The elicitation of key performance indicators of e-government providers: A bottom-up approach

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.Delivering an adequate e-Government service (e-service) is becoming more of a necessity in today's digital world. In order to improve e-services and increase the engagement of both users' and providers' side, studies on the performance evaluation of such provided e-services are taking places. However a clear identification of the key performance indicators from the e-Government providers’ side is not well explored. This shortcoming hampers the conduct of a holistic evaluation of an e-service provision from the perspective of its stakeholders in order to improve e-services as well as to increase e-services take-ups. In this paper, a systematic process to identify indicators is implemented based on a bottom-up approach. The process used three focus-group meetings with providers, users, and academics in Qatar, Lebanon and UK to collect, identify and validate key indicators from the perspective of e-services’ providers. The approach resulted in the identification of five factors levels (service, technology, employees, policy and management and social responsibilities) with fifteen sub-categories of SMART variables. Hence, leading to the development of a new model, STEPS, that can fully explain and predict e-government success from the providers’ point of view. It will work as a strategic management tool to align various stakeholders on common goal and values based on evidence based evaluation of e-services using smart measurable indicators for the improvement of an e-service at the engagement level in the field of e-government. In addition, other fields can benefit from the outcome of this work, such as logistics service providers, who make their services available across new and existing relationships between the Internet commerce firms, their customers, and their vendors

Factors affecting e-government adoption in the state of Qatar

Electronic government (e-government) initiatives are in their early stages in many developing countries and faced with various issues pertaining to their implementation, adoption and diffusion. Although e-government has increased transparency and improved communication and access to information for citizens, digital diffusion of information is often achieved at high cost to government agencies. Conversely, citizens’ adoption of e-government services has been less than satisfactory in most countries. While studies by researchers continue to outline the most salient adoption constructs, as well as various frameworks and models for understanding adoption, research by independent consultancy/research organisations has produced a host of statistics and league tables of good and bad practices of service delivery. Like many other developing countries, the e-government initiative in the state of Qatar has faced a number of challenges since its inception in 2000. This study utilises the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to explore the adoption of e-government services in the state of Qatar. 1179 citizens were surveyed to collect primary data. A regression analysis was conducted to examine the influence of the factors adapted from the UTAUT on e-government adoption. Reliability test reported values of the various constructs vary between (0.74) and (0.91). The findings reveal that effort expectancy and social influences determine citizens’ behavioural intention towards e-government. Additionally, facilitating conditions and behavioural intention were found to determine citizens’ use of e-government services in Qatar. Implications for practice and research are discussed

THE role of the technology acceptance model in information systems research: a case study

Explaining the factors that lead to use and acceptance of information technology (IT), both at individual and organizational levels, has been the focus of information systems (IS) researchers since 1970s. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is known as such an explanatory model and has increasingly gained recognition due to its focus on theories of human behaviour. Although this model has faced with some criticism in terms of not being able to fully explain the social-technical acceptance of technology, it is still known as one of the best IS methodologies that contributes greatly to explaining it. This paper discusses, describes and explains TAM as one of the well-known information system research methodologies and attempts to demonstrate how this model can be applied in practice in IS research projects. TAM is widely used in different areas of IS studies such as e-commerce, e-business, multimedia and mobile commerce. This paper shows how TAM can be applied in an IS research project by referring to a case study conducted in the area of mobile banking in the UK. This paper aims to contribute to IS research by providing an informed criticism of TAM as well as a clear proposal on how to use it

Creative Careers and Self-actualization

The purpose of this study was to address differences in self-actualization, satisfaction with life, and motivation that exist between individuals in careers of varying levels of creativity. Roughly 330 participants mainly from the United States and India took part in the study. Participants completed a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk in which they rated their career as not at all creative, somewhat creative, or highly creative. The survey included questions from the Brief Index of Self-Actualization by Sumerlin and Budrick and the Satisfaction with Life scale by Emmons et al. The findings showed that individuals who rated their careers as highly creative were more likely to have higher satisfaction with life. In addition, they were also more likely to be motivated by recognition, personal satisfaction, and the greater good. This study expanded upon a pilot study completed in Holland of a similar nature but with a larger population size

The public image of the contemporary Russian police : impact of personal experiences of policing, wider social implications and the potential for change

