Min-Seok Pang

IT resources, organizational capabilities, and value creation in public-sector organizations: a public-value management perspective

What value does information technology (IT) create in governments and how does it do so? While business value of IT has been extensively studied in the information systems field, this has not been the case for public value. This is in part due to a lack of theoretical bases for investigating IT value in the public sector. To address this issue, we present a conceptual model on the mechanism by which IT resources contribute to value creation in the public-sector organizations. We propose that the relationship between IT resources and organizational performance in governments is mediated by organizational capabilities and develop a theoretical model that delineates the paths from IT resources to organizational performance, drawing upon public-value management theory. This theory asserts that public managers, on behalf of the public, should actively strive to generate greater public value, as managers in the private sector seek to achieve greater private business value. On the basis of the review of public-value management literature, we suggest that the following five organizational capabilities mediate the relationship between IT resources and public value – public service delivery capability, public engagement capability, co-production capability, resource-building capability, and public-sector innovation capability. We argue that IT resources in public organizations can enable public managers to advance public-value frontiers by cultivating these five organizational capabilities and to overcome conflicts among competing values.

Information technology and administrative efficiency in U.S. state governments: a stochastic frontier approach

This paper explores value creation from government use of information technologies (IT). While the majority of studies in the information systems (IS) discipline have focused on discovering IT business value in for-profit organizations, the performance effects of IT in the public sector have not been extensively studied in either the IS or the public administration literature. We examine whether IT improves administrative efficiency in U.S. state governments. Utilizing IT budget data in state governments, the census data on state government expenditures, and a variety of information on public services that states provide, we measure technical efficiency with a stochastic frontier analysis and a translog cost function and estimate the effect of IT spending on efficiency. Our analyses provide evidence for a positive relationship between IT spending and cost efficiency and indicate that, on average, a

IT governance and business value in the public sector organizations - The role of elected representatives in IT governance and its impact on IT value in U.S. state governments

1 increase in per capita IT budget is associated with

Do CIO IT Budgets Explain Bigger or Smaller Governments? Theory and Evidence from U.S. State Governments

1.13 in efficiency gains. This study contributes to the IS literature by expanding the scope of IT value research to public sector organizations and provides meaningful implications for elected officials and public sector managers.

Offender or Guardian? An Empirical Analysis of Ride-Sharing and Sexual Assault

This paper studies IT business value in the public sector organizations, to which the information systems (IS) literature so far has paid little attention. Specifically, we investigate the moderating effect of IT governance on the relationship between IT investments and government performance. Drawing upon the theory of political control on bureaucracy from the political sciences literature, we hypothesize that the presence of legislative controls on IT management increases returns to IT spending, which are measured by cost efficiency. Our empirical analysis in the context of U.S. state governments shows that formal establishment of a chief information officer (CIO) position by legislation is a key prerequisite to positive returns from IT expenditures in state governments. Also, the impact of IT spending on state cost efficiency increases when a state senate approves appointment of CIO nomination than when it does not. This study contributes to the IS literature by demonstrating the importance of elected representatives as part of IT governance in the public sector organizations.

On Information Technology and the Safety of Police Officers

Given the recent concern on “big governments” and rising budget deficits in the United States and European nations, there has been a fundamental economic debate on the proper boundary and role of governments in a society. Inspired by this debate, we study the relationship between information technology (IT) and government size. Drawing on a broad range of the literature from multiple disciplines such as information systems, industrial organization, and political sciences, we present several theoretical mechanisms that explain the impact of IT on government expenditures. Using a variety of data on IT spending and state government expenditures, we find that greater IT investments made by a state chief information officer (CIO) are associated with lower state government spending. It is estimated that on average, a

Armed with Technology: The Impact on Fatal Shootings by the Police

1 increase in state CIO budgets is associated with a reduction of as much as

Security Breaches in the U.S. Federal Government

3.49 in state overall expenditures. This study contributes to the literature by identifying a key technological factor that affects government spending and showing that IT investments can be a means to restrain government growth. This paper was accepted by Anandhi Bharadwaj, information systems.

Politics and Information Technology Investments in the U.S. Federal Government in 2003-2016

Sexual assault is the most repellant and costliest crime that inflicts irrecoverable harms to victims. This study examines the effect of IT-enabled ride-sharing platforms on sexual assaults. Drawing upon routine activity theory from the criminology literature, we posit that a ride-sharing platform can serve as a capable guardian that deters sexual assaults by reducing a passenger’s risk of being a suitable target. Using comprehensive data from New York City, we investigate the relationship between Uber transactions and rape incidents in 2015. For our identification strategy, we adopt subway service suspension and local air pollution as instruments. Our findings show that the number of Uber pickups is negatively associated with the likelihood of rape occurrences. While this deterrent impact is found to be insignificant in taxi-dense areas (Manhattan), ride-sharing contributes to a more significant reduction in rape in taxi-sparse areas (the outer boroughs). In addition, the deterrent effect of ride-sharing is stronger in neighborhoods with lower incomes and a higher percentage of non-White population. This study sheds new light on the potential of IT-enabled platforms to improve social well-being beyond its economic contributions.

Do Information Technology Investments Lead to Bigger or Smaller Governments? - Theory and Evidence in U.S. State Governments

Police officers perform their duty every day under a constant threat of violence, and each year, as many as 50 police officers in the United States lose their lives in the line of duty. This study examines how IT could help prevent violence against police officers. Specifically, we examine the relationship between IT use by the police and the number of police officers killed or assaulted in the line of duty. Integrating the literature on IT-enabled organizational capabilities with the criminology research, we theorize that police IT use helps develop two key law enforcement capabilities – intelligence-led policing and community-oriented policing – which in turn help reduce violence against police officers. Our empirical analysis of 3,921 U.S. police departments shows that the IT use for crime analysis, dispatch, and the Internet is significantly associated with a decrease in the deaths of police officers, an effect that is found to be more pronounced in communities with a higher economic divide. Besides contributing to the nascent literature on the business value of IT in the public sector and the broader societal impact of IT, we also expand the scope of the IS literature by theorizing and empirically demonstrating the role of IT for occupational safety in organizations that operate in unpredictable and dangerous environments.