Affiliations: [a] Jönköping University, Jönköping International Business School, Informatics, Jönköping, Sweden | [b] Research Centre CENIT/IS, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Mirfa Manzoor, Jönköping University, Jönköping International Business School, Informatics, Jönköping, Sweden. E-mail: mirfa.manzoor@ju.se.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: In recent years, the interest of performing research about and providing e-services for individuals with disabilities has grown significantly. However, there is a knowledge gap in the existing literature on how to stimulate the pre-requisites needed for a sustainable implementation of e-services. AIM AND METHOD: The study aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by performing semi-structured email interviews with twelve project coordinators from the EU programmes of FP6-IST and FP7-ICT. RESULTS: The findings showed that knowledge-based and financially based resources, the complexity of the project context, ethical issues and the structural responsibility of the implementation process were key issues in creating a sustainable implementation. Furthermore, users often were not able to perceive added value from the e-services as they seldom were developed beyond prototypes within the research project. CONCLUSION: The implementation of e-services and/or ICT based applications for individuals with disabilities face similar challenges to the challenges that have been identified when implementing IT-based innovations. Further studies should focus on how users can be involved in the choice and development of e-services they understand as effective, and how to ensure that the implementation strategy will contribute to long-term social inclusion, that is, sustainability.
Keywords: E-services, sustainability, prototype, social inclusion, individuals with disabilities
