Received: 17 January 2018 Revised: 1 October 2018 Accepted: 2 October 2018

DOI: 10.1002/isd2.12064

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Critical success factors for m‐Government adoption in

Tanzania: A conceptual framework
Fredrick Ishengoma1 | Leonard Mselle2 | Hector Mongi1

1
Information Systems, The University of
Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania Abstract
2
Computer Science, The University of The advancement of wireless and mobile technologies has given rise to the mobile
Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania
government (m‐Government). A new channel of public service delivery using a mobile
Correspondence
Fredrick Ishengoma, The University of
phone. In Tanzania, several m‐Government initiatives have been undertaken. Among
Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania. these, some can be said to have succeeded while others are still struggling. The reasons
Email: fishengoma@udom.ac.tz
for these variations are not known. This study aimed to capture the critical success fac-
tors (CSFs) for the adoption of m‐Government and propose a framework under the
Tanzanian context. The study builds upon an extensive literature review methodology
based on six electronic databases from 2003 to 2017. The results show that security,
usability, access, cost, infrastructure, and personal initiatives and characteristics have
the strongest effect on the adoption of m‐Government services. Based on the findings
of the critical review, a conceptual framework is proposed by extending the mobile ser-
vices acceptance model (MSAM). A further finding is that most of the m‐Government
adoption research have not considered the environmental setting. Hence, this study
calls for more research on m‐Government adoption with consideration to the environ-
mental setting (mandatory or optional environment). The study culminates by provid-
ing both practical, theoretical, and policy implications of the findings.

KEY W ORDS

conceptual framework, critical success factors, m‐Government, Tanzania

1 | I N T RO D U CT I O N

In most developing countries, public service delivery is still being conducted in a paper‐based manner. This approach is inefficient due to data
duplication, wastage of paper, difficulty in accessing and managing data, and loss of data (Nkohkwo & Islam, 2013). For the past decade,
governments have been adopting e‐Government to improve the efficiency of public service delivery.
Advancement in wireless and mobile technologies, the increasing number of mobile subscribers, and the ubiquitous nature of mobile technologies
have accelerated the use of mobile devices for government service delivery. This phenomenon is known as mobile‐Government (m‐Government).
Emerging research trend shows that m‐Government is quickly rising as the new frontier of public service delivery. This is due to its ability to provide
services in areas where infrastructure for Internet or wired phone service is limited (Ertürk, Şengül, & Rehan, 2013; Annie, Choy, Krishna, & Alex, 2017).
In a developing country like Tanzania, the potential of m‐Government is supported by a number of various factors. These factors include (a)
the high rate of mobile penetration, (b) ubiquitous nature of the mobile technology (anywhere and anytime service), (c) the presence of remote
areas with no adequate infrastructure for wired Internet, and (d) the decreasing cost of owning a mobile phone (Mengistu, Zo, & Rho, 2009).
Various government agencies in Tanzania are now using m‐Government to reach citizens. For instance, the prepaid metering system (LUKU) used
by the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO) for electricity bill payments.
Despite the m‐Government initiatives in Tanzania, factors that drive the successful adoption of this new technology have not been explored
yet. Some services can be classified as successful. Example of these include TANESCO‐LUKU system and the National Examinations Council of

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https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12064
2 of 10 ISHENGOMA ET AL.

Tanzania (NECTA) portal for secondary school examination results. Other m‐Government initiatives such as Dodoma Urban Water Supply and
Sanitation Authority (DUWASA) water bill payment system and UTUMISHI portal for job vacancy announcements are still struggling. Hitherto,
no systematic study has been carried out to critically analyze and provide a scientific explanation of this variation. Such critical analysis and expla-
nation would provide the avenues for designing responsive business processes to guide successful deployment of m‐Government in Tanzania.
Furthermore, m‐Government is still a completely new undertaking in Africa and worldwide in general. Frameworks to guide its deployment
and adoption are not common (Munyoka & Manzira, 2014). Unless there is a clear understanding of factors that underpin its deployment,
m‐Government adoption by citizens will remain underutilized or it may take longer than necessary to fully adopt it (Avgerou, 2002).
This study is conceptual in nature, and within this perspective, it attempts to capture the critical success factors (CSFs) for the adoption of
m‐Government services in Tanzania. Moreover, the study develops a conceptual framework for m‐Government adoption in Tanzania.
The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 presents the evolution and growth of m‐Government services in Tanzania. Section 3
describes the method used in this study. Discussion on the CSFs for m‐Government adoption is presented in Section 4. Section 5 describes
the theoretical foundation and conceptual framework for this study. The results analysis and discussion are presented in Section 6. Finally, Section
7 concludes this paper.

