Impact of E-Governance in a Developing Country: The Case of E-Mutation in Bangladesh

Abstract

Like other developing countries, the government of Bangladesh has, in the past two decades, prioritized the adoption of e-governance reforms, a notable example of which is e-mutation. The objective of this paper is to perform a holistic assessment of the impact of e-mutation on end-users and service providers by utilizing a framework that incorporates multiple impact assessment criteria for both sets of stakeholders. Exploratory sequential mixed method and quantitative method were used respectively to assess impact on service providers and end-users. Findings indicate that e-mutation has been highly effective in enhancing quality of service and facilitating process improvements, while significantly reducing the scope for corruption. However, the initiative has achieved little success in improving the experience of end-users when interacting with service providers. It has also failed to promote interoperability among the different governmental organs responsible for land administration. The study, therefore, highlights that policy makers in developing countries should prioritize integration at the design stage and behavioral training at the development stage when considering e-governance reforms. It also makes a theoretical contribution by proposing the inclusion of interoperability in impact assessment frameworks for developing countries, since failure to achieve the same is attributable to the weak institutional context of such countries.