Enterprise Systems in the Public Sector: A Literature Review

Despite a huge repository of work on enterprise systems (ES) that are widely used across different industries in the private sector, there is a scarcity of publications on this topic in the context of the public sector. Moreover, an assessment about the current research landscape on ES in the context of the public sector is virtually nonexistent. In this study, we address this gap by reviewing 31 academic papers on ES in the public sector. In our analysis, we examine the research focus, research approach and theoretical foundation. Then, by synthesizing the recommendations for the prospective projects, we propose several promising avenues for the future research. Overall, our literature review confirms that this research stream is still in its early stage and much more research efforts need to be dedicated

Driving Forces in Enterprise Systems Implementation in the Public Sector: A Conceptual Framework

The objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the driving forces in enterprise systems (ES) implementation in the public sector by providing a conceptual framework that illustrates these driving forces and their interrelationships. ES in the public sector may improve operational efficiency, provide more timely access to data for public decision makers, lead to more and better information for the community, and thus may have a substantial impact on socio-economic development. Though there has been much research on ES implementation in the private sector, the findings from the private sector do not always carry over to public organizations, which differ substantially from private companies in external regulations, available resources, and internal culture. The data in this multi-case study were collected in semi-structured interviews of City Hall employees in Poland, representing diverse levels of experience and authority. Based on these data, we identify six key concepts in ES public sector implementations and propose a conceptual framework to serve as guidance for future ES implementation projects in the public sector as well as provide a foundation for future research

Impact of Pandemics on e Government Services: A Pilot Study

Focusing on COVID-19 as a prime example, this paper reports on a pilot study on the impact of wide-ranging catastrophic events like pandemics on the demand for and the supply of e-government services. Such e-services in general are of great consequence for enduring socio-economic development but may become especially important in crisis situations. The purpose of the study is to identify the specific issues related to providing necessary e-government services during and in the aftermath of an outbreak and ensuring the continuance of essential public services operations. This research provides a basis for managing and responding to such events in the future and help maintain and perhaps improve the e-government services that are most needed. The pilot study was conducted in a municipal administration in Poland. Based on interviews with city administrators and technical staff involved with providing and maintaining e-government services, the issues faced due to COVID-19 as well as the reactions and responses to these issues are investigated to develop guidelines for future handling of similar crises

Concepts of E-Democracy in an E-Society

With the increasing digitization of society, many new concepts have emerged. In addition to e-business, e-commerce, and e-government, we now also have e-democracy, e-voting, e-parliament, e-information, and many other e-conceptions. What do these terms mean, how do they differ from one-another, and how do they fit in an e-society? In this paper, we try to define, differentiate, and place these concepts, based on the existing literature

Enterprise Systems Implementation in the Public Sector: Importance of Employee Motivation

Though there has been considerable research effort expended on enterprise systems (ES) in general, the issues surrounding the implementation of ES in the public sector are still not well understood. The public sector differs considerably from the private sector in type of stakeholders, regulations, available resources, location restrictions, and organizational culture. An important factor in any large information systems project is employee motivation, which can be defined as the intensity of desire to support the project in performing work related tasks (Pinder 2008). Thus, keeping employees motivated during ES implementation should be a major focus of project managers and administrative leadership. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of how public sector organizations motivate their employees during large information systems implementations, such as ES. Employee motivation in the public sector may be intrinsic, determined by general job satisfaction as well as a desire to do good for other people and society (Van den Broeck et al. 2021), however, employee motivation is also affected by explicit rewards, monetary or otherwise (Esteve and Schuster 2019). In this research we use a multi-case study approach, with semi-structured interviews for our primary data source, supplemented with archival documents. Our interviewees were top and middle level officials, information technology managers, ES administrators, and ES users in five city administration offices (City Halls) in Poland. These City Halls had implemented large ES in recent years and have vast experience with such projects. All interviews were recorded, and transcribed, then translated into English. The interview transcripts were analyzed using open coding method supported by MAXQDA, a software program designed for qualitative and mixed methods data analysis. The results of our study confirm that employee motivation is an important driving force in public sector ES implementation. The results also reveal several communication practices, typical for public sector organizations, that promote employee motivation. Trustworthy leadership that demonstrates firm control of the project, as well as effectively communicating the value of the ES implementation, seem to help motivate employees. Conducting regular meetings to resolve existing concerns is also a successful practice to keep up motivation. While economic incentives are persuasive with some employees, offering non-monetary rewards, such as providing specialized training, promising promotion, and opening career paths seem to be effective in motivating as well. Furthermore, making frequent intermediate versions of the system available helps maintain interest and motivation during a lengthy implementation project. References Esteve, M., and Schuster, C. 2019. Motivating Public Employees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pinder, C. 2008. Work motivation in organizational behavior, (2nd ed.). Psychology Press. Van den Broeck, A., Howard, J.L., Van Vaerenbergh, Y., Leroy, H., and Gagné, M. 2021. Beyond intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A meta-analysis on self-determination theory’s multidimensional conceptualization of work motivation, Organizational Psychology Review (11:3), pp. 240-273

E-democracy and Socio-economic Development

In its ideal, an e-society is a society where technology is fully accepted by the public in all aspects of daily life. Though this ideal may still be some time away, many aspects of the e-society are already in common use or are starting to become widely implemented. This includes e-government, e-democracy, e-information, e-service, e-participation, etc., which have the potential to greatly impact socioeconomic development. In this paper we explore how these innovative e-technologies may transform society in both developed and emerging economies and be used to avert social exclusion from democratic decision-making. Based on literature review, we define several commonly used e-concepts and illustrate their relevance to socio-economic development with practical application examples around the world. We conclude our paper by pointing to several promising research opportunities

Validating a Framework for Driving Forces in Enterprise Systems Implementation in the Public Sector