2 | E V O L U T I O N A N D G R O W T H O F m‐ G O V E R N M E N T S E RV I C E S I N T A N Z A N I A

Most public service delivery in Tanzania is through a manual‐based approach where people visit a government office physically to request for
information and services. Some citizens travel long distances in order to get government services. With the advancement of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) in the country, government authorities have started to use electronic means to provide these services.
Furthermore, the advancement of ICT in the country has attracted more mobile subscribers and Internet users. The number of mobile
subscribers has increased by 91% from 20 983 853 subscribers in 2010 to 40 044 186 subscribers in December 2016 (TCRA, 2016). Moreover,
the number of Internet users who are using mobile wireless technology has also increased by 391% from 3 665 680 in 2011 to 18 014 368 by
December 2016. Table 1 shows the number of mobile subscribers, fixed‐line subscribers, Internet users, and e‐Government development index.
There has been a significant increase in the number of mobile subscribers as shown in Figure 1. The likelihood is that mobile use will continue
to increase among the population, thereby offering the majority of the citizens with the means to participate in m‐Government. Some of the
m‐Government services in Tanzania include the following:

i. Utility and government services payment via mobile money services (MMSs). MMSs facilitates a variety of financial transactions through the use
of mobile phones. Different government agencies have been integrating m‐Government services with MMSs as one of their mode of
payment. Some of the notable existing m‐Government services that uses MMSs includes electricity bill payment system “LUKU,” DUWASA
water bill payment system, driving licenses fees, and traffic fines.
ii. National examination results portal by SMS. Using students' index numbers, users can access results of form IV and form VI secondary
education examinations by using a mobile phone.

TABLE 1 Country profile (Tanzania)

Population 52 million (NBS, 2017)

Mobile subscribers 40 044 186 (TCRA, 2016)
Fixed line subscribers 129 597 (TCRA, 2016)
Internet users 18 014 368 (TCRA, 2016)
e‐Government development index 0.3533 (UN, 2016)

FIGURE 1 The trend of mobile and fixed

subscription in Tanzania (TCRA, December
2016)
ISHENGOMA ET AL. 3 of 10

iii. Use of mobile phones in the elections. Bulk SMS was used to advertise political parties and candidates during the run‐up to the Tanzania
elections 2015. The National Electoral Commission of Tanzania (NEC) launched a voter registration service where voters could query the
Permanent Voter's Registration Book (PVRB) to confirm their registration status and their polling station.
iv. Government short message system (GOVSMS System). This is the SMS gateway administered by e‐Government Agency (eGA), which enables
government institutions to send short messages to citizens via mobile phones. These messages can be sent to a group or in bulk to different
groups of citizens created according to the targeted audience.
v. USSD gateway—Government menu. A citizen can dial the USSD code *152*00# to access government services. Services under this code
include information on oil prices in different regions of the country, job alerts of different categories, and following up membership to
National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). Future promised services under this gateway include agricultural market information, crime reporting,
currency exchange rate, and weather information (e‐GA, 2015).

3 | METHOD

In order to study the CSFs for m‐Government adoption, a desk research was carried out, leading to the systematic review of the published liter-
ature relevant to m‐Government adoption. This review is based on a literature review methodology proposed by Brereton, Kitchenham, Budgen,
Turner, and Khalil (2007).
According to Brereton et al. (2007), three important phases should be used to identify articles related to IS research: review planning,
conducting the review, and review's documentation as shown in Figure 2.

3.1 | Planning the review

The first step in planning an effective review is to specify the research question. In this study, the research question is as follows: What are the
CSFs for citizens' adoption of m‐Government services in Tanzania? In order to develop the review protocol, a search was conducted for literature
published in English language between 2003 and 2017. Keywords were chosen in respect to the research question, which includes “critical success
factors for m‐Government,” “mobile government critical success factors,” and “m‐Government success factors.” Published studies were identified
through six electronic databases: Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Proquest, ACM, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar.

