Towards a ubiquitos government : the move to mobile services as perceived by the end user

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Information Technology.Mobile technologies, by virtue of their pervasive and powerful existence, are relentlessly transforming the way in which people work and play as people become contactable anytime anywhere. Mobile devices are becoming indispensable tools of verbal and data communication at present, and will be even more essential to the following generations. The use of mobile technologies offers governments the possibility to render their services to the end users (constituents) in a more effective and efficient fashion. There are numerous factors that influence the effectiveness of government mobile services. These factors can be viewed from a few perspectives such as financial, administrative, social and technological; this research thoroughly analyses the end users’ perspective towards the effectiveness of mobile government services. Mobile government services are those services rendered to end users, be they citizens or businesses, through the use of mobile communication technology within the government administration. The main research question is what does ‘successful government mobile service’ mean to the end user? Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are employed to establish the answer to this question. In order for such answer to be accomplished, an extensive review of the available literature was performed to highlight the research problem as the first step in the research process. Subsequently, experts in the fields of mobile government and electronic government were consulted through a web-based survey that also worked as an online interview as several participants were willing to undertake further discussions on the survey findings. The findings of this survey were aligned and compared with the outcomes of the literature review resulting in a useful classification of the mobile service success factors as well as pinpointing the barriers to such success. The following step was devising two mobile service effectiveness evaluation models which employed those classified success factors as evaluation metrics. These models formed the theoretical basis for a real-world survey, through which end-users’ opinions about their needs for mobile service were collected and analysed. Once these needs are fulfilled by the mobile service, satisfaction is reached, and, accordingly, these needs are considered as real success factors for the mobile service from the end-users’ perspective. According to those two mobile service effectiveness evaluation models, these success factors must satisfy one perspective, which is the end-users’ (citizens & businesses), from four perspectives: Citizens & Businesses, Operational & Internal Business, Innovation & Learning and Financial & Economic, if a comprehensive effectiveness evaluation is required. In order to build a realistic picture about the practical rendering of effective mobile services by local governments, (if there were any), the researcher selected three local Sydney councils to conduct a case study. The literature review, the experts and users surveys, as well as case studies have all contributed to a practical framework that represents a checklist for government mobile service providers to adopt and adapt according to their mobile services provisions. Accordingly, this study contributes with its outcomes, such as mGovernment theoretical management framework, and the devised effectiveness evaluation tools, to enrich this novel field of work and research; the field of mobile government services

The Development of eServices in an Enlarged EU:eGovernment and eHealth in Malta

In 2005, IPTS launched a project which aimed to assess the developments in eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning in the 10 New Member States at national, and at cross-country level. At that time, the 10 New Member States were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia. A report for each country was produced, describing its government and health systems and the role played by eGovernment and eHealth within these systems. Each report then analyzes, on the basis of desk research and expert interviews, the major achievements, shortcomings, drivers and barriers in the development of eGovernment and eHealth in one of the countries in question. This analysis provides the basis for the identification and discussion of national policy options to address the major challenges and to suggest R&D issues relevant to the needs of each country ¿ in this case, Malta. In addition to national monographs, the project has delivered a synthesis report, which offers an integrated view of the developments of each application domain in the New Member States. Furthermore, a prospective report looking across and beyond the development of the eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning areas has been developed to summarize policy challenges and options for the development of eServices and the Information Society towards the goals of Lisbon and i2010.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Qualitative assessment of a mobile based parking system: A Swedish study

Abstract: High mobile penetration statistics in the world suggests that citizen services are more applicable via mobile technologies. Vehicle parking is such a service which is being deployed in Örebro municipality. We conduct interviews on municipality employees who are involved in the parking administration process and the mobile based parking system in order to evaluate the system regarding functionality, performance, acceptance and effects. These factors are evaluated by the affect they have on the municipality. What the study shows is that whilst the system is successful as an alternative payment option for the motorist, it does not have a positive effect on the process or the workload of municipality. It can be seen that to acquire a better quality service for both citizen and the government, better and thorough investigations into requirements should be carried out via improving the communication between them

