E-government and digital transformation in Libyan local authorities

This article reports on e-government in local authorities in Libya, and discusses the issues involved in digital transformation. The study builds upon existing models and frameworks to establish a technology-organisation-process (TOP) maturity model for assessing e-government status in three case studies in Libya, which reveal major problems in adopting e-government in Libya. The current technology deployment remains basic, with inadequate information systems and networks, out of date personal computers and office software, and unreliable access to the internet. Organisational capabilities, skill levels, lack of funding, management support and process inefficiencies are other factors hampering progress in the adoption of e-government. A step-change to digital government that employs emergent technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, analytics and cloud computing is currently out of reach. The TOP maturity model provides a framework for assessing e-government readiness in a developing world environment and gives a multi-dimensional perspective on local authority capabilities.