3.2 | Conducting the review

The process of selecting relevant studies involved systematic analysis for each article by reading papers to ensure they contain relevant discussion
on CSFs for m‐Government adoption. Articles that focused on the implementation of m‐Government or had a limited discussion of CSFs for
m‐Government adoption were excluded. The title and abstract of studies were reviewed, and irrelevant papers were rejected. The literature study
found 62 papers, which were reduced to 15. This was based on exclusion and inclusion criteria designed to find papers of best quality as well as
papers that meet the requirements of this study. The returned results were filtered and chosen to be analyzed under the conditions that the
research paper is as follows:

i. Written in English language

ii. Peer‐reviewed and published by authoritative publishers

FIGURE 2 Research methodology (adapted from Brereton et al., 2007)

4 of 10 ISHENGOMA ET AL.

iii. Peer‐reviewed and published by authoritative conferences

iv. Published by authoritative corporations and organizations (eg, UN, IBM, and Microsoft)
v. A white paper by governmental organizations with international presence and influence
vi. Moreover, while reviewing studies from leading journals, we went forward by identifying other articles through the use of the snowball tech-
nique. Snowball technique was applied by exploring the bibliographies of prior significant papers identified to see if pertinent articles could be
found. Thus, two more articles were found relating to this research. A final number of 17 articles were found to be relevant to the aim of this
study (see Table 2). After identifying relevant studies, content analysis was carried out. The content was coded with respect to the success
factors identified in each study. This process was iterative, with literature arranged from oldest to newest study and researchers adding up
new success factors from each study.

3.3 | Review documentation

In order to report the data collected from the 17 articles, a 23‐column table was designed to investigate the factors emerged in each article (see
Table 2). The table includes the citation and a list of success factors. Each article highlights with a tick the CSFs emerged in its study. Also, each
CSF was coded with the frequency of appearance in all the collected research articles as seen in Table 2.

4 | C S F S FO R m ‐ G O V E R N M E N T A D O P T I O N

This section presents and discusses the analysis of CSFs on existing literature. Based on these CSFs, the conceptual framework will be presented.
A selection of research studies along with identified CSFs is summarized in Table 2.
We analyzed various success factors from a number of literature and best practices in different countries. The frequency of the success factor
was calculated and indicated by using content analysis methodology. Factors that are associated with quality of services (QoS) such as availability,
accessibility, and accuracy have been pointed out and noted independently rather than QoS as a whole. In determining the CSFs, all success fac-
tors that have appeared in more than 25% of the literature are identified as CSFs. Table 3 summarizes the SFs for m‐Government adoption.

TABLE 2 m‐Government literature review

Indicated Success Factors
Country/ Personal User e‐
SN Study Continent Initiatives Trust Cost Usability Acceptance Infrastructure Government Access Privacy
1 Ghyasi and Kushchu (2004) Turkey ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
2 Sandy and McMillan (2005) Australia ✓ ✓ ✓
3 El‐Kiki and Lawrence (2006) Australia ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
4 Al‐Khamayseh, Lawrence, Europe, &Asia ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
and Zmijewska (2007)
5 Kumar and Sinha (2007) India ✓ ✓ ✓
6 Abu‐Samaha and Samad (2008) Jordan ✓ ✓ ✓
7 Sheng and Trimi (2008) USA ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
8 Karan and Khoo (2008) India ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
9 Al‐Khamayseh and Lawrence Australia ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
(2010)
10 Al‐Hadidi and Rezgui (2010) Oman ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
11 Al‐Thunibat, Zin, and Sahari Malaysia ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
(2011)
12 Salkute, Kolhe, and Veedhi India ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
(2011)
13 OECD (2011) Europe ✓ ✓
14 Chanana, Sareen, and Kumar India ✓ ✓
(2013)
15 Alssbaiheen and Love (2015) Saudi Arabia ✓ ✓ ✓
16 Shareef, Dwivedi, Kumar, Europe &Asia ✓
and Kumar (2016)
17 Annie et al., (2017) Asia ✓ ✓ ✓
Frequency factors 7 5 6 9 5 10 2 8 11
ISHENGOMA ET AL. 5 of 10

