Non-technical factors influencing access to social networks infrastructure in the public sector

Government departments embraced the utility of evolving technologies globally. The utilisation of social networks in the public sector is regarded as essential to promote the effectiveness and efficiency in delivering of services to citizens. Social networks assist organisations in pushing barriers and exploring new ideas. This creates a platform for organisations to regenerate, assign collective intelligence, enhance collective knowledge and sharpen strategic focus that helps to increase the productivity levels of employees.This paper explored the non-technical factors influencing access to social network infrastructure in South African government departments. The study was conducted in five (5) national government departments and the focus was to understand the perception of employees on challenges they perceive as limitations to social networks access.The study employed the qualitative research method, within which data was gathered from managers and administrative employees, using open-ended questionnaires, interviews and online questionnaires. Content analysis was used in the analysis of the data, to understand the non-technical factors, which influences access to social networks infrastructure in public sector. Funding, lack of skill-set, infrastructure constraints, government structure and lack of regulatory framework were found to be critical to the access and use of social networks in government departments.