Kim Viborg Andersen

E-government maturity models : Extension of the Layne and Lee model

The article proposes a reorientation of the e-government maturity models by focusing IT applications to improve the core activities and bring end-users as the key stakeholders for future e-government investments. The proposed Public Sector Process Rebuilding (PPR) maturity model is an extension of the Layne and Lee model.

THE IMPACTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: AN ANALYSIS OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH FROM THE “GOLDEN AGE” OF TRANSFORMATION[1]

ABSTRACT The impacts of information technology (IT) on public administration and the public sector are assessed by analyzing the empirical research reported in more than 1,000 issues of recent research journals (published between 1987 and 2000). These impacts are categorized in terms of four broad taxonomic domains and 22 specific impact categories. Almost half of the 230 specific findings identify changes in the capabilities of public sector units to perform functions and more than one-fourth of the findings involve changes in patterns of interaction among political actors. Relatively few IT-related changes affect the distribution of values or the orientations of political actors. In general, the highest proportions of positive impacts from IT are associated with the efficiency and rationality of behavior by units of public administration. The higher incidences of negative impacts tend to involve the more subjective effects of IT on people, in their roles as private citizens (e.g., privacy) or as public employees (e.g., job satisfaction, discretion). It is striking that there are relatively few grounded, empirical studies of the impacts of IT on public administration in the journals analyzed. About half of the empirical studies focus primarily on local level units of public administration, and most studies employ case-study methodology, with nearly one-half of the studies reporting on non-U.S. sites. The summarized and detailed findings in the article are offered as building blocs for more grounded theory on the impacts of IT on public administration and the public sector.

Costs of e‐participation: the management challenges

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the cost of e‐participation from the managerial perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The use of digital media to consult and engage citizens and companies in the decision‐making process is a way of improving the design and legitimatization of decisions, as well as potentially increasing the likelihood of successful implementation of policies. This paper discusses if the potential economic benefits from increased or qualitatively improved involvement inherently are long term and have to compete with other activities undertaken by government.Findings – There are great uncertainties regarding the magnitude of the positive effects on governance since there are not only positive, but also negative externalities of e‐participation; thus, there are major challenges in measuring and capitalizing on the e‐participation. Part of the reason for the uncertainty is the lack of explicit awareness of the choice of technology, communication style and institutional approach to imp...

Reengineering Public Sector Organisations Using Information Technology

Business process reengineering, although initially developed for and within the private sector, is an approach that can form a valuable part of information age reform if it can transform the work processes of public sector organisations. Information technology (IT) has played a central role in reengineering. This chapter therefore describes many ways in which IT can be used to support public sector reengineering, including applications identified from analysis of the ‘political value chain’. Nevertheless, IT-supported reengineering originated from technical/rational organisational models that do not necessarily reflect the realities of the public sector. The chapter therefore proposes the concept of public sector process rebuilding (PUPREB): an approach to reengineering that includes a special awareness of the public sector context.

Electronic records management systems implementation in the Pakistani local government

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is first to present a case study where standardized case handling processes have been transferred from a manual system to an IT system, and then to demonstrate the implications of implementing an electronic records management system (ERMS) in an environment – the Punjabi province of Pakistan – which is unfamiliar with the features embedded in ERMS.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is a case study with first hand data observations, meetings, log files and secondary data (reports).Findings – Although ERMS implementation to date has been limited, the ERMS has led to increased efficiency and effectiveness of the government, increased transparency and accountability in decision making, and enhanced delivery of efficient and cost effective public services to citizens. Furthermore, the case indicates that IT implementation challenges are universal rather than dependent on the nature of the country.Practical implications – Lack of adequate training and design of use...

e-Procurement Adoption: Theory and Practice

This paper addresses eProcurement adoption strategies in public sector institutions from four perspectives (capability, interactivity, value distribution, and orientation of the decisions). The paper analyzes eProcurement in the largest municipality (Copenhagen) in Denmark. Our analysis suggests that efficiency and effectiveness (capability), and improved coordination of private sector and public sector interaction (interactivity) are the drivers for the adoption strategy pursued by the municipality.

EDI and Data Networking in the Public Sector

From the Publisher: The public sector uses electronic data interchange (EDI) in areas such as the health sector, procurement, meat inspection, taxation, transportation, and the courts. Also, government encourages the private sector to enhance their use of electronic communication to secure faster and more reliable exchange of data, to save manpower, and to enable organizational transformation to the information society. In EDI and Data Networking in the Public Sector authors from eight countries report on the modes of governmental intervention to stimulate the usage of EDI and the challenges facing government as they try to smoothen their own units via organizational management. With cases (a total of 14 chapters) from Singapore, Denmark, USA, Sweden, England, Australia, and the Netherlands, this book finds that government in some countries are ahead of the private sector in utilization of EDI and that government at supranational, central and local levels are active players in the field. Local levels of government and the quasi-governmental organizations provides an important supplement to the efforts by central government to increase the overall usage of EDI. EDI and Data Networking in the Public Sector will be of interest to all researchers and practitioners in MIS. Computer Science and International Trade working on the adoption of new technology.

Public Sector Process Rebuilding Using Information Systems

Ongoing modernization of the public sector, gray-zone, semipublic organizations, and virtual, teleworking, Internet use are among the organizational features that need consideration for reorganizing the work processes using information systems. Although politics is not to be ignored, organizational and institutional changes alter the face of the public sector and pave the road for what we call Public Sector Process Rebuilding (PPR).

The e-government melting pot: lacking new public management and innovation flavor?

The paper argues that e-government literature has by large not infused New Public Management (NPM) literature or innovation studies on e-government. Rather, e-government literature has used relative simple frameworks and observations from the NPM and innovation studies and applied them in studies of e-government implementation. Based on a literature review of 60 peer and double blind reviewed scientific studies, this paper argues that the domain has only been subject to research for about half a decade and that the domain is still unexplored in many aspects. One major absence is a lack of cross referencing of studies and limited number of cumulative studies on whether e-government can aid NPM or fuel innovation. However, the good news is that the literature review demonstrates that researchers entering the domain mainly base their research on empirical studies.

Mobile Organizing Using Information Technology (MOBIT)

Both at the corporate level and in the government sector, we are currently witnessing a transformation towards mobile organizing using information technology (MOBIT). The mobile technology wave is challenging the fundamentals on organizational thinking on four accounts: (1) organizational platforms that support productive and efficient collaboration and enable self-development, experimentation and innovative behaviour; (2) balancing the need for managerial control and action with privacy rights for the individual workers related to digital transactions and storage; (3) strategies for having workers and external users (i.e. customers, citizens) at home, in a satellite office, or at the headquarters/front office; and (4) knowledge creation, replication, adaptation, and utilization in organizations glued with IT.