmentandgovernanceinsouthafricaanevaluationofselectednationalgovernmentwebsites |