A Systemic Analysis of E-Government Maturity Models: The Need for Security Services. A case of Developing Region
The advent of e-government services has become the primary means by which governments interacts with their domains (Government (G), Business (B) and Citizens (C)). Indeed, this has brought not only tremendous opportunities but also serious security challenges. Government critical information assets (mission-critical assets) are now exposed to security threats and risks. Moreover, security has an important role in trust formation of citizens and consequently the adoption and use of e-government. It is critical that confidentiality, integrity and availability of critical information being stored, processed, and transmitted between e-government domains – be an integral part of egovernment development. Therefore, as e-Government development is heavily guided by the so called e-Government Maturity Models (eGMM) – the overall objective of this research work is to propose the “Approach by which IT/ICT security services can appropriately be incorporated into eGMM at all of the models’ stages”.In light of the above, this thesis presents the progress of the research findings of an empirical investigation and analysis conducted in the developing region, in particular, sub-Saharan Africa, where six government institutions located in Tanzania are critically investigated. Moreover, this research employed a Systemic Analysis, Qualitative, and Case-study as the research approach, method and strategy respectively. The findings of the study revealed the following: (i) e-government development is still at its infancy stages in all surveyed institutions and the developing region; (ii) the study area has a number of security related issues and challenges (technical and social-technical) that endanger secure e-government implementation and services delivery; and (iii) security services (technical and non-technical) are fairly lacking in all investigated eGMM.
Therefore, this thesis contributes to: (i) the empirical and theoretical knowledge (body of knowledge) on the need for security services in e-government and services delivery, and eGMM to different groups such as practitioners and academia; (ii) Awareness on how demanded are the security services in securing organizational information assets to the government and researched institution at different levels (strategic, tactical, and operational); (iii) critical analysis of security related issues and challenges in the studied environment and eGMM; and (iv) setting up guidelines for achieving secure egovernment implementation and services delivery, particularly in the studied environment.
Keywords: Security services, e-Government, eGMM, eGMM stages, Developing region, Tanzania, Government institutions
Respondent: Geoffrey Rwezaura Karokola
Opponent: Fil. doktor Christer Magnusson, DSV
Examinator: Professor Paul Johannesson, DSV
Huvudhandledare: Professor Louise Yngström, DSV
Tid: måndag 24 maj, kl 13:00
Plats: DSV, Forum, Sal 7501, Isafjordsgatan 39, Kista
