A STUDY OF EFFECT OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON E-GOVERNMENT DIVIDE IN THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS

Republic of Mauritius. Findings would encourage wider e-participation and e-inclusion into policy-making from all segments of the population. Methodology: A stratified random sample of 310 users and non-users of e-government was used. Logistic regression was estimated. The non-significant Hosmer-Lemeshow test and the Nagelkerke R2 of 0.538 imply that the logit model is useful in predicting the e-government divide. Main Findings: The classification table shows 81% correct classification. All Wald Chi-Square statistics are reported. This research reveals that marital status and gender do not predict the e-government divide. Age (p<0.01), education (p<0.001), middle income range (p<0.05), dwellership (p<0.01) and public sector employment (p<0.05) affect a citizen’s decision to adopt e-government. The massive investments in e-government initiatives cannot be justified as these have not catered for universal coverage. Young citizens are 20 times more likely than old citizens to adopt e-government. Implications/Applications: The tendency to use e-government increases as more education is acquired. Rural dwellership almost triples the odds of e-government adoption although these citizens are less educated than their urban counterparts. Public sector employees are 3.6 times more likely to use government websites than the self-employed. Monthly income earners of Rs 20001 to Rs 35000 are 3.3 times more likely to use e-government services than those earning up to Rs 10000. This study is ground-breaking and challenges the belief that rural dwellers are marginalized and reinforces the importance of education within the theoretical framework of the e-government divide.