Is It Citizen-Centric? A Tool for Evaluating E-government Websites’ Citizen-Centricity

Abstract

A citizen-centric e-government website is an important component for today’s governments because it is a significant instrument for increasing access to and from citizens. Evaluation of citizen-centric e-government websites content deserves attention, and a tool that focuses on evaluating e-government websites that provide a checklist of important citizen-centric characteristics is needed for e-government practitioners. This paper aims to develop an evaluation tool to measure citizen-centricity in e-government websites and demonstrate the application of this tool in Malaysia e-government websites. Using qualitative methods of literature analysis and website observation, four components and thirty-nine characteristics in seven themes were identified and incorporated into a tool named Citizen-centric Checklist for E-Government Website (CCEW). This assessment tool provides a checklist of citizen-centric characteristics that should be present in the content of e-government websites. It is designed to be a guideline for evaluators of e-government websites from government or external agencies mandated to perform e-government websites evaluation. To demonstrate the tool, CCEW is employed into Malaysia’s 5-stars e-government websites to identify its citizen-centricity level.