Users’ experience of e-government services: a case study based on the Nigeria immigration service

Okunola, Olaseni Muritala (2015) Users’ experience of e-government services: a case study based on the Nigeria immigration service. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of users’ experience of e-government services in developing countries through a study of a specific e-government service, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) portal. This thesis therefore encompasses both the users’ experience of e-government services and effect of the digital divide in the use of e-government services. The NIS portal was chosen as the context for this study because it is the most well-developed e-government service in Nigeria. Those seeking to travel in and out of the country have no option but to use it regardless of whether they are currently living in Nigeria. Given the importance of profiling a significant number of users to support the investigation of relationships between variables, and the geographic scatter of the respondents, snowball sampling was used for the questionnaire survey used to collect the data. The questionnaire design and subsequent analysis was informed by previous research and theory in the fields of customer satisfaction, service quality, technology adoption and the digital divide. 351 completed questionnaires were collected and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) Software. All respondents identified themselves as having used the NIS portal, with 50% reporting their main place of residence as Nigeria, and the remainder being resident in other countries. The analysis of descriptive statistics and the responses to the open questions and statements used in the questionnaire suggested that the respondents had a low level of satisfaction with the NIS website, with much of their concern stemming from issues pertaining to security, support and trustworthiness. There were also concerns documented regarding the safety of personal and financial data. They also mentioned significant issues with the ease of use of the website and its quality. Nonetheless, users valued the quality of the content and information available through the portal and were positive about its convenience and potential to deliver benefits. In terms of usage barriers, the most significant is Nigeria’s intermittent electricity supply, closely followed by the high cost of internet access, both of which pose a particular challenge, given the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to generate an e-government user experience scale confirming the importance of dimensionsidentified by other researchers, as well as identifying new factors. These were: security and support, content and information, ease of use, benefits, barriers, convenience, trust and website quality. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to investigate the relationships between these factors. Content and information were found to have a significant effect on ease of use and convenience. Website quality was found to have a significant effect on ease of use, security and support. The website’s ease of use was found to have a significant effect on barriers and convenience to have a significant effect on perceived benefits. Meanwhile, security and support was found to have a significant effect on trustworthiness. Barriers and benefits as well as trustworthiness were all found to have a significant effect on user satisfaction. Demographic statistics supported hypotheses testing on the digital divide in the use of e-government services. Demographic (age, education, gender and income), social-economic (employment) and geographic (location: rural and urban, developing and developed countries) factors affected the e-government users’ internet experience, their access to computing facilities and their e-government experience thus confirming that a digital divide exists amongst NIS portal users. This research makes a number of contributions. Firstly, it is one of a very few significant studies to explore user experience of an e-government portal in a major developing country. As a result, it has brought to light important concerns regarding users’ security, privacy and trustworthiness as they relate to their personal information. Secondly, it compares users both inside and outside the country, thereby offering unique insights on the digital divide. Finally, it proposes an e-government user-experience model that identifies the relationships between the various factors that contribute to user satisfaction. Suggestions are offered for practitioners, e-government policymakers and researchers.