Evaluating the transition of e-Government: A review of local authorities in England

The goal of e-Government is seen as a panacea for governmental authorities. The emerging needs of citizens, their inclusion and engagement in policy development, political and participatory processes have meant new perspectives on e-Government are required. This paper seeks to identify and evaluate the preparedness of 10 UK-based local authorities to transition from basic e-Government to a more sophisticated and integrated e-Government. A categorical assessment of e-Government characteristics is made and these authorities are ranked accordingly. Our findings reveal the majority of local authorities sampled had reached a high percentage of informational and transactional e-Government but few had reached the interactional level and none had achieved assimilation. This suggests that local authorities seem to have focused on basic e-Government services. There is a need now to forge ahead to integration and assimilation of e-Government in order to address the critical objectives of citizen inclusion and engagement, and alignment of institutional processes to provide an infrastructure for the transition to e-governance and e-knowledge

A value oriented conceptual model for innovation in local government

The political rhetoric that accompanied the introduction of eGovernment expected it to produce innovation in the way government agencies conducted themselves with citizen and business alike. It was assumed that innovation was both "good" and inevitable. This paper challenges these assumptions and presents a more realistic model of how innovation might occurs in UK local government. The model is supported by anecdotal evidence, literature and a recent study of eGoverment achievement in the UK - VIEGO. A key element in the model is the notion of innovation value

Secure use of the Internet by business

This study focuses on electronic data security issues and their applicability to SMEs.Prior to this project, no frame of reference had been identified or defined for:• The electronic data and Internet security needs of SMEs• The critical success factors for implementing and using a secureelectronic data and authentication solutionUsing a source of both primary and secondary research data, firstly, a trusted thirdparty infrastructure based on public key encryption and digital certificate technologywas designed and developed. This provided trust, integrity, confidentiality and nonrepudiation,all of which are essential components for secure static storage or Internettransmission of electronic data.The second stage was the implementation of this infrastructure in SMEs. The casestudies revealed a reluctance to implement and use the designed infrastructure bothduring and after the pilot implementation period. Further primary research wasundertaken to identify and explain the reluctance of SMEs to participate in pilotingthis Internet based technology.As a result of this research project, there are four major contributions to knowledge.These are,• A time series survey of SME Internet usage and attitudes in the GreaterManchester region. The initial stage of the research found that at the start ofthis project (1996/7), only one in three SMEs were using the Internet and thestage of usage was extremely basic (chapter 5.2.1). Towards the end of theproject (1998/9), Internet usage by SMEs had doubled and had become moresophisticated (chapter 7.2). Awareness of security needs had also risen, butwas still not a part of the overall network infrastructure of the majority ofsmall and medium sized organisations.• A framework for the analysis of the potential success or failure of theimplementation of a security solution in particular and new technology projectmore generally (chapter 9).• A framework that can act as broad guide for SMEs in the development of theirsecurity network infrastructures.• The use of organic methodology (chapter 3.3) to deal with the fast movingand changing environment of IT related research projects.A "Best Practice" guide has been developed based on these two models to help SMEsin the implementation of a data security solution in their own organisations.As well as raised awareness of the issues, the success factors also include reengineeringexisting business processes, changing traditional business thinking andcreating a level of commitment to the implementation of technology that will enableSMEs to thrive in the new markets of the 21st century

Evaluating Digital Public Services: a contingency value approach within three exemplar developing countries

This paper considers recent field evidence to analyse what online public services citizens need, explores potential citizen subsidy of these specific services and investigates where resources should be invested in terms of media accessibility. We explore these from a citizen-centric affordability perspective within three ‘exemplar’ developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank and United Nations in particular promote initiatives under the ‘Information and Communication Technologies for Development’ (ICT4D) to stress the relevance of e-Government as a way to ensure development and reduce poverty. We adopt a ‘Contingency Value’ method to conceptually outline reported citizens willingness to pay for digital public services. Hence, our focus is mainly upon an empirical investigation through extensive fieldwork in the context of sub-Sahara Africa. A substantive survey was conducted in the respective cities of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Lagos (Nigeria) and Johannesburg (South Africa). The sample of citizens was drawn from each respective Chamber of Commerce database for Ethiopia and South Africa, and for Nigeria a purchased database of businesses, based on stratified random sampling. These were randomly identified from both sectors ensuring all locations were covered with a total sample size of 1,297 respondents. It was found, in particular, that citizens were willing to pay to be able to access digital public services and that amounts of fees they were willing to pay varied depending on what services they wish to access and what devices they use (PCs or mobile phones)