4.1 | Security and privacy/trust

Using our threshold, “security and privacy” are the most prevalent success factor for m‐Government adoption. Security and privacy scored high
among factors towards successful adoption of m‐Government (Abu‐Samaha & Samad, 2008; Al‐Khamayseh et al., 2007; El‐Kiki & Lawrence,
2006; Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010; Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011; Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004; Kumar & Sinha, 2007; Salkute et al., 2011; Sandy & McMillan,
2005; Sheng & Trimi, 2008; Shareef et al., 2016). Trust in m‐Government refers to an individuals' beliefs and their expectation about m‐
Government services. The decision to engage in m‐Government transactions requires citizen trust towards the service since most of the informa-
tion used is sensitive (eg, personal particulars, citizens ID number, and passwords). m‐Government services will not be adopted by citizens if they
do not trust them. The adoption of m‐Government services is much dependent on their confidence of trustworthiness of the particular m‐
Government service and its delivery channel. For example, when using m‐Government tax services, the user needs to trust the service that his
personal tax information will not be divulged to unauthorized personnel or systems.

4.2 | Infrastructure

Following “security” is “infrastructure” as the second success factor. Studies (Sandy & McMillan, 2005; Sareen et al., 2013) have shown that the
most common technical barriers to m‐Government development and dissemination involve a lack of reliable infrastructure (availability and use of
telecom and mobile infrastructure for m‐Government services). The need for effective and reliable infrastructure has been highlighted as signifi-
cant for the success of m‐Government adoption (Abu‐Samaha & Samad, 2008; Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010; Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004; Karan & Khoo,
2008; Salkute et al., 2011; Sareen et al., 2013; Sheng & Trimi, 2008). Building reliable ICT infrastructure and developing novel methods to solve
the problem of remote connectivity is vital.

4.3 | Usability

“Usability” is another success factor that needs consideration. Research on usability issues pertaining to mobile services recommends that char-
acteristics such as ease of navigation, text source, and color rendering are important determinants of the usability of a mobile service
(Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2010). For example, a mobile application that is easily navigable is expected to be successfully accepted and used since
users can get information from the application effortlessly. Users of m‐Government services might be disappointed if they cannot obtain the infor-
mation they need in a short period of time. This has been supported by a number of studies (Abu‐Samaha & Samad, 2008; Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011;
Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004; El‐Kiki & Lawrence, 2006; Al‐Khamayseh et al., 2007; Sheng & Trimi, 2008; Salkute et al., 2011; Shareef et al., 2016).

TABLE 2 (Continued)

Indicated Success Factors

High Private
Education/ Business Mobile m‐Government Legal Sector Customer
SN Awareness reengineering Security Penetration Strategy Compatibility Issues Responsiveness Availability Partnership Support
1 ✓ ✓ ✓
2 ✓ ✓ ✓
3 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
4 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
5 ✓ ✓
6 ✓ ✓ ✓
7 ✓
8 ✓ ✓ ✓
9 ✓ ✓
10 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
11 ✓ ✓ ✓
12 ✓
13 ✓
14 ✓ ✓
15 ✓
16 ✓ ✓ ✓
17
6 1 12 3 3 4 4 3 2 1 2
6 of 10 ISHENGOMA ET AL.

TABLE 3 CSFs for m‐Government adoption

SN Critical Success Factor Literatures

1 Security and privacy/trust
2 Usability
3 Infrastructure
4 Accessibility
5 Cost
6 Personal initiatives and characteristics
Abu‐Samaha & Samad, 2008; Al‐Khamayseh et al., 2007; Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010;
Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011; El‐Kiki & Lawrence, 2006; Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004;
Kumar & Sinha, 2007; Sandy & McMillan, 2005; Sheng & Trimi, 2008;
Salkute et al., 2011; Shareef et al., 2016.
Abu‐Samaha & Samad, 2008; Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011; Al‐khamayseh et al., 2006;
Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004; El‐Kiki & Lawrence, 2006; Sheng & Trimi, 2008;
Salkute et al., 2011; Shareef et al., 2016.
Abu‐Samaha & Samad, 2008; Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010; Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004;
Sheng & Trimi, 2008; Karan & Khoo, 2008; Salkute et al., 2011;
Sareen, Kumar, & Chanana, 2013.
Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010; Sandy & McMillan, 2005; El‐Kiki & Lawrence, 2006;
Kumar & Sinha, 2007; Sheng & Trimi, 2008; Karan & Khoo, 2008;
Salkute et al., 2011; Sareen et al., 2013.
Al‐khamayseh et al., 2006; Sandy & McMillan, 2005; Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010;
Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011; Alssbaiheen & Love, 2015.
Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004; Al‐Khamayseh et al., 2007; Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011;
Alssbaiheen & Love, 2015.

