E-GOVERNANCE: A STUDY OF THE CONCEPT AND IMPLEMENTATION IN THE EMERGING ECONOMY

How to cite this paper: Pandey, D. L., & Risal, N. (2020). E-governance: A study of the concept and implementation in the emerging economy. Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review, 4(2), 93-101. http://doi.org/10.22495/cgsrv4i2p9 Copyright © 2020 The Authors This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licens


INTRODUCTION
Governance involves decisions on problems with public concern. E-governance is the inclusion of society into decision-making processes or providing information on public service discharge with the use of technology to the public. Nowadays, most of the government offices are using technology, especially information communication technology (ICT) in discharging their duties (Shakya, 2017). Good governance is possible only through the utilization of knowledge and communication technology because it is less costly and quick. Some pioneer studies have been conducted by eminent researchers on good governance in developing countries including Nepal (Gupta & Jana, 2003;Saxena, 2005;Acharya, 2010;Sapkota, 2008;Acharya, 2016; Wakaisuka-Isingoma, 2018). Pioneer researchers like Acharya (2010), Sapkota (2008), and Shakya (2017) suggested further studies using a comprehensive, integrate, and holistic approach for achieving real assessment of the e-governance situation in the Nepalese perspective. Acharya (2016) found every e-governance projects in Nepal were in the nascent stage; hence, proper information flow for calculating return on e-government considering tangible and intangible benefits had not been fully ascertained. Gupta and Jana (2003) had conducted a subjective analysis to ascertain the advantages of e-governance at a broader framework. They recognized ICT as the engine for growth and a source of energy for the social and economic empowerment of the country. Today, the government around the countries of the world are empowering masses through ICT. Similarly, the government of Nepal has also been used ICT for transparency and publishing the information which helps to empower citizens. The government of Nepal has launched ICT within the government offices intending to discharge effective service to the people of the country considering the feedback of the citizen/ public but complaints of the people are within the same level as before the ICT implemented (Ghimire, 2008). Several studies in e-governance were conducted in Nepal considering awareness level and requirement of e-governance for gaining sustained competitive advantages (Acharya, 2010;Sapkota, 2008;Ghimire, 2008;Acharya, 2016; Bartaula, 2009).
The government of Nepal has encouraged to all sectors of Nepal to use ICT (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2005; Ministry of Information and Communication, 2010) to make the government acts more accessible, transparent, and efficient delivery of government service to the citizen. Thus, the study is aiming to identify the prominent economic governance factors to implement e-governance more effectively in Nepal and the contribution of those factors in e-governance implementation. The results of the study paper are expected to contribute to the policymaker of governance in the Nepalese context as well.
The entire research paper has been sub-divided into major six sections. Section 1 is the introduction that incorporates the background of the study and raises the issues that have been addressed by the study. Basically, this part tried to strengthen the issues of the study. Section 2 is the literature review that contains and theoretical dimensions of the study issues and previous studies in the related areas to strengthen the study and identify the gap for further study. It helps to present the significance of the study. Section 3 is on methods and materials. This section presents the technical dimensions of the study. The section presents the procedures for sample selection, data collection, and analysis. The results are presented in Section 4. The section presents the data in a managed way and contains the results developed from the analysis of data using various statistical tools. Section 5 is the discussion. The discussion part would compare the results of the previous study findings with the finding of the present study and tried to find out the reasons for similarities and dissimilarities. Section 6 is the conclusion. The section contains the main findings of the paper, the implication of the results, limitations, and perspectives for future research.

