A value oriented conceptual model for innovation in local government

The political rhetoric that accompanied the introduction of eGovernment expected it to produce innovation in the way government agencies conducted themselves with citizen and business alike. It was assumed that innovation was both "good" and inevitable. This paper challenges these assumptions and presents a more realistic model of how innovation might occurs in UK local government. The model is supported by anecdotal evidence, literature and a recent study of eGoverment achievement in the UK - VIEGO. A key element in the model is the notion of innovation value

EGovernance implementation model: Case study of the federal government agencies of Pakistan

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.This study examines the eGovernance potential to bring about structural changes in the way in which government agencies operate, interact and communicate internally and externally with its citizens. Public sector needs to adopt eGovernance that is focused on the citizen satisfaction. In many developed countries, the types and quality of public services provided by a Government to its citizens have evolved over time, due to their change in thinking regarding the role of Government, from being a traditional government to that of being a modern service provider. Thus, this study will focus on the complaint management information systems of the selected federal government agencies in Pakistan. Authors were able to derive the implementation model of eGovernance only after doing analysis of all of the data obtained from questionnaires, interviews and observations at the federal government level in Pakistan. Authors found that the overall outcome of the validation process indicated that the model is highly satisfactory to improve the overall eGovernance system to provide modern services to its citizens

A business model perspective for ICTs in public engagement

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 ElsevierPublic institutions, in their efforts to promote meaningful citizen engagement, are increasingly looking at the democratic potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Previous studies suggest that such initiatives seem to be impeded by socio-technical integration barriers such as low sustainability, poor citizen acceptance, coordination difficulties, lack of understanding and failure to assess their impact. Motivated by these shortcomings, the paper develops and applies a business model perspective as an interceding framework for analysis and evaluation. The underlying principle behind this approach is that it is not technology per se which determines success, but rather the way in which the businessmodel of the technological artifact is configured and employed to achieve the strategic goals. The business model perspective is empirically demonstrated with the case of an online petitioning system implemented by a UK local authority. The case illustrates the importance of considering ICTs in public engagement from a holistic view to make them more manageable and assessable

The evaluation and the effectiveness of project management in transformational e-government projects

This paper forms part of an ongoing research of a PhD degree to describe, critically evaluate and examine the underlying barriers and challenges in large e-Government initiatives. The paper invites technology to be incorporated and inculcated into the art and science of project management, and be part of a passable solution as opposed to being distinct and separate from it. The tools used have to increase the novelty (art and science) of project management through human interaction, and empower the project manager and aiding his capacity in delivering the expected outcomes. Due to inadequate implementations of project management procedures and processes, many large information technology systems (ITS) projects failed. This becomes a characteristic and encompasses e-Government project initiatives, due to ambitious program changes, major innovations, large transformations, enterprise wide solutions, collaboration across organizations’ governments and private sectors, and the implementation of unprecedented (or ambitious) solutions. This research paper critically analyses and summarises a list of e-Government challenges and barriers arising from an e-Government survey administered on behalf of the World Information Technology and Services Association (WITSA) which represents the national technology associations in 70 countries. It compares these challenges to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which is the North American standard in project management methodology. In addition, it highlights the weaknesses in PMBOK to address these challenges and offers a technology-enabled enhancement to the Project Initiation Phase, the area identified as being particularly weak and inadequate in addressing e-Government initiatives and requirements

The e-government implementation directions in Oman: A preliminay investigation

Electronic government has established itself as the primary enabler for transforming the way government services are offered to citizens. In the gulf countries, public sector transformation efforts are focused towards increasing accessibility, availability, competitive advances and enhancing services in civil administration. The Sultanate of Oman is one such example of the Gulf countries where large investments have been made since 2003 to implement electronic services in the public sector. Using a qualitative research approach, this research investigates the improvements that have been made to facilitate these electronic services in three public organisations, and their resulting impact within the organisations. The empirical results reveal that among others, top management support, integration and IT staff skills and capabilities are the most important factors that facilitate e-government initiatives in the Omani public sector

Electronic transformation of government in the U.K.: a research agenda

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research project into future e-Government (electronic Government) initiatives. The Virtual Institute for Electronic Government Research (VIEGO) project aimed at identifying and further developing the research agenda of e-Government based on a solid practical ground. As such, the paper offers a novel methodology in identifying the road map for future e-Government initiatives based on a series of workshops organised around the U.K. hosting a mixture of stakeholders involving both academics and parishioners. The analysis of the VIEGO workshops depicted that an e-Government research agenda involves a combination of social, technological and organisational issues at both governmental and individual citizen level, ultimately driven by empirical case-based experience and active participation in e-Government processes. Unlike other propositions for the future of e-Government offered in the e- Government literature, raised research questions not only originated from an analysis of e-Government literature but also on the outcome of brainstorming, reflections and contemplations throughout the duration of the project

E-government: A comparison of strategies in local authorities in the UK and Norway

In Europe almost all countries have implemented some form of e-government, not to mention the UK and Norway which are now both well into their sixth year of e-government implementation. These six years have seen various strategic plans formulated, implemented and also intermittently postponed in the two countries. Although time may result in the amplification of e-government experience for Norway and the UK, the postponement of implementation deadlines indicates that not only political and social issues, but also strategic and organisational issues need to be addressed when formulating plans for deploying e-government. Using empirical research this paper examines the strategies adopted by the UK and Norway in the context of aligning central and local government plans for implementing e-government services. While technical, political and social issues are considered as key areas to be addressed in any e-government exploitation plan; this paper examines how different perspectives on e-government definition, strategy, awareness and related organisational change influence implementation. The need to align central and local e-government plans, guidelines for local level implementation, user centred solutions, strong leadership and a common understanding of the definition of e-government are highlighted in the paper as some of the key components of good e-government implementation practice

E-Governance, Metropolitan Governance and Development Programming. The Case of the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area

e-Governance has recently emerged as a new field of interest for both researchers and public policy makers. This has to do in the first instance with the rise of information and communication technologies and with the strategy for promotion of the information society. It also reflects growing interest in the capacity of various forms of governance to manage complex development issues and facilitate decision-making in the era of globalization. The potential of e-Governance extends from improvement of public services at the various levels of administration to empowerment of community engagement within decision-making processes. e-Governance is also of manifest relevance to questions such as the digital divide and democratic participation. Metropolitan areas in particular are considered to be at the centre of the developmental process. They thus become the appropriate spatial level for the implementation of development programmes aimed at enhancement of competitiveness and employment. New forms of multilevel metropolitan governance emerge, in response to the economic and institutional transformations occurring in them. e-Governance represents a new challenge for metropolitan governance and in particular for development programming. In the context of the EU structural regional policy, development programming in Greece identifies the development of metropolitan areas as one of its main policy objectives. e-Governance is in any case a basic component of the Information Society strategy. This paper examines the implementation of e-Governance in the Thessaloniki metropolitan area, in the specific context of development programming. From this starting point, lessons are drawn for the necessity of e-Governance as an element of metropolitan governance.

The impact of national culture on e-government implementation: A comparison case study

Over the past decade there has been increasing interest in the IS research literature on the impact of cultural differences on the development and use of information and communications technologies (Ives & Jarvenpaa, 1991; Shore & Venkatachalam, 1995; Tractinsky & Jarvenpaa, 1995, Myers and Tan, 2002, Ali and Brooks, 2008). In this paper the authors explore the influence of national culture on eGov implementation. The authors have conducted a comparative case study in two different countries the UK as a developed country and Sari Lanka as a developing country. The research findings highlight the potential influence of cultural differences on eGov implementation