Davide Arduini

Technology Adoption and Innovation in Public Services: The Case of E-Government in Italy

Using data from 1176 Italian municipalities in 2005, we identify factors associated with the development of e-government services supplied by local public administrations (PAs). We show that the combination of internal competencies and context-specific factors is different when explaining decisions to start e-government activities vs. the intensity of such activities. Municipalities involved in e-government are larger, carry out more in-house ICT activities and are more likely to have intranet infrastructures than PAs that do not offer front-office digitized services. They are also generally located in regions having relatively large shares of firms using or producing ICTs, where many other municipalities offer digitized services, and where population density is relatively low. The range and quality of e-government services supplied by local PAs tend to increase with their stock of ICT competencies, their efforts to train workers, and with their ability to organise efficient interfaces with end-users. Moreover, there is a correlation between the range and quality of e-government services offered and the broadband infrastructure development in the area where local PAs are located.

The egovernment services delivery of the Italian municipalities

This paper focuses on factors associated with the development of egovernment services by local public administrations (PAs) in Italy. Using data from 1,176 municipalities in 2005, we show that the combination of internal competencies and context-specific factors is different when explaining decisions to start e-government activities vs. the intensity of such activities. Local PAs involved in e-government are larger, carry out more in-house ICT activities and are more likely to have intra-net infrastructures than PAs offering no digitized services. They are also located in regions having large shares of firms using or producing ICTs, where many other municipalities offer digitized services, and where population density is low. The range and quality of e-gov services increase with their stock of ICT competencies, their efforts to train workers, and their ability to organise interfaces with end-users. Moreover, the range and quality of services is correlated with the broadband infrastructure development of regions.

Complementary Approaches to the Diffusion of Innovation: Empirical Evidence on E-Services Adoption in Italy

Using data on the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by 1947 Italian firms in 2004 and 2005, this paper provides evidence that is consistent with three largely complementary streams of literature on innovation diffusion. First, as suggested by epidemic models, the authors highlight the positive impact of early adopters’ performance on the rate of diffusion. Second, following probit models, they show how market structure and user characteristics, including their size and competencies, affect ICT adoption. Third and finally, the authors draw insights from systemic approaches to emphasise the dynamic role played by the public sector and by the technological and institutional context in which user firms are active.

The diffusion of eGovernment in public administration bodies. The links between back and front office service

This paper contributes to explaining the dynamics of eGovernment diffusion in Italian municipalities which play a key role in interfacing citizens and Local Public Administrations. By defining appropriate synthetic indicators, the study will analyse the relationships between the digitalization of back office services - in terms of ICT equipment and use as well as inner work process re-engineering - and front office services - in terms of quantity and interactivity of online services provided by municipalities. The analysis uses two integrated datasets. The first one, set up by ISTAT, provides information on the ITC use in 3,323 administrative bodies, representing the 8,100 Italian municipalities. The second, set up by the so called RCC Observatory (Regional Competence Centres for eGovernment and the Information Society) is made up of 1,825 data units and contains precise information on a set of online services provided by the official websites municipalities. This study provides a contribution to the political debate about the priority of investing in front and back office services so as to facilitate a more effective introduction of new technologies in public sector. Results show that municipalities appear to follow different adoption patterns and heterogeneous innovation paths.

A Sectoral Approach to the Diffusion of ICT: Empirical Evidence on Italian Firms

It is suggested that our understanding of ICT adoption in the Italian economy can benefit from complementary insights derived from some of the most important theoretical approaches to sectorial diffusion of innovation (epidemic, probit and systemic). As regards the epidemic models the key variables are firms’ market performance indicators. Probit models call our attention to the size of user firms, their ability to utilize technology and the degree of industrial concentration. Systemic models emphasise the role played by the public sector, which is viewed as catalyst and stimulator of innovative activities in the industrial system, and by the evolution of the technological and infrastructural context in which users are active. We utilize a composite indicator, which describes the use of ICT in a sample of 1947 Italian firms in 2004 and 2005, as the dependent variable for an econometric exercise which allows to assess the importance of factors identified in the different approaches emerging from the existing literature.