A Framework for Selection of Processes to Virtualize in e-Government: A Case Study of Liberia

Abstract

E-government has become an important strategic area of focus in many Sub-Saharan African countries. Despite the numerous success stories about e-government bringing great benefits in developed countries, many e-government implementations in Africa do not achieve the expected outcomes. This study focuses on Liberia, a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa, where e-government has been adopted as a key government strategy. However, the implementation of e-government in Liberia has not been fully successful. The purpose of this research is to develop a framework to guide IT practitioners in Liberia to select viable e-government initiatives to virtualize. To accomplish this goal, this paper adopts the Extended Process Virtualization Theory (EPVT) and Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) frameworks to develop a novel framework for the selection of suitable government physical processes to virtualize. The framework is validated by means of an experiment using e-government initiatives in Liberia. Results show the utility of the framework