A business model perspective for ICTs in public engagement

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 ElsevierPublic institutions, in their efforts to promote meaningful citizen engagement, are increasingly looking at the democratic potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Previous studies suggest that such initiatives seem to be impeded by socio-technical integration barriers such as low sustainability, poor citizen acceptance, coordination difficulties, lack of understanding and failure to assess their impact. Motivated by these shortcomings, the paper develops and applies a business model perspective as an interceding framework for analysis and evaluation. The underlying principle behind this approach is that it is not technology per se which determines success, but rather the way in which the businessmodel of the technological artifact is configured and employed to achieve the strategic goals. The business model perspective is empirically demonstrated with the case of an online petitioning system implemented by a UK local authority. The case illustrates the importance of considering ICTs in public engagement from a holistic view to make them more manageable and assessable

Towards a network government? A critical analysis of current assessment methods for e-government

Contemporary public administrations have become increasingly more complex, having to cordinate actions with emerging actors in the public and the private spheres. In this scenario the modern ICTs have begun to be seen as an ideal vehicle to resolve some of the problems of public administration. We argue that there is a clear need to explore the extent to which public administrations are undergoing a process of transformation towards a netowork government linked to the systematic incorporation of ICTs in their basic activities. Through critically analysing a selection of e-government evaluation reports, we conclude that research should be carried out if we are to build a solid government assessment framework based on network-like organisation characteristics

Exploring strategic leadership challenges in achieving an ICT enabled transformational government

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis empirical research focuses on exploring the role of strategic leadership in the shift from Electronic Government (eGovernment) to Transformational Government (tGovernment). Despite the fact that many countries have implemented eGovernment, the literature reports a number of themhave failed to reach the promised seamless transformation. Moreover, there is a dearth of research into the domain of tGovernment; the research which exists is limited in extent thus leaving scope for timely and novel research contributions. This thesis reveals that a valuable contribution to knowledge could be derived from exploring the domain of transformational government. The leadership motivationand incentives to conduct a radical government organisational change have become an area of great importance. There is limited research on the strategic role of leadership in achieving transformational government domain; hence, the implications of seamless integration for transformational government have yet to be explored. This research discusses transformational government by using a qualitative, multiple case study research strategy. Data is triangulated and analysed according to its explanatory properties and underlying structural context. This researchextends established norms in literature for tGovernment implementation by incorporating established theories in organisational change from other related disciplines. This is to explain the significance of the underlying philosophical nature of the emerging themes, thus enabling government leaders to create robust strategic proposals for tGovernment. This empirical research is conducted in a Middle Eastern cultural context based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The research arrives at several key findings and themesthat contribute to the body of knowledge. A primary finding is the need for a radical change and an innovative managerial approach in using ICT to enable radical change in government organisations. A related finding of this research is that many assumptions underlying the various tGovernment models for transformation fall short to empirically explain the transformational government domain.The government visionary leadership has been proven to be a powerful driver for change in terms of initiating and leading the process for transformational government

The Ultranet: an eGovernment Project Management Failure?

The Education Ministry in the Australian State of Victoria undertook a major project: building the Ultranet, between 2005 and its release in August 2010. The possibilities offered by the Ultranet were considerable, but up take by schools was not. The Ultranet is not yet dead, but it is certainly not in a good state of health. An analysis of communications shows that user needs were not assessed adequately, and that the poor handling of the system-wide launch was sufficient to disenchant even those who had expressed initial support. This eGovernment project is studied as an example of project failure, particularly in regard to its human aspects. The existence of small pockets of dedicated users points to the possibility of resurrection of those parts of the business case where the users continue to value the feature. Suggestions are made for a possible means of project recovery that would address the problems in this case, and a framework is proposed for anticipating other e-Government project failure points

An institutional perspective on information and communication technologies in governance

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasing relevant in policy making and governance activities. However, the broad effects of digital governance have not been adequately conceptualised; conflicting assumptions vary from rather optimistic accounts of empowered citizens to even completely dismissing the potential of engagement through technical means. This research attempts to reposition the impact of ICTs on policy making and political communities. Drawing from institutional studies, an integrated perspective is synthesised to guide case investigations in three main directions: (1) the way influences from the institutional environment are understood and balanced locally, (2) the co-evolution of institutional and technological configurations and (3) the dynamic response of institutional actors to the challenge of online engagement. The empirical part focuses on two different contexts (local government authorities and a trade union federation) that cover the holistic objective of this study. The findings inform on the extent to which ICTs are actually merging with existing governance structures. Both studies show that policy making is fundamentally different from other activities at the general intersection of Internet and politics. Citizens form online communities to organise ad hoc around single issue movements. However, this does not necessarily translate into sustainable and meaningful participation in formal politics. Hence, adapting institutional structures emerges as a complicated challenge beyond fitting technical means into existing engagement activities. On this basis, the thesis questions the extent to which policy making mechanisms are able to enact engagement from the grassroots, as for example encouraged by the social media collaboration philosophy. Implications for practice show how the alignment between new tools and the existing norms has the potential to identify paths of least resistance, and then exploit them to accomplish positives changes whose beneficial effects should not be taken for granted.Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel Universit

