Digital Media Literacy as a Driver of e-Governance Services in Ghana

This chapter takes a unique approach by using UNESCO’s media and information literacy competency framework to assess how digital media literacy influences the acceptance and use of e-governance services among the citizens in Ghana. The chapter relies on a study that employed an online questionnaire hosted by QuestionPro and exploratory-based designs with a mixed approach (multiphase) to investigate how media literacy levels revolutionised the use of e-governance services. The study sampled (n = 690) Ghanaian citizens in the Greater Accra and Bono regions. The survey questionnaire comprised 56 Likert scale questions and 4 open-ended questions. The findings show that media literacy is vital and traction for citizens’ acceptance and use of e-governance services. Digital media literacy has also improved citizen’s ease of use of e-governance services, especially during non-working days of the week. The chapter concludes that rigorous evaluation, validation, and the development of best-practice standards for digital services are greatly needed to ensure a fundamental level of quality and safety when citizens use these tools.