A case analysis of E-government service delivery through a service chain dimension

YesUnlike e-business few studies have examined how information is generated and exchanged between stakeholders in an e-government service chain to generate value for citizens. This case study applies the concept of service chains to empirically explore: a) how internal and external business activities in local government authorities (LGAs) contribute to electronic service delivery, and b) the impact that internal and external stakeholders have on these activities. The case study found that the diversity of stakeholders involved and lack of appropriate mechanisms for information exchange and collaboration are posing the biggest challenges for efficient local egovernment service delivery

Transaction stage of e-Government systems: identification of its location & importance

All e-Government maturity models identify a Transaction stage along the pathway to full systems integration. The evidence suggests that a significant number of project failures occur at this stage and thus frustrate the endeavour to achieve a coherent uniform means of access to Government. Clearly, research to identify and overcome the challenges presented at this stage is critical. In this paper the Transaction stage is clearly delineated as the point at which online technology ceases to be peripheral to the agency’s activity. Hence, it presents the first real organisational challenge and an appropriate research strategy is defined to uncover the problems that arise at this point

Rebuilding Corporate Leadership: How Directors Can Link Long-Term Performance with Public Goals

This report examines how efforts to build public trust and long-term value have coalesced to encourage many large, global corporations to pay greater attention to their longer-term interests by striking a balance between short-term commercial pursuits and such societal concerns as the environment, labor standards, and human rights. Many companies have also found ways to turn such concerns as the effects of climate change and other environmental damage into profitable commercial opportunities. This report also explores how all corporate boards could take a more active part in considering such issues and improving the reporting of financial and non-financial measures of corporate performance broadly conceived. In our view, directors could do more with their current authority to motivate managements to greater innovation, and to support managements in finding long-term value solutions to the numerous economic and societal pressures they face

Incentives for the adoption of e-government by Greek municipalities

Purpose: The research aims to identify the incentives that play an important role in the evolution of e-government in Greece at local scale and its actual development level. It also investigates the factors and the perceived barriers that affect the development of local egovernment in Greek Municipalities, as well as the benefits they derive from it. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is based on a survey that was conducted through a questionnaire to all 325 Municipalities of the country and includes data from 109 Municipalities that participated in the quantitative approach. Findings: While e-government is spread at a relatively satisfactory level, it appears that only a few Municipalities are performing well. Results highlight also the two main incentives that motivate Municipalities to adopt e-government: The first is the improvement of the efficiency of information exchange with the external environment and the second is managing internal issues-relationships in conjunction with the existence of prominent IT departments. Amongst the main factors that affect e-government adoption by Local authorities, budgetary constraints stand out, while the lack of personnel specialized in Information Technologies is identified as common obstacle. Practical Implications: Findings suggest that an integrated approach to e-government is needed in order to enable organizations to minimize failures and to overcome barriers and counter risks. The capacity to align e-government applications with the increasing and evolving needs and requirements of the citizens is the key to optimizing the benefits of eGovernment at local scale. Originality/Value: There is no similar empirical research in the context of Greece; hence, it seems important to increase the knowledge about the drivers of e-government adoption, especially in the public sector at the local scale.peer-reviewe

Investigating enterprise application integration (EAI) adoption factors in higher education: an empirical study

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University LondonThe Higher Education (HE) sector of a country is a key area indicating the progress of cultural, political and social growth and development. Public and social demands as well as technological developments add new challenges for this sector. Consequently, higher education institutions have changed and a more flexible IT infrastructure is required to enable them to adapt efficiently to competitive business challenges. Enterprise application integration (EAI) is a technology that effectively integrates intra- and inter-organizational systems. Firstly a systematic review of the EAI literature was conducted. From this review, it was apparent that there are no theoretical models for EAI adoption and evaluation for higher education. Hence, this research contributes a conceptual model that includes influential factors derived from the literature and combines them with the proposed classification of influential factors for HE to produce an EAI conceptual model for the HE domain. To validate this proposed model empirical research was conducted. Then, the model was tested using a qualitative case study approach by means of three case studies that were conducted at different universities. Exploratory, explanatory and interpretive data analysis phases were implemented to find what is the current EAI process of HE and how these institutions currently work. In addition, these phases were employed to identify the EAI adoption factors in HE. As a result of this analysis the conceptual model was modified because of complementary factors that emerged. Therefore, the main contribution of this research is a comprehensive and novel model for EAI adoption in higher education area. The adoption EAI factors were identified by extracting a number of parameters from the empirical data. Several important factors that influence and assist the adoption of EAI in HE were identified. Hence, an additional contribution is the classification of factors in EAI adoption into technical and social factors which provides a better understanding of these factors. A further contribution is the derivation of a new classification of the EAI external and internal pressure factors. The development of a consistent model for the adoption and evaluation of EAI in HE is based on these factors