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN INCREASINGLY DIGITALIZED GOVERNMENTAL ENVIRONMENTS – A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Citizen participation in increasingly digitalized governmental environments can introduce fruitful capabilities to encourage citizens to engage in municipal affairs and through this take actively part in fostering smart cities’ effectiveness. However, the practical exploitation of recent knowledge is still not sufficiently operationalized, whilst research in this field yields various approaches focusing on diverse emphases. Therefore, the necessity of systematically collecting and afterwards analysing the existing literature towards this topic is obvious. This paper depicts a proceeding to systematically review the available literature towards the relevant research units on citizen participation. Overall, 48 topic-based papers were identified out of leading journals and conference papers about information systems. The main findings of the relevant papers were assessed to a proposed analytical framework consisting of increasing participation stages and two distinct focus groups namely government and citizens. Accordingly, the covered recent focus areas of research are identified to reveal where state-of-the-art research falls short. Consequently, the imperative of emphasising investigation regarding concepts for ICT-enabled services focusing the empowerment of citizens arises as being our contribution for guiding future research, whilst governments can practically benefit from the composed framework by using it for classifying, planning and implementing proposed participation activities

Integrating IS success model with cybersecurity factors for e-government implementation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The electronic government (E-Gov) Systems are currently getting recognized as an authentic strategically tool in delivering E-services. Considering the development of information system (IS) as well as the expanding of the internet-based applications in KSA, E-Gov has always been a significant aspect in delivering governmental services. This research has adopted the (IS) success model by both DeLone and McLean (D&M), moreover, it adopted technology acceptance model (TAM) with cybersecurity factors, both models were implemented to discover the status of the IS success then investigate cybersecurity aspects that impact the service efficiency and effectiveness in KSA. Consequently, this research aims to create a model to investigate the IS success model along with cybersecurity factors that influence E-Gov services effectiveness and usage. Therefore, a survey has been applied as the major data gathering approach; the survey has been distributed among 211 users of E-Gov services consistently. Moreover, all research findings were attained through a quantitative method using the structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings revealed that the constructs fundamental of the (IS) success model are strongly influencing users' satisfaction (US) of the E-Gov services; correspondingly, the fundamental constructs factors of cybersecurity with TAM appear to have a strong impacts on perceived risk (PR), in addition, both which affect the E-Gov services towards usage and effectiveness

Factors relating to and impacting eGovernment readiness in South Africa : a case of the Western Cape Government

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become increasingly important in enabling governments to deliver services to their citizens. Developing countries have limited understanding of what needs to be in place for governments to be considered ready for the implementation of eGovernment projects. As a result, most developing countries embark on these projects inadequately prepared, which results in failure. Large sums of money are spent on eGovernment initiatives which do not provide the envisaged benefit for citizens and businesses. This study therefore discusses factors influencing eGovernment initiatives by governments to improve services to their citizens, businesses and among their constituents. It further examines the stage of readiness of the South African government in implementing eGovernment initiatives to improve its services. The discussion uses Actor Network Theory (ANT) and in particular the concepts of 'moments of translation' and 'irreversibility' as a lens through which to understand and interpret the social phenomenon. Although a number of eGovernment researchers have argued that strong leadership and clear vision are required to implement eGovernment initiatives, the view is that governments have continuously failed to achieve the intended results. eGovernment potentials which are well documented in Information Systems and eGovernment research literature have not been institutionalised by governments to derive benefits due to limited capabilities in the administration of the public service. The study used ANT as the underpinning theory. A deductive approach with interviews was used for data collection in a selected provincial government (of the Western Cape) in South Africa. The outcome of this study is a general framework of readiness for eGovernment initiatives in South Africa, and more generally, Africa, to guide and determine the stage of readiness for eGovernment initiatives to achieve the intended results. This research contributes the application of the moments of translation and irreversibility of ANT as a lens through which the interplay between role players of socially constructed phenomena such as eGovernment readiness can be studied. Other forms of contribution are the application of an iterative process to moments of translation, and institutionalisation of each stage of moments of translation, during the implementation of eGovernment projects