skip to main content
research-article

Information privacy practices in e‐government in an African least developing country, Rwanda

Published: 29 January 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Privacy of information is a critical issue for e‐government development as lack of it negatively influences users' trust and adoption of e‐government. To earn user trust government organizations need to provide reliable privacy assurance by implementing adequate information privacy protection (IPP) practices. African least developing countries (LDCs) today develop e‐government, but focus is on quick technical development, and the status of IPP issues is not clear. Little research has yet studied the status of IPP practices in e‐government in African LDCs. To fill this gap, we assess the status of existing IPP practices in e‐government in Rwanda, using international privacy principles as an assessment baseline. We adopt a case study approach including three cases. Data were collected by interviews and a survey. The findings call into question the efficacy of existing IPP practices and their effect in ensuring e‐government service users' privacy protection in Rwanda. The study extends existing literature by providing insights related to privacy protection from an African LDC context. For practitioners in Rwanda and other LDCs, this study contributes to the protection of information privacy in e‐government by providing recommendations to mitigate identified gaps.

References

[1]
Abu‐Shanab, E. (2014). Antecedents of trust in e‐government services: An empirical test in Jordan. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 8(2), 283–308. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-08-2013-0026
[3]
AICPA, & CICA . (2011). Privacy Maturity Model.
[4]
Akkaya, C., Wolf, P., & Krcmar, H. (2012). Factors influencing citizen adoption of e‐government services: A cross‐cultural comparison (research in progress). Proceedings of the 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS‐45). Maui, HI, USA: IEEE. Retrieved from http://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2012/4525/00/4525c531‐abs.html
[5]
Alasem, A. N. (2015). Privacy and eGovernment in Saudi Arabia. In World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science (Vol. II, pp. 21–24).
[6]
Al‐Jamal, M., & Abu‐Shanab, E. (2015). Privacy policy of e‐government websites: An itemized checklist proposed and tested. Management Research and Practice, 7(3), 80–95.
[7]
Argyrakis, J., Gritzalis, S., & Kioulafas, C. (2003). Privacy enhancing technologies: A review. (R. Traunmüller, Ed.), Electronic Government: Proceedings of the 2nd [IFIP WG 8.5] International Conference, EGOV 2003. Prague, Czech Republic. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=W19UAWJ7V3H9EGQ0
[8]
Belanger, F., & Carter, L. (2008). Trust and risk in e‐government adoption. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 1(17), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2007.12.002
[9]
Bélanger, F., & Crossler, R. E. (2011). Privacy in the digital age: A review of information privacy research in information system. MIS Quarterly, 35(4), 1–36.
[10]
Borena, B., Bélanger, F., & Ejigu, D. (2015). Informatiopraction privacy protection practices in Africa: A review trough the lens on critical social theory. In 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3490–3497).
[11]
Botha, J., & Grobler, M. (2017). A high‐level comparison between the south African protection of personal information act and international data protection Laws a high‐level comparison between the south African protection of personal information act and international data protection Laws. In The 12th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS). Ohio, USA.
[12]
Bryman, A. (2008). Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[13]
Chen, Y.‐C., & Hsieh, T.‐C. (2014). Big data for digital government: Opportunities, challenges, and strategies. International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age, 1(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijpada.2014010101
[14]
Chua, H. N., Herbland, A., Wong, S. F., & Chang, Y. (2017). Compliance to personal data protection principles: A study of how organizations frame privacy policy notices. Telematics and Informatics, 34(4), 157–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.01.008
[15]
CIGI & Ipsos . (2018). 2018 CIGI‐Ipsos global survey on internet security and trust. Retrieved from https://www.cigionline.org/internet‐survey‐2018
[16]
Culnan, M., & Bies, J. (2003). Consumer privacy: Balancing economic and justice considerations. Journal of Social Issues, 59(2), 323–342. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4560.00067
[17]
Dayarathna, R. (2013). Discovering constructs and dimensions for information privacy metrics. Retrieved from http://www.diva‐portal.org/smash/get/diva2:617312/FULLTEXT02.pdf
[18]