‘What’s in It for Me?’: Taking M-Government to the People

M-government involves the use of mobile technologies in the provision of public sector services. Currently, there are powerful political, economic and technical drivers for the development of m-government. Less attention, however, has been paid to the users of mobile technologies and their likely uptake of m-government services. This paper makes two contributions to our growing understanding of m-government. The paper presents a framework that facilitates analysis of the influences on the implementation and likely uptake of m-government. The framework provides the context for investigating one influence on the success of m-government programs: citizens’ needs and desires to access public sector services through mobile technologies. The findings of empirical studies of mobile technology use provide the basis for drawing lessons for the development of mgovernment services that satisfy citizens’ needs

M-government Adoption Research Trends: A Systematic Review

Mobile government adoption is a relatively new area in the field of information systems which has only started to attract research attention. This paper presents a review of m-government adoption to investigate its current and future research directions. This paper reviews 30 studies that were published in scientific journals and conferences during the last five years on the topic of m-government. It analyzes the research in terms of research methodology, theories, stakeholders, limitations and recommendations. Results of this paper indicate that the quantitative approach is the most commonly used methodology and the Technology Acceptance Model is the most prevalent theory used in m-government research. A majority of reported limitations of the published research are related to samples and generalizability. Following an analysis of the results, more focus on stakeholders’ roles in m-government adoption is suggested and this is believed to be a significant agenda of future research in this area

The Role of Technology and Mobile Governance in Today’s Society: Analyzing How Apps Are Used in Governance

In recent decades, democratic countries that are part of the globalized world have been striving to empower their citizens, and M-Governance has been viewed as a tool that will facilitate that process in a way that will be useful to them. Democracy is based on the belief that citizens should be able to access government services online at any time of the day, as well as being empowered by being able to do so. In this process, there are several pertinent issues that need to be addressed, including the privacy of citizen data and the sharing of that data across countries, as well as equal access to electronic services throughout the world. With the help of a critical discourse analysis, we explore the perception of mobile governance as a catalyst for empowering citizens in the global advancement towards electronic democracy on the basis of a critical discourse analysis. In developing countries where it is not possible for every citizen to access mobile governance, what role does mobile governance play in facilitating democracy? The deployment of m-governance could also assist the democratic process in a developing nation where each citizen's personal information is collected and used for security purposes to identify "potential extreme violence." As far as m-governance and democratic principles are concerned, they are unlikely to progress together or enable one another. It has also been suggested that democracy, or the ability to enable it, is the key to progress and stability in a country. In order to truly empower citizens, it may be necessary to consider a new concept of governance, one that utilizes ICTs and m-governance to reach every citizen in an adequate manner, without interfering with their rights to be themselves, but without violating their human rights in the interest of enabling democracy

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCHES ON THE INFLUENTIAL FACTORS OF M-GOVERNMENT'S ADOPTION

Willingness of targeted users to adopt government mobile services is a determinant for the success of m-government, and as such, requires the interest of researchers who are focused on m-government research. Understanding the factors influencing the end-users to adopt government mobile services is very important for the government to find ways to encourage the use of these services by targeted users, so that investment in adopting mobile technologies for government services can be profitable and safe. Although, some researches to measure citizens' perceptions of m-government have been conducted recently, the anticipation and explanation of m-government use to provide full understanding of the adoption of m-Government requires further investigation. For all those who would like to study the factors influencing the adoption of m-Government, it is essential to know about the work done so far by researchers and scholars of this field and to learn the theoretical and methodological approaches used in relevant researches. In attempt to provide such an overview, many research studies in the field of User Acceptance and adoption of m-Government services have been analysed in this research. A summary table reflects the studies conducted by 19 different authors in identifying factors that may influence the adoption of m-Government, by summarizing them from a selective list of articles published between the years 2011-2017.  Article visualizations