4.4 | Accessibility

m‐Government services being accessible 24/7 to all citizens is one of the significant factors for its adoption (Al‐Hadidi & Rezgui, 2010; El‐Kiki &
Lawrence, 2006; Karan & Khoo, 2008; Kumar & Sinha, 2007; Salkute et al., 2011; Sandy & McMillan, 2005; Sareen et al., 2013; Sheng & Trimi,
2008). Moreover, if possible, the interface of the m‐Government service should be able to adapt to or facilitate the needs of the various
socio‐economic groups. Some researchers (Lee, Tan, & Trimi, 2006) have argued that m‐Government initiatives can help to bridge the digital divide
caused by uneven distribution of Internet connectivity, especially in developing countries.

4.5 | Personal initiatives and characteristics

Personal initiatives define the user's willingness to try out new technology while individual characteristics refer to individual curiosity,
innovativeness, and perceived enjoyment (Gao, Krogstie, & Siau, 2014). Usually, individuals with strong positive initiatives and characteristics
are likely to try new technologies; thus, it is reasonable to expect them to have positive intentions to use mobile services. Studies have suggested
that, in designing m‐Government services, attention should not only be given to the technology and from the government's perspective but also
from users' characteristics (Al‐Khamayseh et al., 2007; Alssbaiheen & Love, 2015; Al‐Thunibat et al., 2011 and Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004). A robust
analysis of the system is needed in order to ensure that the needs of all users are met and to ensure that both the functional and nonfunctional
requirements of the mobile applications are given sufficient attention to meet users' needs (Ivan & Zamfiroiu, 2011). For the adoption of a
particular m‐Government service, some features might found to be more convenient and preferred by users, example the usage of bilingual since
Tanzania official language is both English and Swahili.

4.6 | Cost

The cost of accessing m‐Government services is another significant factor. If the m‐Government service is costly, this means only citizens who can
afford to pay for the service costs will get access. However, since most of the m‐Government services in Tanzania are either cost‐free or have a
minimum fee, this factor is not considered significant.

5 | CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In the technology adoption literature, a considerable number of models have been proposed. Among these models is the technology acceptance
model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), which is an extension of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). TAM is widely applied in
information systems (IS) research.
Earlier studies concerning models and theories for determining users' acceptance of information technology did not concentrate on mobile
systems (Gao, Krogstie, & Gransæther, 2008). As computing technology is advancing and becoming more mobile and ubiquitous, it is important
to use TAM to study the factors that influence the user acceptance of mobile systems. The study by Gao et al. (2008) proposed an extended
TAM for mobile services, which is called mobile services acceptance model (MSAM). MSAM model is composed of trust, context, personal
initiatives, and characteristics factors in addition to perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) as depicted in Figure 3.
ISHENGOMA ET AL. 7 of 10

Context can be described as any information that can be used to distinguish the situation of entities (ie, whether a person, place, or object)
(Greenberg, 2001). This includes, for example, users' locality, the state of people and their surrounding environment, user's historical information,
and mobile context.
Personal initiatives define the user's readiness to try out new technology while personal characteristics define user's elements like technolog-
ical skills and knowledge and preference (Gao et al., 2008). For example, it might take time for the technology‐illiterate people to adopt techno‐
savvy mobile applications that require a certain level of knowledge from the user. Trust is the degree to which a specific mobile service can be
regarded to have no security and privacy threats (Gao et al., 2008). In other words, it refers to users' belief that the mobile service is risk free.
In deploying m‐Government services, analysis of factor pertaining to the context, personal initiatives, and trust to establish their influence in
the success or failure of a certain product may provide an explanation of a given status quo (CSF) and help to propose a framework for more
successful deployment. Figure 4 presents a conceptual model for examining citizen adoption of m‐Government services in Tanzania.