Enterprise systems (ES) are complex software packages that enable integration of data across the whole organization (Esteves and Pastor 2001). Despite several decades of intense research, the process of ES implementation in the public sector is not yet fully understood (Seres et al. 2019). The topic of ES in the public sector is important, however, as these systems serve as the platform for efficiently and effectively servicing the population as part of e-government. Roztocki et al. (2021) previously proposed a conceptual framework showing six key concepts, viz. political leadership, employee motivation, government regulations, financial resources, commercial base, and vendor quality, as the driving forces in ES implementations in the public sector. The aim of the current study is to empirically validate the framework developed by Roztocki et al. (2021), which was based on data collected in semi-structured interviews of City Hall employees in Poland that were involved in ES implementations. The proposed new study will use surveys to validate and possibly refine, extend, and improve the conceptual framework. The first phase of this project will be to construct an appropriate instrument specifically devised to assess the validity of the existing framework. This survey questionnaire will be developed based on previous research findings and literature review. In the second phase, after preliminary, internal testing, the questionnaire will be posted online in a pilot study aimed at a limited number of employees in only one City Hall in Poland. In the third phase, after modifying the survey instrument, if necessary, several hundred randomly selected employees in multiple City Halls across Poland will be asked to complete the online survey. In the fourth and final phase, the collected data will be used to validate and possibly modify the framework. The proposed study will benefit other researchers in two ways. Firstly, it will show if the framework proposed by Roztocki et al. (2021) is valid and can be applied to better understand ES implementations in the public sector and the driving forces behind them. Secondly, the specially developed and tested survey instrument can be used or modified by other researchers for their own investigations. References Esteves, J., and Pastor, J. 2001. Enterprise resource planning systems research: An annotated bibliography, Communications of the Association for Information Systems (7), pp. 1-52. Roztocki, N., Strzelczyk, W., and Weistroffer, H.R. 2021. Driving Forces in Enterprise Systems Implementation in the Public Sector: A Conceptual Framework, Thirteenth Annual AIS SIG Global Development Pre-ICIS 2021 Workshop, Austin, TX, USA: Association for Information Systems (AIS). Seres, L., Tumbas, P., Matkovic, P., and Sakal, M. 2019. Critical Success Factors in ERP System Adoption: Comparative Analysis of the Private and the Public Sector, E+M Ekonomie a Management (22:2), pp. 203-221

Test hamowania oktreotydem w diagnostyce i prognozowaniu skuteczności terapii u chorych z guzami neuroendokrynnymi. Doniesienie wstępne

Introduction: Chromogranin A (CgA) is a non-specific marker of neuroendocrine tumors (NET) and is important in monitoring the disease course and NET treatment. Aim of the study: Usefulness of suppression test of CgA secretion with octreotide in diagnosis and predicting the therapy outcome in NET patients. Material and methods: The study included 32 patients with NET of gastrointestinal tract, lung and of unknown origin. CgA level in blood plasma on fasting, before and 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after subcutaneous administration of 100 μg octreotide, was determined in all patients. The subjects were divided into two subgroups with relation to CgA level and to the results of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS). Results: Statistically significant CgA decrease after octreotide administration in all study time points and positive results of SRS were found in the patients with the elevated CgA level. No statistically significant decrease of CgA level after octreotide was found in the group with normal CgA levels. In this group, 13 patients had a negative result of SRS, and somatostatin receptors expression was found in one patient. Tolerance of somatostatin analogs (SSA) therapy was very good. Conclusions: Octreotide suppression test with CgA level assessment in NET patients is a simple, straightforward examination, providing information on the predicted response to the applied SSA and the data on initial clinical tolerance of those agents. This examination can also be a screening test useful in planning the treatment with SSA in patients with NET.Wstęp: Chromogranina A (CgA) jest niespecyficznym markerem guzów neuroendokrynnych (NET). Jest ona przydatna w monitorowaniu przebiegu choroby i leczenia chorych z NET. Cel pracy: Użyteczność testu hamowania wydzielania CgA z użyciem oktreotydu w diagnostyce i prognozowaniu skuteczności terapii chorych z guzami neuroendokrynnymi. Materiał i metody: Do badania włączono 32 chorych z guzami neuroendokrynnymi układu pokarmowego, płuc i o nieznanym miejscu pochodzenia. U wszystkich badanych oznaczano stężenie CgA w osoczu krwi na czczo, przed oraz 30, 60, 90 i 120 minut po podaniu podskórnym 100 µg oktreotydu. Badane osoby podzielono na dwie podgrupy w zależności od stężenia CgA oraz wyniku scyntygrafii receptorów somatostatynowych. Wyniki: U chorych z podwyższonymi stężeniami CgA wykazano znamienne statystycznie obniżenie stężenia CgA po podskórnym podaniu oktreotydu w badanych punktach czasowych oraz dodatni wynik scyntygrafii receptorów somatostatynowych (SRS). W grupie chorych z prawidłowymi stężeniami CgA nie wykazano statystycznie znamiennego obniżenia stężenia CgA po podaniu oktreotydu. W tej grupie 13 chorych miało ujemny wynik SRS, u jednego chorego stwierdzono ekspresję receptorów somatostatynowych. Tolerancja leczenia analogami somatostatyny (SSA) była bardzo dobra. Wnioski: Wykonywanie testu z oktreotydem z oznaczaniem stężeń CgA u chorych z guzami neuroendokrynnymi jest prostym, łatwym do wykonania badaniem dającym informacje o przewidywanej odpowiedzi na zastosowanie analogów somatostatyny, jak również dostarczającym danych na temat wstępnej tolerancji klinicznej tych preparatów. Badanie to może być przesiewowym, przydatnym testem w planowaniu leczenia analogami somatostatyny u chorych z NET