Governance
The efficiency, transparency, and participation were accepted as three essential dimensions of good governance. The efficiency had become the government's ability to determine predictability within the institutional and policy environment (Mimicopoulos, 2006;Quarato, Pini, & Positano, 2020). The efficiency helped to prioritize government services to attune them with citizen needs (Afonso, Schuknecht, & Tanzi, 2006;Rixon, 2012). The government must not only provide information but also made sure that as many public as possible has access to the information with the goal of accelerating citizen participation. Participation refers to the act of involving stakeholders in the activities of the government physically or taking feedback. Therefore, public organizations tend to disclose information for good governance. The participation of stakeholders in the organizational activities could help to enhance the governance of the organization (Karamoy & Tulung, 2020; Wood & Small, 2019).
The disclosure of financial and non-financial information is considered as transparency (Mohamad, 2018). The researcher clearly explains the transparency as the access of stakeholders in the information either they are financial i.e., audited reports or non-financial i.e., policies and programs. The transparency avails clear information accessible to the general public about government services. The government must not only provide information but also ensure that as many citizens as possible have access to this information with the goal of increasing citizen participation. Assessments of the citizens' needs are essential to make these services available in the way they desire and at the time they desire (Ribot, 2002). Islam (2003) had highlighted that those countries have quality governance which had better information flow. The link of participation with transparency is the issue of accountability. The notion of accountability had been defined slightly differently by authors (Oakerson & Parks, 1989;Gutmann & Thompson, 1996;Manasan, Gonzalez, & Gaffud, 1999;Manin, Stokes, & Przeworski, 1999;Schedler, 1999;Ribot, 2002). The different versions were that accountability improves the government's legitimacy. Governance includes accountability and transparency. Transparency and accountability can be enhanced through e-governance. The study on e-governance would not be complete without acknowledging the contribution of Pavlichev and Garson (2004).

Contribution of e-governance
E-governance helps to boost the power of the government to handle the requirements of society quickly and immediately. ICTs can promote governance goals in many ways starting from distance education, telemedicine, and environmental management to strengthening the participatory approach, and also the creation of jobs that assist in achieving developmental goals. The important element of e-government; cost bars the government in the developing countries to deliver all they want and the extent of delivery is either too little or not sufficient. Yet, progress after a few years of effort in implementing such reforms has been far more limited than expected. The three main contributions of e-governance are: improving government processes (e-administration); connecting citizens (e-citizens and e-services), and building external interactions (e-society). Thus, the ICT-enabled route help in achieving good governance (Heeks, 2001).

Economic governance
Economic governance refers to the policy and regulatory settings that governments adopt to manage the economy. The clear economic policies and simple procedures could help to attain the goal of economic governance. Zoppe (2018) explained that the economic governance is the system and procedures of institutions established to realize Union objectives within the economic field, mainly the coordination of economic policies to push economic and social progress for the citizens (Rodrigs, 2016). The developments in economic governance had reinforced coordination and surveillance of both fiscal and macroeconomic policies, and also the setting-up of the framework for the management of economic crises (Al Mubarak, 2020). Economic governance refers to the policy and regulatory settings that government adapts to manage the economy. Across the Pacific, weak economic management continued to be the key constraint to economic development. In Asia, governments were more practical and stable. However, many market reform challenges remained, and corruption was a continued challenge. The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs) had provided the measure of economic governance performance across nearly all of AusAID's partner countries, since 1996. Monitoring the performance of the economic governance portfolio would always be challenging. Much of the portfolio was technical assistance, and the advantages of it were difficult to quantify. It was important to expect realistic evaluation and not assuming more effective to the more complex and detailed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework. Several countries within the region had considerable success in achieving macroeconomic stability, but much less success at promoting good microeconomic and expenditure policies (AusAID, 2008). UN (2000) stated that the economic governance of the national state of the USA was facing serious problems because its traditional sovereignty over economic affairs had been imperceptibly eroded to other levels of the world economy. The slow economic process in developing and transitional economies and its negative global implications alerted the international financial organizations to push and implement action-oriented responses to enable these countries to boost financial resources mobilization, and their efficient, effective, and rational utilization to realize sustainable economic development with social justice. The public expenditure management is anchored with the economic, social, administrative, and implementation capacity of the concerned country. The government's financial resources were used lawfully, efficiently and effectively, and with transparency and accountability. It is necessary to plot the strategic methods of public financial management and control.
There was widespread awareness that lack of accountability, good governance, and transparency in government operations impeded the progress towards sustainable economic development. The concept of governance within the context of promotion of sound and sustainable economic development comprised of efficient government, effective civil society, and successful private sector. Good governance was supported participatory and democratic traditions, promotion of equity and equality, gender balance and promotion of synthesis of diverse perspectives and mobilization of resources for social purposes, and at the end supported the rule of law. The effective economic governance would seek to evolve well structures, harmonious and complementary fiscal, monetary, and trade policies, and establishment of monitoring and regulatory authorities for the promotion and coordination of various economic activities. The challenge facing all countries was to form the system of economic governance which had promoted the method of higher cognitive process which directly or indirectly affects the country's economic activities or its relationship with other economies. Economic governance presupposed the existence of a well-defined and well established institutional framework that enhances competencies to undertake the implementation of policy laid down by the government. Corruption results in inefficient economic outcomes (UN, 2000).
The institutional framework should be in conformity with the tax structure as derived from the tax legislation and even be attuned to socio-economic, political, geographic, and technological characteristics of the concerned country. Most developing countries and transitional economies had experienced the inability of collecting the adequate amount of tax and customs revenue commensurate with its full revenue potential. The corrupt practices on the part of tax and customs officials encouraged for non-payment of tax and promoted to smuggling, maintenance of duplicate books of account, and fraudulent accounting practices that had contributed to losing revenue. Economic governance had been seriously plagued by the absence of effective and efficient economic and financial administration or the administration which was not awake to the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the population (UN, 2000). Keane and Velde (2011) concluded that the institutional arrangements and international agreements consolidated and created since 1945 for global economic governance but that was facing new challenges and opportunities within the light of newly industrialized and emerging economies. New varieties of cooperative relationships towards global economic governance were unlikely to evolve unless the structures, objectives, and norms of those institutions are better aligned with the preferences of emerging powers (Di Giacomo & Cenci, 2018).