6 | DISCUSSION

The popularity of mobile phones in the present‐day world cannot be denied, neither can their increased use into our all aspects of daily lives
including m‐Government services. However, some m‐Government services are developed and later struggles to be adopted by citizens while
others have been successful. It can only be concluded that there are certain factors that led to one m‐Government service being successfully
adopted while the other to fail. The objective of this paper is to assess what are the CSFs necessary for the successful adoption of m‐Government
in Tanzania. We conducted a systematic literature review of existing studies that evaluated the CSFs of the m‐Government platform. Our research
findings show that there are a number of CSFs for the adoption of m‐Government services. Significant factors highlighted include trust, infrastruc-
ture, usability, access, personal initiatives and PU, and PEOU under a particular context.
However, since most of the literature analyzed comes from developed countries, the challenge ahead is to verify empirically if the identified
CSFs (found in developed countries) are valid in African developing countries context or not. This research study suggests that there may be a

FIGURE 3 Mobile services acceptance

model (Gao et al., 2008)

FIGURE 4 A conceptual model for

examining citizen adoption of m‐Government
services in Tanzania
8 of 10 ISHENGOMA ET AL.

disparity or additional CSFs that are significant in the Tanzanian context as highlighted in the framework. With such observation, validation of the
proposed framework is essential for this study. Moreover, despite the increasing research attention on m‐Government services, there is a need to
strengthen it in African developing countries context.
The conceptual framework proposed in Section 5 still provides a contribution to theory and practice. The verified version of the framework
would provide empirically validated CSFs and framework. This could expand the latter into best practice and policy recommendation for Tanzania
and countries with a similar environment.

6.1 | Mandatory vs voluntary environment

A central government has the power to impose the adoption of m‐Government on local government bodies by launching certain policies and
regulations in order to improve governments' services. This is m‐Government services under mandatory environment. The analysis of our study
found that most of the study did not indicate if the adoption setting of their studies is under mandatory or voluntary setting.
Judging from theoretical models used in the m‐Government adoption studies, most of them are based on psychosocial models (eg, TAM
and their variations). These models rely on the citizens' decision to use a given technology, which does not apply in a mandatory context
(Brown, Massey, Montoya‐Weiss, & Burkman, 2002). Research studies have not explored much on the m‐Government adoption under
mandatory settings with exception of Chan et al. (2010). This is in line with the study by Rana, Williams, and Dwivedi (2013), which argues
that the adoption of m‐Government in mandatory settings remain understudied in the ICT and development (ICTD) literature. Moreover,
studies have noted that voluntarily based models are not appropriate for explaining technology acceptance in mandatory use contexts (Brown
et al., 2002). This study calls for an empirical research that investigates factors for the adoption of m‐Government services under the
mandatory setting.

6.2 | Research implications

This study provides four significant implications for research. First, this study extends the literature of m‐Government adoption by providing
comprehensive and a systematic literature in m‐Government with major consideration to CSFs towards its adoption. The result reveals that
m‐Government is a multidimensional relationship as many factors influence this relationship including trust, infrastructure, access, and personal
initiatives and characteristics.
Second, this study has developed a conceptual framework to address the CSFs for the m‐Government adoption as the primary theoretical
contribution of this study. The conceptual framework was developed based on the MSAM (Gao et al., 2008). Despite most of the studies in
the field of m‐Government using TAM model, this study utilizes MSAM because it is more relevant to m‐Government services than any other
existing technology adoption model.
Third, the updated MSAM is developed to consider other factors such as cost and accessibility, which are significant in mobile services espe-
cially in developing countries like Tanzania. Fourth, this study also provides some fundamental implications for practitioners, including government
agencies. Government agencies need to consider strategies to empower their citizens and increase their awareness about m‐Government services.
Thus, government agencies particular in developing countries are required to use the mass media for educative purposes and introducing the con-
cepts of m‐Government. In addition, the government agencies could carry out seminars and training of their public service and encourage citizens
to use a mobile phone to access and use m‐Government services.
Further, Colesca (2009) agree that creating awareness is one way through which the government can enforce public enforcement of
m‐Government services. Basically, individuals are willing and ready to take up change if they are aware of the benefits the systems they are
adopting. Thus, awareness creates positive sentiments to enforce m‐Government services.

