The effect of information and communications technologies deployment on citizen engagement in a South African metropolitan municipality
Date
2022
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Abstract
Even though the South African government has joined other nations across the globe to embrace the use of selected technologies for citizen engagement, there has not been much meaningful impact on the decision-making process or governance because the government failed to realise that their engagement mechanisms were poor, their selected applications were not user-friendly, and they required more technicalities for participation with little or no protection for users. This study is designed to assess the effect of the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on citizen engagement in the City of Tshwane Municipality. This quantitative study adopted a survey research design. The study sampled 136 councillors randomly out of 205 councillors in the City of Tshwane via a structured questionnaire. The retrieved questionnaires were analysed using charts, simple percentage and frequency, cross-tabulation, chi-square and linear regression. In the end, the findings of the study revealed that the most critical operational changes needed to enhance citizen engagement in the City of Tshwane Municipality were improved support from the IT division/department, acquisition of technological tools for councillors, and regular live online Q&A sessions with citizens (e.g. Facebook Live, Twitter Spaces). In addition, the study found that improving the IT division/department support would enhance citizen engagement in the City of Tshwane Municipality the most. Based on the findings of this study, the research recommended, among other things, that the municipality should see the selected technologies for policy creation and public participation and comments/projects and ward monitoring as a potent tool for enhancing accountability, feedback, and municipal development rather than as a tool for political campaigning or propaganda since technology usage significantly affects citizen engagement
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Digital Business to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022
Keywords
Deployment, Information and communication technologies (ICTs), City of Tshwane Municipality