E-governance in Nepal
Based on existing literature and practices, the concept of e-governance is new in Nepal. Every one of the determinants of economic governance results in good e-governance in Nepal (Pariyar, 2007). In order to enhance the capability of e-governance, the government of Nepal revised and implemented new policies and regulations in practice to further strengthen the e-governance practices in Nepal (Nepal Telecommunication Authority, 2018). Private organizations played a significant role in the development of ICT enabled services and e-governance practices. Nepal is a geographically diverse country. Thus, the use of technology in delivering public service could help to reach the people living in remote areas. The government should seriously plan and devise strategies in order to use e-governance efficiently based on the economic governance model in the days to come (UNPACS, 2014). The e-governance situation of Nepal is not so impressive within the global picture (Shrestha, 2019). Nepal had made rapid progress in the use of ICT with the rapid climb of internet use and also the adaptation of the newest technology. The government had also introduced the concept of e-governance in public service delivery. However, government agencies were lagging far behind in using ICT compared to the private sector (Nepal Telecommunication Authority, 2018).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study adopted a descriptive and correlational research design. The questionnaires have been accustomed to collect the data. The questionnaire covered economic governance including tax payment; IT-supported service, cost, etc. and e-governance practices including the cost of technology, improvement in the quality of service, literacy, availability of technology, etc. Thus, the study was quantitative in nature. The mean has been accustomed to assess the position of e-governance practice in Nepal and the regression model has been used to assess the degree of effect of economic governance on e-governance. All the concerned persons associated with ministries, universities, business organizations, and the government offices are considered as population. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select samples. 393 samples were taken for further analysis.
The 5-point Likert scale questionnaire has been used to collect the responses from the respondents strongly agree to strongly disagree. SPSS version 20 has been used for tabulation, analysis of the data, and drawing the results. The Cronbach's alpha value has been assessed to see the reliability of the information. The alpha value of the overall domains is 0.64. It is satisfactory for further analysis as per the reference of Taber (2018). Variance inflation factor (VIF) value is calculated to check the multicollinearity. If the VIF value is smaller than 5, it is assumed that those independent variables are not strongly correlated. The VIF value is 4.002. So, there is no multicollinearity. The Kolmogorov-Smirnova test was run to assess the normality of information in the distribution of data. The value of the K-S statistic is 0.078. It is more than 0.05. Thus, it accepts the alternative hypothesis. It means data was normally distributed. The factor analysis could be done and produce a more specific conclusion in addition to regression and correlation analysis in this paper which is due in the paper. The cost and time limitations are inherent to this research paper. However, further analysis with the use of structure equation modelling (SEM) may give more concrete findings to the study. Table 1 provides profile of respondents based on experiences, age, occupations and education. More than 75 percent of the respondents were found above 40 years of old. A large number of respondents were 5 to 10 years of experience. It has indicated that respondents were aged and experienced in their respective working fields. A large number of respondents were academicians and bureaucrats. Approximately, 65 percent of the respondents were lecturers, readers, professors, researchers, and officials of public, and government offices. The views of experts like the doctors, engineers, and lawyers had also been taken to present the position of the e-governance practices in respective areas. The views of organization representatives and political leaders were also taken for study purposes. The 76 percent of the respondents have postgraduate and more educational degrees. It indicated that the respondents were literate and more experienced in their respective fields. It proves that respondents were selected purposively and they can provide sufficient and reliable information. It also shows that they can understand the theme of e-governance practices practiced in Nepal. Thus, this study covers the ideas of highly professional peoples. So, the generalization of the findings can be made in highly professional organizations.

