Examining the interdependencies of e-government challenges using PESTELMO, DEMATEL and ANP: A case study of Tanzania

Abstract

E-government transformation requires a deeper understanding of contextual factors, including prevailing challenges. Significantly, few studies have raised that e-government challenges are not independent and that their interdependencies warrant further investigations. This study aims to analyse the interdependencies of e-government challenges using qualitative and quantitative methods – PESTELMO (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental, Legal, Managerial and Organisational) analysis method and DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) and ANP (Analytic Network Process) respectively. PESTELMO analysis method categorised 27 e-government challenges in Tanzania, which were then subjected to DEMATEL. DEMATEL results show that net causes are political, economic and legal challenges, while net receivers are sociocultural, technological, environmental, managerial and organisational challenges. The ANP results reveal that economic challenges are the most significant among the net causes. Hence, e-government policy and strategy makers may want to prioritise economic challenges to propagate beneficial results. This is the first study that analyses, visualises and attempts to measure the interdependencies among e-government challenges in Tanzania. The contributions of this paper lie in the empirical analysis of e-government challenges. The results provide insights to practitioners and researchers of e-government in Tanzania on the most critical challenges/hurdles to focus on for successful e-government transformation.