7 | C O N CL U S I O N S

In order to advance in m‐Government adoption, there is a need to first to understand its CSFs. This study attempts to analyze the diverse factors
that influence citizen adoption of m‐Government services in Tanzania. This paper is conceptual in nature. It is motivated by lack of a systematic
study that critically analyzes and provides a systemic explanation of variation that determines the failure on one m‐Government service and suc-
cess on the other despite being used by the same category and context. Such critical analysis and explanation provide the avenues for designing
processes to guide successful deployment of m‐Government in Tanzania. The approach taken on in this paper is initially to set the study context by
presenting the existing literature on the CSFs of m‐Government. Further based upon the perspectives from extant literature, the author analyzes
the CSFs and incrementally builds an integrated framework for successful adoption of m‐Government in Tanzanian context.
The literature review of relevant academic articles has identified three significant issues. First, there is little evidence of research studies that
identify the CSFs for m‐Government adoption, especially from African developing countries. Second, the current research studies are limited to
the theory of the TAM, which has a limited focus, ie, they are more general and they do not consider characteristics of mobile services compared
ISHENGOMA ET AL. 9 of 10

with MSAM. Third, much of the research has not focused on the mandatory settings of the adoption of m‐Government services. Hence, this study
calls for more research on the m‐Government adoption under mandatory settings.
Like any other study, this study had limitations, especially as it is an ongoing research. First, the results of this study are based on secondary
data analysis of CSFs for m‐Government adoption. Therefore, the results of this research cannot be considered as complete unless the proposed
framework is justified with the support of primary data. The second limitation is that the review of the existing literature was identified from six
electronic databases, with consideration of the keywords: “critical success factors for m‐Government,” “mobile government critical success fac-
tors,” and “m‐Government success factors.” Future researchers might explore additional related journals and databases with the use of other com-
binations keywords such as “digital” and “culture.” Moreover, the study emphasizes that, despite the identified CSFs, other CSFs might not have
surfaced in this study. These will be revealed in the empirical validation of the proposed framework. Additional empirical research is essential and
can be done by surveying on the m‐Government users and analyze their responses with structural model testing (SMT). This will help provide a
wider understanding of relationships between the variables considered in the framework, which will help understand the overall adoption of
m‐Government.

ORCID

Fredrick Ishengoma http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3337-6210

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHI ES
Fredrick Ishengoma is a PhD candidate at the University of Dodoma, College of Informatics, in the department of information systems. He
holds a Master's degree in computer and information engineering from Daegu University, South Korea, and a Bachelor degree in Information
and Communication Technology Management (ICTM) from Mzumbe University, Tanzania. His research interests include e‐Government, m‐
Government, social dimensions of ICT, and ICT4D.

Leonard Mselle is a Professor in the College of Informatics and Virtual Education (CIVE) at the University of Dodoma, Tanzania. He is a
renowned researcher in the field of programming education. He is the inventor of the Memory Transfer Language, aka Mselle Transfer Lan-
guage, which is used for teaching and learning programming specifically by novices. He has published five books in programming: C++ for Nov-
ice Programmers, C for Novice Programmers, Java for Novice Programmers, Basic for Novice Programmers, and VB.Net for Novice
Programmers. He has written numerous publications pertaining to learning and teaching programming. His research areas of interest include
teaching and learning programming, use of digital content for education, and cyber security.

Hector Mongi received his PhD in Information Systems from The University of Dodoma in Tanzania in 2016 and MSc IT (Management) from
Carnegie Mellon University (Australian Campus) in 2007. Hector is currently serving as Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems of
The University of Dodoma. His works particularly focus on relevance evaluation of ICTs, public engagement, usability, ICTs for sustainability,
monitoring, and evaluation of information systems projects and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He has written on integrated ICT sys-
tems, ICT and climate change, and relevance evaluation of ICT projects.

How to cite this article: Ishengoma F, Mselle L, Mongi H. Critical success factors for m‐Government adoption in Tanzania: A conceptual
framework. E J Info Sys Dev Countries. 2018;e12064. https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12064