Contextual Drawbacks to Implementing Digital Systems in Selected Countries in the Southern African Public Sector: An Integrative Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12724/ajss.78.3Keywords:
Digital Systems, Digital Transformation, Implementation Challenges, Public Sector Digitalization, Southern AfricaAbstract
Digital transformation holds considerable promise for improving public service delivery across Africa. However, despite regional and international initiatives to advance digital governance, implementing digital systems in Southern Africa’s public sector has faced persistent challenges. This study presents an integrative review of the literature on the contextual drawbacks to the adoption of digital systems in the Southern African region. The study is guided by the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework and supported by complementary theoretical lenses. A systematic literature search, screening, and synthesis process was conducted on relevant peer-reviewed publications. Our findings show that the key technological impediments include outdated infrastructure, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and insufficient information and communication technology (ICT) capacity. Institutional challenges stem from bureaucratic inertia, limited managerial support, digital hesitancy, and leadership instability, while environmental constraints are shaped by poor interdepartmental coordination, low citizen participation, and digital inequality. We argue that these challenges are interdependent and mutually reinforcing and therefore require a multidimensional policy response, such as targeted digital investments in underserved areas, capacity-building for public servants, user-centric system design, and institutional reforms that foster inter-agency collaboration and inclusive digital governance.
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