Technological Culturation on e-Government Sustainability among the Rural Communities in Malaysia

Abstract

Successful implementation of sustainable e-Government remains a challenge in
developing countries, especially among the rural communities in Malaysia. Not being
able to identify the key factors that contribute to the e-Government sustainability success
of a country may result in wasting resources, money, and time. This problem may also
stumble the communication between government and citizens. Much research has been
conducted in the context of e-Government, but only a few have been thorough with one of
the main issues related to sustainable e-Government in developing countries, which is
digital divide. There are limited guides identified to reduce the digital divide gap for rural
communities in developing countries, particularly Malaysia. These reasons have
provided the rationale for this study to be conducted with the following objective: to
identify the key elements related to the digital divide that could increase the utilization of
sustainable e-Government among the rural communities in Malaysia. This study reports
the review conducted to identify these key elements. The more significant aim of this study
is to develop guidelines that focus on technological culturation for sustainable eGovernment among the rural communities in Malaysia. This study has found that the key
elements that make technological culturation support e-Government include attitude,
exposure, experience, and culture. In the long run, it is hoped that the guidelines outlined
in this paper could assist rural community, the government, and stakeholders who
involved to work towards better and sustainable e-Government.