Antonio Cordella

Information systems in the public sector: The e-Government enactment framework

Despite the burgeoning number of studies of public sector information systems, very few scholars have focussed on the relationship between e-Government policies and information systems choice and design. Drawing on Fountains (2001) technology enactment framework, this paper endeavours to conduct an in-depth investigation of the intricacies characterising the choice and design of new technologies in the context of e-Government reforms. By claiming that technologies are carriers of e-Government reform aims, this study investigates the logics embedded in the design of new technology and extant political interests and values inscribed in e-Government policies. The e-Government enactment framework is proposed as a theoretical and analytical approach to understand and study the complexity of these relationships which shape e-Government policies.

E-government: towards the e-bureaucratic form?

Bureaucratic institutions not only provide mechanisms to coordinate work activities in the public sector, but also serve to enforce the democratic values of equality and impartiality. This paper explores how recent approaches to e-government neglect these important dimensions of bureaucracy and proposes an alternative approach to e-government. This paper sets the wider new public management reform context to help explain some of the difficulties the NHS IT Projects are running into by 2007. The e-bureaucratic form is proposed as an e-government solution, which, while taking advantages of the information and communication technology as means of coordination, also help to enforce the values of equality and impartiality underpinned through the actions emanating from bureaucratic structures.Bureaucratic institutions not only provide mechanisms to coordinate work activities in the public sector, but also serve to enforce the democratic values of equality and impartiality. This paper explores how recent approaches to e-government neglect these important dimensions of bureaucracy and proposes an alternative approach to e-government. This paper sets the wider new public management reform context to help explain some of the difficulties the NHS IT Projects are running into by 2007. The e-bureaucratic form is proposed as an e-government solution, which, while taking advantages of the information and communication technology as means of coordination, also help to enforce the values of equality and impartiality underpinned through the actions emanating from bureaucratic structures.

A public value perspective for ICT enabled public sector reforms: A theoretical reflection

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical discussion of information system adoption in the public sector (often referred to as e-government) and to contribute to the debate by offering a public value perspective. The paper points to the public value paradigm as an alternative approach to studying ICT-enabled public sector reforms. This paradigm, we argue, proposes an alternative way of framing the nature of the problems faced when ICT enabled public sector reforms are initiated and studied. The public value perspective proposes a new and richer context in which to study and research these phenomena. It also calls for the redefinition of the ways we assess e-government in the context of public sector reforms. It is therefore seen as vital to evaluate the socio-political impact of ICT adoption in the public sector.

Transaction costs and information systems: does IT add up?

Transaction cost theory has often been used to support the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to reduce imperfection in the economic system. Electronic markets and hierarchies have repeatedly been described as solutions to inefficiencies in the organisation of transactions in complex and uncertain settings. Far from criticising this assumption, this paper highlights the limits associated with this application of transaction cost theory that has been prevalent in IS research. Building on the concepts first proposed by Ciborra, the paper argues that information-related problems represent only some of the elements contributing to transaction costs. These costs also emerge due to the interdependencies among the various factors contributing to their growth. The study of the consequences associated with ICT design and implementation, grounded in transaction cost theory, should consider the overall implication associated with the adoption and use of ICT and not only the direct effect on problems associated with information flow, distribution, and management.Transaction cost theory has often been used to support the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to reduce imperfection in the economic system. Electronic markets and hierarchies have repeatedly been described as solutions to inefficiencies in the organisation of transactions in complex and uncertain settings. Far from criticising this assumption, this paper highlights the limits associated with this application of transaction cost theory that has been prevalent in IS research. Building on the concepts first proposed by Ciborra, the paper argues that information-related problems represent only some of the elements contributing to transaction costs. These costs also emerge due to the interdependencies among the various factors contributing to their growth. The study of the consequences associated with ICT design and implementation, grounded in transaction cost theory, should consider the overall implication associated with the adoption and use of ICT and not only the direct effect on problems associated with information flow, distribution, and management.

Outsourcing, bureaucracy and public value: Reappraising the notion of the "contract state"

Large-scale outsourcing of information technology in the U.K. public sector – the NHS, the Inland Revenue, and the Department of Social Security over the years – raises a number of critical issues not just for how outsourcing can be conducted in public sector contexts but also about the efficacy of such arrangements in terms of enforcement of democratic values. We argue that marketizations target may well be bureaucracy, but the organizational form is a repository for democratic, civic, and public service values that can be eroded through how outsourcing has been conducted. The call for a reevaluation and the case for a distinctive public services management ethos are made if such values as equality, impartiality, communal good and public service are to be pursued and delivered. Selective outsourcing is revealed as effective – together with much needed rebuilding of internal capabilities – in keeping control of IT destiny, delivering on public service requirements, and managing external supply. The U.K. experience, we suggest, provides salutary learning for public services in other developed economies.