Evaluating Digital Public Services: a contingency value approach within three ‘exemplar’ sub-Sahara developing countries

YesThis paper considers recent field evidence to analyse what online public services citizens need, explores potential citizen subsidy of these specific services and investigates where resources should be invested in terms of media accessibility. We explore these from a citizen-centric affordability perspective within three ‘exemplar’ developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank and United Nations in particular promote initiatives under the ‘Information and Communication Technologies for Development’ (ICT4D) to stress the relevance of e-Government as a way to ensure development and reduce poverty. We adopt a ‘Contingency Value’ method to conceptually outline reported citizens willingness to pay for digital public services. Hence, our focus is mainly upon an empirical investigation through extensive fieldwork in the context of sub-Sahara Africa. A substantive survey was conducted in the respective cities of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Lagos (Nigeria) and Johannesburg (South Africa). The sample of citizens was drawn from each respective Chamber of Commerce database for Ethiopia and South Africa, and for Nigeria a purchased database of businesses, based on stratified random sampling. These were randomly identified from both sectors ensuring all locations were covered with a total sample size of 1,297 respondents. It was found, in particular, that citizens were willing to pay to be able to access digital public services and that amounts of fees they were willing to pay varied depending on what services they wish to access and what devices they use (PCs or mobile phones).European Investment Bank under the EIB-Universities Research Action Programm

Emergent digital era governance: Enacting the role of the ‘institutional entrepreneur’ in transformational change

Yes‘Digital Era Governance’ (DEG) enables electronic networked processes for integrated, holistic public sector delivery through the adoption of contemporary digital technologies. Our study, based within the States of California and Nevada (USA), investigates the logics embedded in DEG and the critical issues involved for transformational change. We draw upon the concept of ‘enactment’ as a lens to provide insights into relevant theoretical issues. These are operationalised through an enhanced Technology Enactment Framework (TEF) to consider reforms to explore the new DEG environment and, specifically, the role of the CIO and e-government policies. Our findings reveal how public sector CIOs adopt the role of an ‘institutional entrepreneur’, who demonstrate a series of initiatives augmented through identified behaviours relating to proactive community mobilisation (leadership, member focus) and legitimisation (discourse, success stories). Furthermore, the characterisation of entrepreneurial enactment appears to be extremely beneficial to the transformation to DEG within any contemporary public sector context

Local government and social or innovation value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a more realistic view of innovation in local government. A key element in this is the notion of innovation value based on people, processes and technology. Design/methodology/approach – The objectives are achieved by reviewing the background literature, a recent study of eGoverment achievement in the UK – VIEGO, and government assessments of innovation in both the EU and the UK. Some empirical evidence of the inherent complexity is also used. Findings – Extant models of innovation tend to focus on the private sector values and their transfer to the public sector is questionable. This with combined with a weak approach to evaluation leaves local government vulnerable. Originality/value – The political rhetoric that accompanied the introduction of eGovernment expected it to produce innovation in the way government agencies conducted themselves. It is assumed that this innovation is both “good” and inevitable. This paper challenges these simplistic assumptions and proposes a more realistic view

Knowledge sharing for innovation performance improvement in micro/SMEs: an insight from the creative sector

As economies become more reliant on innovative, knowledge-intensive firms, understanding the interaction between knowledge and improving innovation performance is increasingly important. Although most UK businesses are micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (micro/SMEs), knowledge management research has tended to focus on large companies Knowledge sharing can be critical for innovation performance, especially for smaller players with limited resources. Our study presents an insight from micro/SMEs operating in the highly knowledge-intensive and innovative games/entertainment software development sector. Using a mixed method approach, we investigate knowledge sharing and its contribution to firm innovation performance improvements. Our findings suggest that micro/SMEs are at the forefront of the creative sector precisely because of their smaller size. Our study reveals evidence of knowledge donation but limited evidence of knowledge collection in the knowledge sharing process. We develop a model highlighting the importance of industry context, individual knowledge and organizational size in knowledge sharing for innovation performance