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss the perception of the police by members of the public in post‐Soviet Russia following their personal experiences of policing, identify broader social implications of the contemporary public image of the Russian police and assess the potential for changing the current situation. Design/methodology/approach – The discussion is conducted on the basis of findings derived from an empirical study carried out by the author which involved qualitative interviews with members of the public who had personal experiences of policing, and with police officers. Findings – Findings indicate a very negative perception of the police by members of the public. Personal experiences of police misconduct appear to affect negatively citizens' general evaluations of the entire institution. Research limitations/implications – The study was small, and only those who have had personal encounters with the police were interviewed, so the findings should not be treated as necessarily representing attitudes of the population in general. Practical implications – The negative public image of the police revealed by this study has numerous dangerous consequences: people feel insecure and unprotected, lose trust towards legal authorities and refuse to cooperate with the police. Social implications – Distrust towards the police generates a situation where citizens have to be self‐reliant in protecting themselves against crime. Many of the strategies adopted towards this end are problematic. Originality/value – The paper presents a unique insight into public perceptions of the Russian police. It may suggest implications for policy and practice that could help enhance support of citizens for the police, or at least prevent further deterioration of the existing situation

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation

Application of Natural Language Processing to Determine User Satisfaction in Public Services

Research on customer satisfaction has increased substantially in recent years. However, the relative importance and relationships between different determinants of satisfaction remains uncertain. Moreover, quantitative studies to date tend to test for significance of pre-determined factors thought to have an influence with no scalable means to identify other causes of user satisfaction. The gaps in knowledge make it difficult to use available knowledge on user preference for public service improvement. Meanwhile, digital technology development has enabled new methods to collect user feedback, for example through online forums where users can comment freely on their experience. New tools are needed to analyze large volumes of such feedback. Use of topic models is proposed as a feasible solution to aggregate open-ended user opinions that can be easily deployed in the public sector. Generated insights can contribute to a more inclusive decision-making process in public service provision. This novel methodological approach is applied to a case of service reviews of publicly-funded primary care practices in England. Findings from the analysis of 145,000 reviews covering almost 7,700 primary care centers indicate that the quality of interactions with staff and bureaucratic exigencies are the key issues driving user satisfaction across England

Alter ego, state of the art on user profiling: an overview of the most relevant organisational and behavioural aspects regarding User Profiling.

This report gives an overview of the most relevant organisational and\ud behavioural aspects regarding user profiling. It discusses not only the\ud most important aims of user profiling from both an organisation’s as\ud well as a user’s perspective, it will also discuss organisational motives\ud and barriers for user profiling and the most important conditions for\ud the success of user profiling. Finally recommendations are made and\ud suggestions for further research are given

Patient Satisfaction in the Spanish National Health Service: Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling

The aim of this article was to determine which key indicators influence patient satisfaction with the Spanish NHS to provide useful information for policy decision-making. A total of 33 variables for each of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities were collected from the statistical portal of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services, and Equality between 2005 and 2016. A cross-sectional study was applied using Partial Least Squares to a Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). The influence of expenditures, resource allocation, and safety were hypothesized about patient satisfaction. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and life expectancy were used as control variables. Moreover, the influence of resource allocation on use was tested. The model explained 57.1% of patient satisfaction with the Spanish NHS. It was positively influenced mainly by resource allocation and expenditures, followed by safety and life expectancy. Additionally, resources directly influenced the level of use. The number of hospital beds, hemodialysis equipment, rate of adverse drug reactions, and expenditure positively influenced patient satisfaction. In contrast, the number of posts in day hospitals, the hospital infection rate, and the percentage of pharmacy spending negatively influenced patient satisfaction

Money Guidance Pathfinder - A Report to the FSA

In April 2009 the Government and the Financial Services Authority launched the £12m Money Guidance Pathfinder service in the North-West and North-East of England. The service, known as Moneymadeclear, provides impartial information and guidance on a wide range of personal finance issues tailored to the individual's needs and circumstances. It is available through the web, over the phone or face-to-face across the North-West and North-East. An evaluation of the Money Guidance Pathfinder was undertaken by PFRC to provide an evidence base for decisions on the roll out of a national Money Guidance service