Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have transformed the social, political and economic spheres at an unprecedented pace for the past two decades. Since ICTs provide new opportunities and at the same time poses challenges for national development, any social segment, which falls behind this adaptation to new technologies will lose competitiveness. As much as new, especially web-based, information technologies have been widely used in the commercial sector, the government and the public bodies have paid growing attention to the use of ICTs. How to effectively integrate information applications and how to positively generate value through ICTs has become a serious challenge which most organizations and institutions must meet. Focusing on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), this article examines the
role and functions of ICTs in the social welfare NGOs of Hong Kong.
The degree and speed of ICT adoption varies across sector. In a relative point of view, the business sector is most keen to the strategic utilization of ICTs, which not only enhance productivity in the short run, but also may determine survival in the long run. Even though the public sector is slower than business organizations in the ICT adoption (Wescott 2003), how to become a leading e-Government country is a motto manifested by many governments in recent years. Despite this trend in the first and second sectors, the third sector, i.e., NGOs, is not as responsive to this technological revolution. Given that NGOs complement or sometimes replace the roles of the government and the business sectors and have deeply infiltrated the society,
recognition of ICT-mediated utility is important for NGOs to maximize their social obligations (Burt and Taylor 1998, 2001). Therefore, the thematic focus of this article is pertinent because NGOs are able to benefit greatly from ICTs. To meet the research objective, this article is organized as follows. The second section discusses the linkage between ICTs and NGOs. The potential that NGOs can exploit from the optimum use of ICTs is addressed in this section. The third and forth sections introduce historical and contextual backgrounds on the evolution of NGOs and the development of ICTs in Hong Kong, respectively. The fifth section examines the key ICT-related initiatives in the Hong Kong NGO sector espoused by the government. The current stage of ICT adoption by Hong Kong welfare NGOs is addressed in the sixth section. The last section raises policy implications and the remaining challenges that
NGOs should consider.
