An assessment of ‘information, communication, and technology’ adoption on revenue collection function in district councils of Zambia: a case study of Chilanga district council.
Most local governments struggle to effectively mobilize and collect the local revenues needed to effectively deliver economic and social services to citizens. Using the Chilanga District Council (CDC) as a case study, the study’s objective was to assess the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the revenue collection process, examine current methods in use, understand current revenue collection challenges, and to ascertain whether it is feasible to adopt ICT as a revenue collection enhancement model in district councils in Zambia. The study adopted a survey design and a quantitative descriptive approach. Data collection was carried out using a quantitative method through a questionnaire survey. The Yamane (1967) formula was used to determine a sample size of 402, which consisted of 13 employees and 389 clients of the CDC. The data was analyzed using STATA version 14. The findings showed that: Majority of the clientele (82.3 % [320/389]) manually pay taxes over the counter at the CDC; bank transfers (46.2 % [6/13]) and point-of-sale(38.5 % [5/13]) are the electronic platform currently used to receive payments and clients stated that they prefer an absolute electronic revenue collection mode (92.3 % [12/13]); poor internet connectivity is the major (61.5 % [8/13]) anticipated challenge that the council would face when revenue collection is absolutely electronic, the study further revealed that Tax payer’s poor knowledge on use of digital payment platform would be another challenge (30.8 % [4/13]); and majority (84.6 % [11/13]) suggested that adoption of e-payment platform will resolve the current challenges faced in paying taxes such as high transport cost and long distance. The study also revealed other challenges, such as low client awareness of available e-payment models, poor internet access in some areas of the district and non-decentralization of payment points to remote areas of the district. Inferential statistics further revealed that perceived ease of use (β = 0.45, p < 0.01) and perceived usefulness (β = 0.50, p < 0.01) significantly predict ICT adoption in Zambian District Councils' revenue collection, with younger employees (r = 0.65, p < 0.05) showing a stronger relationship between perceived usefulness and ICT adoption. In conclusion, the adoption and use of ICT in revenue collection process at CDC is still in its infancy. Therefore, to enhance revenue collection, the council should invest more resources in the development and use of cost effective, accessible and user-friendly e-payment platforms as well as raising awareness of the existing e-payment options, and decentralizing payment points in areas where the use of e-payment models is difficult due to poor internet connectivity.
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