E-government services effectiveness evaluation framework (E-GEEF) : a case study of Indian e-tax service

Technological amplification has expended the involvement of information and communication technology in public sectors and enhanced governmental dependence on information systems which restrains the management attention towards improving the effectiveness of e-government services. Based on the analytical review of literature, it was found that most of the e-government evaluation models address the e-service dimensions that assess the quality of e-government websites. This gives a very constrict perspective to e-government and ignores the key dimensions. It becomes important to understand how citizens perceive and evaluate e-government services. This involves defining what e-government service is, identifying its underlying dimensions, and determining how it can be measured. Therefore, periodical evaluation of the effectiveness of e-government services becomes essential. Foregoing discussion clearly indicates the necessity of developing a well founded e-government e-service effectiveness evaluation framework which not only evaluates the e-government service effectiveness but also evaluates the e-government service quality criteria and the citizens‟ perception in the form of citizens‟ trust in offered e-services. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop a framework (E-GEEF) "e-government service effectiveness evaluation framework" that assesses e-government service effectiveness from the citizens‟ (G2C) perspective. A systematic study of the existing e-government service assessment frameworks has been carried out to establish the basis for conceptualizing a theoretical framework called e-government service effectiveness evaluation framework (E-GEEF). In this research, the author attempts to explore the underlying dimensions and factors of e-government services, and has proposed an effectiveness evaluation framework (E-GEEF). Present empirical research adapted DeLone and McLean, (2003) IS success model as base model which is upgradable and extendable, hence additional dimensions were incorporated to develop a novel framework (E-GEEF) for evaluating the effectiveness of e-government service. The suggested framework has identified number of measuring dimensions and associated items within each dimension for (E-GEEF). System quality, information quality, and service quality dimensions were adopted from DeLone and McLean (2003) IS success model and “intention to use and user satisfaction” dimensions were re-specified in proposed framework (E-GEEF) as “citizens‟ use / usefulness” and “citizens‟ satisfaction”. Further, "citizens" trust, perceived e-government service quality, and perceived effectiveness” were incorporated as new dimensions in the proposed framework (E-GEEF). Three new dimensions were identified and two existing dimensions were re-specified for evaluating the effectiveness of e-government service. Sixteen hypotheses were formulated from literature on existing e-government assessment frameworks to test the proposed framework (E-GEEF). In order to test the proposed framework and their associated dimensions, Indian e-tax service was considered, because e-tax service of Indian e-government is utilized by several Indian citizens for filing their taxes. Preliminary qualitative study was carried out carefully to ensure whether all important dimensions and measurement items were included in the proposed framework E-GEEF in the right research context or not. Empirical research has used quantitative analysis for validating the proposed framework (E-GEEF). Data collection was done using survey which was conducted among citizens of India who have been utilizing e-tax service as users. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed to ensure the data normality by using SPSS 20. Structural equation modeling statistical technique was applied using AMOS 21 on the collected data for testing the hypotheses. The empirical research findings have confirmed most of the hypothesized relationships within the validated framework (E-GEEF). Consequently, in terms of the theoretical implications, this study emphasizes the significance of such hypothesized relationships when performing empirical research in e-government context. Key findings demonstrated the strong relationships of perceived e-government service quality with system quality, information quality, service quality, and citizens‟ satisfaction. Further, citizens‟ trust exhibited direct relationships with perceived e-government service quality and perceived effectiveness of e-government service. Thus, as a major contribution to the proposed research, the identified new dimensions “perceived e-government service quality, citizens‟ trust, perceived effectiveness” and re-specified dimensions “citizens‟ use/usefulness and citizens‟ satisfaction” have shown great significance in evaluating effectiveness of e-government e-tax service in Indian G2C context. The developed and validated framework (E-GEEF) provides government agencies with an appropriate approach and dimensions in order to evaluate the effectiveness of e-government services

Arquitectura de suporte à integração de serviços no governo electrónico

Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaO governo electrónico, além de permitir a prestação de serviços em linha, encerra também um enorme potencial para integrar, do ponto de vista dos clientes, os serviços dispersos da administração pública. Assim, em tese, ele pode contribuir para centrar a administração pública nas necessidades dos cidadãos e das empresas, respondendo a um dos principais desafios introduzidos pelos novos modelos de gestão pública. Nesta dissertação justificamos, definimos, discutimos e validamos uma nova arquitectura de suporte à integração de serviços no governo electrónico. Trata-se de uma arquitectura versátil, segura e baseada em tecnologias normalizadas e facilmente disponíveis, que suporta a implementação de pontos únicos de acesso, de prestadores concorrentes, de múltiplos canais de atendimento e da organização por eventos da vida. Acessoriamente, fazemos uma revisão bibliográfica das áreas da sociedade da informação e do governo electrónico, identificamos as tecnologias e arquitecturas mais relevantes na área da integração de serviços e apresentamos um estudo de caso que inclui o levantamento de processos de uma câmara municipal e a sua simulação usando um protótipo que respeita a arquitectura definida.Besides allowing on-line delivery of the services, electronic government also promises to integrate these services from the client perspective. Thus, in thesis, it can contribute to the development of a client-centred approach in government, answering to one of the main challenges of the New Public Management movements. In this dissertation a new architecture that supports the integration of services in the scope of electronic government is justified, defined, presented, discussed, and validated. The proposed architecture is versatile, secure, and based on normalized and easily available technologies. It supports the implementation of single access points, concurrent providers, channel integration, and life events. Additionally, the areas of the information society and electronic government are revised, the main technologies and architectures for service integration are identified, and a case study is presented. The case study includes analysis of processes in a local government institution and its simulation using a prototype that implements the defined architecture