E-government and organizational change: Reappraising the role of ICT and bureaucracy in public service delivery

Abstract There is a substantial literature on e-government that discusses information and communication technology (ICT) as an instrument for reducing the role of bureaucracy in government organizations. The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical discussion of this literature and to provide a complementary argument which favors the use of ICT in the public sector to support the operations of bureaucratic organizations. Based on the findings of a case study – of the Venice Municipality in Italy – the paper discusses how ICT can be used to support rather than eliminate bureaucracy. Using the concepts of e-bureaucracy and functional simplification and closure, the paper proposes evidence and support for the argument that bureaucracy should be preserved and enhanced where e-government policies are concerned. Functional simplification and closure are very valuable concepts for explaining why this should be a viable approach.

Information infrastructure: an actor-network perspective

Recent work on information systems has discussed the nature and the complexity of the Information Infrastructures (II) concept. This research has mainly focused on two aspects: studying the process that both shapes and stabilizes information infrastructures, and studying the role played by information infrastructure in leveraging business performance. Using the ideas proposed by the Actor Network Theory (ANT), this article suggests a new way to conceptualise the nature of II, that is, its ontology. Using ANT as an ontological foundation to analyse the relations among actors, the article proposes the concept of information infrastructures in action to highlight their dynamic nature. This leads us to consider information infrastructures not as stable entities, but rather as entities performed in, by, and through relations. The aim of this work is to overcome the limitations associated with studying information infrastructures that rely on stability and manageability assumptions. Conceiving information infrastructures in terms of performative forces that evolve dynamically, this work provides a framework to examine information infrastructure in terms of dynamic relationships by looking at the process that shapes these relationships. The article suggests that information infrastructures should not be studied retrospectively to understand how they are established, but rather should be studied focussing on the process of making. Here we study the action of making rather than the processes that made.

E-government in the making: an actor network perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce a new approach to the framing of e-government projects. It discusses e-government as a continuing process of interaction and change. The paper uses general concepts borrowed from actor–network theory (ANT) to highlight the on-going negotiation that is an endogenous characteristic of every e-government projects. Design/methodology/approach – The research builds on the findings of a case study. The case of the Akshaya e-government project in Kerala, India, is presented to offer an instance of the negotiation that occurs among the different actors involved and the consequent changes the project itself experiences. Findings – The paper shows that e-government initiatives are unstable and change over time, as they are cast in the dynamic interaction that occurs between the actors involved in the e-government project. It also suggests that the ANT is a valuable framework to study these dynamics. Research limitations/implications – Main contribution of the paper is the evid...

Evaluating Monitoring Systems in the European Social Fund Context A Sociotechnical Approach

In contrast to the prevailing image of monitoring systems as technical systems, it is proposed that they should rather be conceived of as social endeavors at exchanging information. Drawing on the monitoring and evaluation framework of Cornford, Doukidis, and Forster, the concept of information agreement is suggested as a way of assessing the quality of monitoring systems in context. Preliminary implications are discussed with regard to the quality of information, the information agreement being conceptualized as a tacit, and/or explicit agreement between and among participating government partners about the quality of information.

Assembling law and technology in the public sector: the case of e-justice reforms

This paper discusses how laws and technology interact when e-government reforms are designed and deployed in highly regulated public sector organisations. The contribution focuses on how laws and regulations are re-designed into ICTs and the effect this design process has on the performance of public sector organisations. The paper builds on the concepts of functional simplification and closure to depict the particular process by which ICTs moulds laws and regulations. The case of the justice sector is discussed as exemplificative example to discuss how law and ICTs negotiate the regulation of organisational activities into techno-legal assemblages. Building on the finding of the case the paper provides a new dimension to be accounted for when the enactment of ICTs occurs in public sector organisations. The paper suggests that the technical, the legal, as well as the institutional properties that shape e-government projects need to be considered to better understand the impacts of e-government reforms on public sector organizations, the services they deliver, and the value that is generated for the citizens receiving public services.