Abstract
Governments in Africa are spending significant funds in their drive towards putting
public business processes and services online. Although this drive has different names
such as electronic government (e-government), open government, open data, etc., the
motivation is hinged upon achieving overall efficiency and effectiveness in public
services and is based on Freedom of Information (FoI). In Botswana’s public services,
diverse interventions are being put into place to facilitate business automation and
electronic records management. The then Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), now
Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) has joined the drive by implementing
the Document Workflow Management System (DWMS) as an e-records management
system. This study probes the determinant factors influencing meaningful adoption
and usage of DWMS for effective records and information management within MITI.
Multivariate analysis is employed to understand which factors have the highest
variance in adoption and use of DWMS. The study utilises the adapted Unified Theory
of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as the conceptual framework in its
design. Quantitative data was collected from a population of 61 officers from which 53
(86.9%) were returned and included in the analysis. Effort expectancy, behavioural
intention, social influences and facilitating conditions were the key determinants for
adoption and use accounting for 55% of variance. The study identifies to what degree
each of the potent factors contribute to adoption and use of DWMS at MITI. The major
limitation of this study is that it was impossible to identify all the factors influencing
behaviour intention, as human behaviour is difficult to measure. The other unidentified
factors account for 45% of variance not accounted for by the predictor factors. This is
an indication that there is a need for an in-depth study, preferably a longitudinal, unlike
a cross-section, study like this one that critically probes the factors of technology
adoption in work processes by a large set of individuals in a developing world context.