SMS-based e-government services

The usage of the SMS-based e-government services both in developed and developing government has so far been seen to have manybenefits. However, this idea has faced a major challenge in that there are citizens who have not accepted the issue. Therefore, the article by Tony DwiSusano and Robert Goodwin discusses majorly on user acceptance of the SMS-based e-government services. In their analysis they propose a model which explains various factors influencing the non- adoption to accept SMS-based e-governance.
In reference to the article, there are many benefits that accrue to the usage of the SMS-based e-governance. Some of the factors that are mentioned in the article includes; it is convenience in the provision of information and service to the public through this method, it has also been found to reduce time as well as costs in the provision of various public services. Moreover, SMS based e-governance has also been positively credited for its ability to enhance transparency, communication as well as accountability between the citizens and the government.
In a bid to find the determinants of different users’ adoption to SMS and e-government service, Tony and Robert adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB. There are a number of reasons of using DTPB. These incudes; DTPB was majorly developed to help in understanding information technology, the acceptance of the SMS-based e-governance is not totally in the control of citizens, DTPB considers other relevant social influences as well as the fact that DTPB offers more advantages as compared to other prominent models such as Theory of reasoned Behavior, Theory of Planned behavior as well as Technology Acceptance Model.
In order to validate the research model, Tony and Robert conducted six activities. These includes the development of measures, data collection, evaluating the reliability and validity of the developed measure. Other activities were validating the model using the collected data and modifications to the model parameters until satisfactory was achieved. Moreover, another activity which they conducted was the comparison of the proposed relationships between the non-adopters and the adopters.
In their finding, the DTPB model adopted had a lower indication of fit indices and thus it was modified to SMS-based E-Government Acceptance Model (SEGAM). SEGAM introduced six beliefs that are specific to SMS-based e-government services. These beliefs includes; perceived convenience, perceived reliability, perceived risks, perceived costs, perceived personal relationship as well as perceived responsiveness.
When analyzing their finding using SAGEM, Tony and Robert found that individuals attitude towards using SMS-based e-governance, is a product of their cognitive responses. Thus, using SAGEM, they were able to confirm the five cognitive beliefs which have a direct effect on the attitude towards SMS-based e-governance. In addition, they were a in a position of identifying seven cognitive beliefs which have an indirect effect on attitude toward the use of SMS-based e-governance services. These seven cognitive beliefs includes, the perceived ease to use, self-efficacy, perceived reliability, normative social influence, perceived personal relationship, perceived risk and facilitating conditions.

Discussion questions.
I. Discuss the beliefs for specifically for SMS-based e-governance services (4)
II. Discuss the reasons behind Tony and Robert using the DTPB model (page 2)
III. Discuss the benefits of using SMS-based e-governance services (page 1)
IV. Discuss the cognitive beliefs which have both a direct and indirect effect on attitude towards the use of SMS-based e-governance services (4-7)