Civil servants' internet skills: Are they ready for e-government?

Abstract

In order to utilize the possibilities of information and communication technology within the public domain and thereby further develop the electronic government, it is necessary that civil servants possess sufficient levels of Internet skills. Higher levels of these skills among professionals in the public sphere might result in better Internet usage, thus improving both productivity and efficiency. Based on results of this research, we can conclude that the levels of operational and formal Internet skills are higher than the levels of information and strategic Internet skills. A main finding is that civil servants do not perform well on higher Internet skills involving information and strategic tasks. The implications of the results are discussed and several policy recommendations to improve digital skill levels of civil servants are given. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.