Heurix, J., Zimmermann, P., Neubauer, T., & Fenz, S. (2015). A taxonomy for privacy enhancing technologies. Computers & Security, 53, 1–17. http://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2015.05.002
[19]
Holden, S. H., Norris, D. F., & Fletcher, P. D. (2003). Electronic government at the grass roots: Contemporary evidence and future trends. Proceedings of the 36th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS‐36). Island of Hawaii (Big Island): Computer Societry Press. Retrieved from http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLAbsToc.jsp?resourcePath=/dl/proceedings/hicss/&toc=comp/proceedings/hicss/2003/1874/05/1874toc.xml&DOI=10.1109/HICSS.2003.1174305
[20]
Human Rights Committee . (2015). The right to privacy in Rwanda. Retrieved from https://www.privacyinternational.org/sites/default/files/PI Rwanda submission.pdf
[21]
Karokola, G. R. (2012). A framework for securing e‐government services the case of Tanzania. Retrieved from http://www.diva‐portal.org/smash/get/diva2:557279/FULLTEXT04.pdf
[22]
Kim, G.‐H., Trimi, S., & Chung, J.‐H. (2014). Big‐data applications in the government sector. Communications of the ACM, 57(3), 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1145/2500873
[23]
Libaque‐Sáenz, C. F., Wong, S. F., Chang, Y., Ha, Y. W., & Park, M. C. (2016). Understanding antecedents to perceived information risks: An empirical study of the Korean telecommunications market. Information Development, 32(1), 91–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666913516884
[24]
Makulilo, A. B. (2012). Privacy and data protection in Africa: A state of the art. International Data Privacy Law, 2(3), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1093/idpl/ips014
[25]
Makulilo, A. B. (2015). Myth and reality of harmonisation of data privacy policies in Africa. Computer Law and Security Review, 31(1), 78–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2014.11.005
[26]
Marotta‐Wurgler, F. (2016). Understanding privacy policies: Content, self‐regulation, and markets (16–18). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2736513
[27]
Maumbe, B. M., Owei, V., & Alexander, H. (2008). Questioning the pace and pathway of e‐government development in Africa: A case study of South Africa's Cape Gateway project. Government Information Quarterly, 25(4), 757–777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2007.08.007
[28]
Mbarika, V. W. a, & Byrd, T. A. (2005). The Neglected Continent of IS Research: A Research Agenda for Sub‐Saharan Africa. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 6(5), 130–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670509357611
[29]
McDonagh, M. (2002). E‐government in Australia: The challenge to privacy of personal information. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 10(3), 327–343. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=954870581&Fmt=7&clientId=8991&RQT=309&VName=PQD. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/10.3.327
[31]
Miyungire, G., & Yonazi, J. (2012). Identifying citizen‐demanded eGovernment services in Tanzania. In 12th European Conference on eGovernment (ECEG 2012) (pp. 447–453). Barcelona, Spain.
[32]
Murphy, A. R., Reddy, M. C., & Xu, H. (2014). Privacy practices in collaborative environments: A study of emergency department staff. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing ‐ CSCW′14 (pp. 269–282). https://doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531643
[33]
Mutimukwe, C., Kolkowska, E., & Grönlund, Å. (2017). Trusting and adopting e‐government services in developing countries? Privacy concerns and practices in Rwanda. In IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2017 (pp. 324–335). Springer international publishing AG 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64677-0_27
[34]
Mwangi, W. (2006). The social relations of e‐government diffusion in developing countries: The case of Rwanda. 7th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (Dg.o 2006). San Diego: Digital Government Research Center.
[35]
Nkwe, N. (2012). E‐government: challenges and opportunities in Botswana. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(17), 39–48. Retrieved from http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_17_September_2012/5.pdf
[36]
Nsengimana, J. P. (2017). Reflections upon periclitations in privacy: Perspectives from Rwanda's digital transformation. Health and Technology, 7(4), 377–388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-017-0196-0
[37]
Nwaeze, A. C., Zavarsky, P., & Ruhl, R. (2017). Compliance evaluation of information privacy protection in e‐government systems in Anglophone West Africa using ISO/IEC 29100: 2011. In The Twelfth International Conference on Digital Information Management (ICDIM 2017) (pp. 98–102).
[38]
Nyakwende, E., & Mazari, A. Al. (2012). Factors affecting the development of e‐government in Saudi Arabia. (A. Kő, C. Leitner, H. Leitold, & A. Prosser, Eds.), Advancing Democracy, Government and Governance: Proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective, and Electronic Democracy (EGOVIS/EDEM 2012). Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978‐3‐642‐32701‐8_3
