Understanding the Factors affecting the Utilization of the Case Management System of the Malawi Judiciary

Since 2014, funded by the EU, the Malawi Judiciary introduced an integrated Case Management System with the aim to automate 100% of the court case management and to allow sharing of case information throughout the entire national legal system. Our objective was to investigate the usage of the system and to some extent its effectiveness in improving case registration, administration and the monitoring of civil and criminal cases at the High Court of Malawi. The research study was conducted in the four High Courts where the system was in operation. We used the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to understand users’ behavior. We used questionnaires (55), interviews (33) and observations. We evaluated the actual usage of the system by establishing patterns and trends in case registration since inception. A total of 20,879 cases were registered in the system over the first three years up to 2017 by the High Courts of Blantyre (50%), Lilongwe (35%), Mzuzu (10%) and Zomba (5%). Only 5% were marked as completed on the system. Court clerks and registrars were the most frequent users of the system. Performance expectancy, IT skills and job progression were important drivers of use for the court clerks. Judges, sheriffs and court reporters showed little behavioural intention of using the system. Case registration, document filling and endorsement, and case scheduling are used regularly but electronic case files contain only selective information from the hard copy files. Facilitating conditions such as poor internet and the availability of scanning equipment are major obstacles to use. The study confirms that the system has the potential to improve the case management process. Poor usage from judges and registrars means that few cases progress beyond the document filling stage or endorsement. Training for key users and IT administrators is urgently needed.