RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mobile phone and e-government: the future for dissemination of public services

Abstract

Traditionally, e-government has been defined as an IT enabled route to good governance. Basic idea behind e-government includes enhancing transparency and generating accountability and responsiveness in the system in order to provide faster and quality service to the citizen. Recent advancement in information technology provides the opportunity to governments and administrators throughout the world to improve the delivery of information and services to citizens and businesses, to streamline public sector functions and to increase participation in government. Over the past decade, governments all over the world have been moving to providing services to their citizens via the Web with varying degrees of success. These e-government initiatives have been the subject of extensive research. This communication addresses the transitioning from electronic government to mobile government (m-government) initiatives setting up the mobile services and aimed to understand the key factors to adoption and diffusion of these services. Mobile phones and the simple functions of voice and text messaging can empower citizens and affect the way citizens interact with each other and with the society as whole. Mobile phones are also thought to open up for a deepened democracy through citizen participation and insight into state affairs, through influencing the political decision-making process, and helping in holding governments accountable. Transitioning from e-government to m-government requires researching the integration process between e-government and m-government. It also requires investigation of all the pressures that could affect the transition process. Such pressures differ between nations, such as a nation's technological and information. This communication discusses how mobile communication system can be used for effective e-government and the areas where m-government can be implemented and examines some of the reasons as well as the main opportunities for improving effective governance through mobile phones. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.