[39]
Oetzel, M. C., & Spiekermann, S. (2014). A systematic methodology for privacy impact assessments: A design science approach. European Journal of Information Systems, 23(2), 126–150. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2013.18
[40]
Pelkola, D. (2012). A framework for managing privacy‐enhancing technology. IEEE Software, 29(3), 45–49. https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2012.47
[41]
RLMUA . (2017). Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority. Retrieved from http://www.rlma.rw/about‐us/objectives/
[42]
Rwanda . (2012). Rwanda vision 2020. Revised in 2012, 1–40. Retrieved from http://www.minecofin.gov.rw/fileadmin/General/Vision_2020/Vision‐2020.pdf
[43]
Smith, H. J., Milberg, S. J., & Burke, S. J. (1996). Information privacy: Measuring individuals' concerns about organizational practices. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 20(2), 167–196. https://doi.org/10.2307/249477
[44]
Solove, D. J. (2006). Taxonomy of privacy. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 335, 335–409.
[45]
Stanaland, A. J. S., & Lwin, M. O. (2013). Online privacy practices: Advances in China. Journal of International Business Research, 12(2), 33–47.
[46]
Stewart, K., Kane, G. C., & Storey, V. C. (2006). Compliance to the fair information practices: How are the Fortune 500 handling online privacy disclosures ? Information & Management, 43, 805–820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2006.07.003
[47]
The Republic of Rwanda . The constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003 revised in 2015 (2015). Retrieved from http://www.parliament.gov.rw/fileadmin/Bills_CD/THE_CONSTITUTION_OF_THE_REPUBLIC_OF_RWANDA_OF_2003_REVISED_IN_2015.pdf
[48]
[49]
[50]
UN . (n.d.). The right to privacy in the digital age. Retrieved October 11, 2018, from https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/digitalage/pages/digitalageindex.aspx
[53]
Verkijika, S. F., & De Wet, L. (2018). A usability assessment of e‐government websites in Sub‐Saharan Africa. International Journal of Information Management, 39, 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2017.11.003
[54]
Welch, E. W., Feeney, M. K., & Park, C. H. (2016). Determinants of data sharing in U.S. city governments. Government Information Quarterly, 33(3), 393–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2016.07.002
[56]
Wright, D., & Raab, C. (2014). Privacy principles, risks and harms. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 28(3), 277–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2014.913874
[57]
Wu, K. W., Huang, S. Y., Yen, D. C., & Popova, I. (2012). The effect of online privacy policy on consumer privacy concern and trust. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), 889–897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.12.008
[58]
Xu, H., Bagby, J. W., & Melonas, T. R. (2009). Regulating privacy in wireless advertising messaging: FIPP compliance by policy vs. by design. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) (Vol. 5672 LNCS, pp. 19–36). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03168-7_2
[59]
Xu, H., Dinev, T., Smith, J., & Hart, P. (2011). Information privacy concerns: Linking individual perceptions with institutional privacy assurances information privacy concerns: Linking individual perceptions with institutional privacy assurances. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 12(12), 798–824. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00281
[60]
Xu, H., Teo, H., Tan, B. C. Y., & Agarwal, R. (2012). Effects of individual self‐protection, industry self‐regulation, and government regulation on privacy concerns: A study of location‐based services. Information Systems Research, 23(4), 1342–1363. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1120.0416
[61]
Yilma, K. M. (2017). The quest for information privacy in Africa: A review essay. Journal of Information Policy, 7, 111–119. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.5325/jinfopoli.7.2017.0111.pdf?refreqid=search%3A89c9455655e04254dec3f155a02b3ce5

Cited By

View all

Recommendations

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries
The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries  Volume 85, Issue 2
March 2019
125 pages
EISSN:1681-4835
DOI:10.1002/isd2.v85.2
Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 29 January 2019

Author Tags

  1. African LDCs
  2. e‐government
  3. information privacy practices
  4. privacy principles
  5. Rwanda

Qualifiers

  • Research-article

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)0
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
Reflects downloads up to 31 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all

View Options

View options

Figures

Tables

Media

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media