E-governance practices in Nepal
The respondents' views have been scaled and measured through 18 questions that measured the practices of e-governance explained by economic governance. The mean score and summated mean score were assessed through the use of SPSS software. The question and variables are ranked supported the mean score and analyzed the worth accordingly as shown in Table 2. The respondents have given the first ranking to question three. The mean score was found at 4.4020. The analysis indicated that knowledge and communication technology is a potent tool for realizing good governance. The second priority was given to e-administration, e-society, and e-citizens' contributions in the implementation of e-governance. It showed that the application of e-citizens, e-society, and e-administration can support to implement e-governance. E-governance is perceived as good comparing to physical governance because it can discharge service quickly to the public at a low cost. The respondents prioritize fourth, fifth, and sixth ranking to questions four, five, and six (QEGP4, QEGP5, and QEGP6). The analysis indicates that the economic governance, social governance, and political governance was the main domains for e-governance as per ranking made by the respondents. The respondents were not satisfied with e-governance practices practiced in Nepal. The analysis clearly showed that knowledge and technology were poorly managed. The summated mean score computed was 3.3048. This indicated that respondents were agreed that e-governance practice becomes the most significant issue in the current age. On the basis of analysis, it can be concluded that e-governance practice exists in Nepal at a moderate level but not at an adequate level. Table 3 has shown the economic governance practices measured using 9 items questionnaire. The analysis found that respondents have given the first priority to the human-related factors like computer literacy level, quality of human resources, language, and political issues because it can pose threats to implement the e-governance. Secondly, respondents thought that e-governance helps to reduce the cost of governance activities. Simultaneously, they think that the initial cost of e-governance is high (QEG4, third ranked). The ineffective allotment of funds, financial limits for investigation, analysis, and developing and launching the e-governance were found as the major problems for the implementation of e-governance (QEG3, fourth ranked; QEG8, fifth ranked).

Economic governance practices in Nepal
The respondents thought that e-governance increased the productivity and quality of agriculture products.
The technological factors and infrastructure were found as major factors to extend the productivity and quality in Nepal (QEG7, sixth ranked; QEG5, seventh ranked). The tax payment mechanism, and e-governance services to disperse geographical area and an underprivileged group of individuals are less prioritized by the respondents. It indicated that tax payment and e-services to poor and rural areas would affect automatically after the successful implementation of e-governance. The summated mean score was found at 3.81. A large number of respondents agreed on the positive economic governance practices for the successful implementation of e-governance in Nepal.

Relationship between economic governance and e-governance practices
The correlation matrix has been developed to draw the association between economic governance and e-governance. The significance level was determined at five percent level of significance. E-governance practices were found significant and negatively related to economic governance. It means a change in economic governance negatively influences to e-governance practices (see Table 4). The negative but significant correlation shows the necessity of reducing initial and operational costs to adopt an effective e-governance system in Nepal. Nepal is in the infancy stage in implementing e-governance so the respondents might have felt so. The coefficient of correlation demanded the measurement of the effect of economic governance on e-governance practices. Thus, the simple regression model has been adopted to analyse the impact of economic governance in e-governance practices.

The effect of economic governance on e-governance practices
To use the regression model, data needs to prove some pre-qualifications that are tested below.  If the VIF value is less than 5, it is assumed that those independent variables are not strongly correlated. It means there is no multicollinearity. While observing the results, the economic governance variable has less than 5 VIF values. So, there was no multicollinearity while economic governance was regressed with e-governance.

