ICT and IT Initiatives in Public Governance − Benchmarking and Insights from Ethiopia

Aim: The paper mainly aims to identify Benchmark Practices of ICT and IT initiatives in Public Governance, Specifically the Case of India and others. Also it attempts to describe the status quo of ICT and IT initiatives in Public Governance in Ethiopia and assess the impact of ICT / IT initiatives on Public Sector Reforms. Research Methodology: To assess the Global practices of ICT and IT enabled Public Governance the paper has adopted descriptive and qualitative approach. To describe the status quo of ICT and IT initiatives in Public Governance in Ethiopia and assess the impact of ICT / IT initiatives on Public Sector Reforms a mixed mode approach is adopted using secondary data (literature), qualitative and quantitative data. 15 Face-face In-Depth Interviews were conducted over a time period of 6 weeks, with various stakeholders of Public Governance with open ended questions on ICT / IT initiatives and public sector reforms in Ethiopia. In addition, a quantitative study using questionnaire (Sample size = 412, Cronbach's α = 0.565) was also conducted by convenient sampling. Findings: Some of the innovative ICT /IT based Global Benchmark E-Governance Services includes, E-Employment Services, GIS based Emergency Assistance, Integrated Social Assistance System, Open government data, etc. The face-face in depth interviews revealed major issues like high levels of Corruption, non-transparency, lack of skilled manpower in ICT/IT domain, low levels of literacy, cultural and language barriers, etc. In the evolved linear regression model from the questionnaire survey, it indicates that the model best explains the impact of ICT/IT initiatives (Independent variable) on the Public sector reforms (dependent variable) by nearly 50%. (R=.701, R Square = 0.492, F=65.387, Sig = .000).