Factors Influencing Readiness for Transformational E-Government: An Empirical Study on Perspective of Local Governments in South Africa

The purpose of the chapter is to explore the readiness of local governments (municipalities) in South
Africa to transform to be able to deliver services to its citizens using ICT. The study applied
Structuration Theory (ST) and drew on the concepts of duality of structure and action particularly: the
enactment of technology-in-practice (ETiP) as a lens to understand and interpret the social construct.
The objective was to determine the factors contributing to the readiness of municipalities to adopt ICT
to transform the way and manner they deliver essential services to the public. The concept
“Transformational e-Government” (TeG) is discussed in this chapter to analyse the determinant
factors influencing service delivery. This chapter aimed to analyse the readiness of South African local
government when rendering services through information and communication technology (ICT). An
interpretive case study methodology where semi-structured interviews were used to collect
information. The findings were that out of the 15 participated municipalities only 7% were ready for
TeG initiatives, 60% were near ready and 33% have a long way to go to implement TeG initiatives.
The results also showed that 5 out of the 8 Metro Cities in South Africa were ready to implement TeG
initiatives successfully. The implications of the study were that, the ST is able to provide the lens
through which to understand, interpret and determine the factors contributing to the readiness of
municipalities to implement TeG to improve service delivery.