Outcomes for young carers: public and third sector provision in Wales, UK

Young carers are those under the age of 18 who provide unpaid care for an adult or child in need of support. The 2011 Census estimated that there were over 11,000 in Wales (Office for National Statistics, 2013) but research suggests that there are many more unidentified. They can be adversely affected by their caring role yet there is a weak evidence base for services and predictors of outcomes. This thesis aimed to explore service provision and outcomes for young carers. It also aimed to identify associations between outcomes and biographical characteristics or caring factors. To meet the aims of the study a mixed methods approach was adopted although the quantitative approach dominated (see section 6.1 for more details). This included a review of literature and two sequential data collection phases.Phase 1 aimed to map and evaluate extent of existing provision for young carers in Wales. Be-spoke questionnaires were completed by representative organisations (n=22) drawn from the two main service networks: Social Services (n = 12: 55% of all local authorities in Wales) and Young Carers Projects (n = 10).In response to Research Question about the development of provision, the results of Phase 1 indicated that the Projects, mostly delivered by the third sector, had developed as specialist support for young carers. There was common understanding and a high degree of co-operation between the statutory service and the Projects with some delegation of statutory functions. The stated objectives varied between Projects as did the evaluation of outcomes between sectors and between organisations and the data lacked comparability. Both statutory and third sector services suffered from lack of resources and the future of the Projects was far from stable.Phase 2 had two Research Aims. The first was to examine factors which influenced outcomes for young carers. The second was to evaluate the relative importance of factors. Published measures of4Educational Attainment (British Ability Scales), Emotional Literacy (SEMERC) and caring responsibilities (MACA-18) were administered alongside a be-spoke structured questionnaire to young carers (n = 62) from Projects (n=10) across Mid and South Wales. From the data sources, four outcome indices were calculated for the areas of Education, Emotional Literacy, Health and Social Capital. A Composite outcome index was also calculated.The results indicated that, on average, young carers’ Educational Attainment and Emotional Literacy were lower than those for age-matched peers in the general population. A worrying proportion had little or no social activities and personal hobbies outside school hours and outside time spent caring, with a consequent impact on their ability to acquire social capital. There appeared to be strong correlations between outcomes in Emotional Literacy, Health and Social Capital. Counter-intuitively some factors such as being a sole carer or entitlement to free school meals were not associated with any outcome indices.The strongest predictor of Composite outcomes was the quality of family relationships. Young carers who live in a family with poor quality of relationships are 46 times more likely to experience poor outcomes. Similarly, the higher the level of household responsibilities or emotional care, the more likely they are to experience adverse outcomes as reflected in their Composite index.The general findings suggest that a cross-cutting approach to policy on young carers requires monitoring in all policy areas. Since current provision leans heavily on the Projects, their funding needs to be reviewed at a strategic level. The large number of young carers still unidentified indicates that the capacity and effectiveness of the services need to be reviewed with other models of service considered. It is hoped that these findings will inform future policy formation and service planning

SOURCING WITH SHARED SERVICE CENTRES: CHALLENGES IN THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT

Many shared service centres are being established in the Dutch government as part of an e-government program, primarily in order to save costs. However, as literature shows, developing shared service centres proves to be a complex task. In this exploratory research, an initial taxonomy is created presenting various organisational, managerial and technological challenges that organisations can encounter when developing shared service centres. Initial data from three case studies of shared service centres in the Dutch government is presented. Results enlist a number of diverse challenges that organisations need to deal with when trying to achieve cost-efficient operations with shared service centres

Inhibiting Factors For E-Government Adoption: The Pakistan Context

Developing countries are facing immense challenges in moving to electronic forms of government (e-Government) for integrated service provision. This research considers an Asian economy, within an underdeveloped context, through a particular focus upon Pakistan. This region, over many years, has experienced economic and political instability, poor governance and deteriorating government institutions. Consequently, there is a need to reconsider the tiers of government, in particular Local Government (LG), including their internal operational activities through the potentially beneficial adoption of e-Government systems. There is clearly a requirement to deliver end-to-end ‘joined-up’ public services in this respect to key stakeholders, e.g. citizens. This research identifies factors which inhibits e-Government adoption and proposes an achievable approach to enacting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled delivery of services. The contribution is to identify the significant problems of meeting stakeholder demands which are attributed to several issues within LGs’ organisational, social, operational, political, strategic, and technological structures

E-Serviços no Governo Eletrônico: Análise Bibliométrica de Artigos Internacionais

In the present study, the objective was to analyze the production and the publications profile of the theme: e-services tools referring to eGovernment in the Scopus database, for the period as from 2001 through 2015. The electronic government includes tools for the government's relationship with society, citizens, other governments and businesses. The focus of these articles includes e-services and e-Government activities for the businesses. It was used descriptive research, conducted through literature review, with bibliometric approach and quantitative analysis, with sample collected in the Scopus database. It was found that the number of works in this period was 299, of which 45 papers published in events in 2010 and 16 articles published in journals in 2013. The core point of the articles with the highest citation is related to the deployment and the users’ awareness on tools established by countries.Neste estudo, o objetivo foi analisar a produção e o perfil das publicações do tema ferramentas de e-Serviços referente a governo eletrônico na base de dados Scopus, no período de 2001 a 2015. O governo eletrônico compreende ferramentas para relação do governo com a sociedade, cidadãos, outros governos e negócio. O foco desses artigos compreende e-serviços e atividades de governo eletrônico para os negócios. Foi utilizada pesquisa descritiva, conduzida por meio de levantamento bibliográfico, com abordagem bibliométrica e análise quantitativa, com amostra coletada na base de dados Scopus. Concluiu-se que o número de trabalhos nesse período foi de 299, sendo 45 trabalhos publicados em eventos em 2010 e 16 artigos publicados em revistas em 2013. O ponto central dos artigos com maior citação está relacionado à implantação e à percepção de usuários de ferramentas implantadas por países

A Holistic Framework to Evaluate E-government Systems

Evaluation of e-government systems is difficult duty since it involves many perspectives that complicate enumerating itsbenefits. Although the literature has reported several e-government evaluation frameworks, several shortcomings still exist inthe previous work. The objective of this paper is to propose a formative and holistic framework to remedy the currentresearch gaps. The formative position of the evaluation framework ensures the objectives achievement and the holistic sideensures completeness and continuity of the evaluation process. The framework can be used as a template for researchers andpractitioners to assess e-government projects. We demonstrate the applicability and practicability of the framework byapplying it to the Korean Government-for-Citizen (G4C) project