Test of normality
The regression model has certain critical assumptions. Out of them, one of the key assumptions is the normality of data. Burns and Burns (2008) claimed that the normality of collected data is essential to have a correct prediction of dependent variables by the independent variables. Sheehan Cooper, Holland, and De Cieri (2007) argued that the test of normality of data is essential for testing the hypotheses using the regression model. The normality of data can be tested through scattered plot and histograms and the Kolmogorov-Smirnova test. In this study, the normality of data was tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnova test. The result of the test is given in Table 6.  Table 6 shows that economic governance is insignificant at a 5 percent level of significance. It accepts the null hypothesis. It means data is normal. Thus, it is claimed that the data is normally distributed and a parametric test can be used for further analysis.

Effect of EG on EGP
The bivariate linear regression analysis was done to assess the impact of economic governance on e-governance practices. The produced result expressed in the model was as follows: (1) (2) where t-value is 2.125 and p-value is 0.000.
The model was found significant at five percent level of significance. The t-value is greater than 2 which indicates the significance of the model. The beta coefficient for economic governance was found (-0.361). It indicated that a one percent decrease in economic governance would lead to a 0.361 percentage increase in e-governance practices. It clearly showed that a decrease in initial and operational of e-governance practice can lead to effective implementation of e-governance.

DISCUSSION
The financial limits, inefficient utilization of economic resources for investigation, analysis, development, and launching e-governance are the major problems associated with the implementation of e-governance in Nepal. Economic governance was found as the important determinant for implementing e-governance. The paradigm shift from traditional to epoch would become the essential need of the research. The good governance reforms aid in the present shortcoming of the government bodies. The degree of corruption, inefficiency, harassment, procedural difficulty, etc. can be reduced through the right implementation of e-governance. The e-citizens, e-society, and e-administration were the essential needs for the successful implementation of e-governance in Nepal. The stakeholders were not satisfied with e-governance practices. The place where e-governance was in practice also not been able to discharge service efficiently. The fraud, corruption, harassment, difficulty encountered, within the organization are hoped to be reduced after the implementation of e-governance in Nepal but the level of all these activities has been increasing till the period. The skilled manpower, financial, and geographical barrier became the challenge in the implementation process. A large amount of investment would be needed for the implementation of e-governance in Nepal. This finding is in line with the findings of Heeks (2001) and Nurunnabi (2016). The finding is consistent because prerequisites for e-governance would be similar in all the countries. Economic governance is found as the main domain of e-governance. This finding is consistent with the findings of Nzongola-Ntalaja (2012). It is so because economic governance provides the basic foundation for the implementation of e-governance across the world. Nepal remains within the infancy period in terms of implementing e-governance. This study identifies as the major challenges for implementing e-governance to computer illiteracy, lack of quality HR, language, and political issues. It is so because Nepal's literacy rate is low, the human development index is poor and political intervention is pervasive. The government should simplify the procedures and processes for implementing e-governance. This finding is in a similar line to Halperin (2018) and Nzongola-Ntalaja (2002). The finding is consistent with them because the public wants easy access to government services. E-practices provide easy accessibility to the public in basic services like safety, security, judiciary, and education and participates in the citizens in government decisions and activities.

CONCLUSION
The aim of the study was to identify the role of economic governance in e-governance implementation. It is clearly shown that government investment is essential at the initial stage to implement effective e-governance in the country. It helps to participate in public policy formulation and decision making. It simultaneously supports to provide information to the public on time. The government requires improving the computer literacy policy, quality of human resources, computer language proficiency, and reducing the government interventions in e-governance implementation. E-governance can be made effective if it is linked with the facilities that are to be provided to the people like a simplification in tax procedures, service delivery procedures, etc. with the aim of reducing corruption and harassment.
The effective use of information and communication technology helps to implement which supports to minimize corruption and inefficiency can be minimized. Policymakers should develop a policy for e-police, e-administration, and e-education policy to cover outreach in the basic services provided by the government of Nepal. Nepal has a difficult geography. It is difficult to provide service to the people physically so, the government may take this study as basic information for implementing e-governance policies in the country. This study has considered only economic governance as the predictor of e-governance implementation but there are other predictors too like political governance and social governance. So, further studies can be undertaken including other predictors too. This study covers the perception of professional and highly educated people. The opinion of lay people is also important to implement e-governance practice effectively because they are also the stakeholders of government services. Thus, further studies can be conducted considering the perception of the laypeople.