Murray Scott

The role of business process redesign in creating e‐government in Ireland

Purpose – To investigate the role of business process redesign (BPR) in creating citizen‐centred e‐government.Design/methodology/approach – It is argued in this paper that the evolutionary‐based development of BPR is better positioned to expand the use e‐commerce technology in the public sector. The Venkatraman model of IT‐enabled change is used in order to investigate the extent to which BPR was instrumental in the movement to e‐government in Ireland. A case study is presented detailing how the Irish Governments e‐government strategy was devised and implemented.Findings – This paper details how 50 government authorities were co‐ordinated in an effort to provide a single point of access (portal) to government e‐services. However, as the infrastructure for the portal is to be developed around existing government structures, a full and complete process redesign is unlikely, as the existing authorities must remain in place.Research limitations/implications – To investigate the unique nature of processes wit...

An assessment of biometric identities as a standard for e-government services.

This paper investigates the applicability and potential use of biometrics for e-government services. An in-depth case study is presented outlining the development of e-government services in Ireland, highlighting potential areas for growth in biometrics and also areas for caution in the implementation of the underlying technologies. Biometrics is becoming an important international standard as an authentication technology providing cross-border immigration and security controls; however, the case for biometrics in e-government services is more complex. As an enabler of e-services, the implementation of this technology is challenged by a wider set of more profound societal issues including citizen privacy, security and trust. However, the rapid development and adoption of this technology has the potential to inform and hasten its diffusion into wider e-government usage. Specifically, this paper examines the current attitudes to the feasibility of biometrics as a component in the delivery of e-government services.

A Delphi study on collaborative learning in distance education: The faculty perspective

Collaborative Learning (CL) is increasingly being used in Distance Education (DE), as it has been identified as an effective solution to known weaknesses such as high average rates of dropout and low quality of learning attainment. Information Technology is a core component of this type of learning as it not only provides the means to collaborate over distance but also has the potential to enable higher learning outcomes. There are a rapidly growing number of technologies in use today and the importance of these to collaborative learning initiatives, and the role they play, is an area of active research in the Information Systems (IS) community. IS educators and practitioners face an increasing challenge therefore to successfully implement CL in DE, precipitated not only from technical advances but also from wider social and organisational concerns. Using a Delphi study, this research is the first to investigate the factors that influence collaborative learning in distance education by surveying the opinions of an expert panel in this area. The aim was to produce an integrated list of the most important implementation factors and to investigate the role technology is perceived to contribute. The findings identified seventeen of the most important factors. These factors cover a range of themes including course rationale and design, instructor characteristics, training, group dynamics, the development of a learning community and technology. The potential of technology however does not seem to be fully realised and newer technologies such as multi-user environments would seem to be of limited use in practice, according to the expert panel.

Implementing E-Government in Ireland: A Roadmap for Success

E-government provides unparalleled opportunities for governments to streamline processes and improve customer service. As a result, achieving successful citizen centric e-government has become a key concern for many governments. This paper analyses the Irish Government’s evolutionary path to the provision of successful e-Government. The success factors and stages of evolution of e-government are identified and a detailed examination of how the Irish Government successfully implemented its e-government strategy is presented. The lessons learnt from this case provide a valuable roadmap for the successful attainment of citizen centred e-government in other jurisdictions.

Perceptions of information system success in the public sector: Webmasters at the steering wheel?

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between constructs ofinformation system (IS) success in the public sector, as perceived by webmaster intermediaries, andinvestigate how user testing affects these relationships.Design/methodology/approach – Online surveys were conducted, using questionnaires, withwebmasters in Denmark and Norway who participated in the public sector web award contestsorganized by the government (n ¼ 1,237, n ¼ 541; response rate 44 per cent).Findings – It was found that the frequency with which webmasters carry out user testing affectstheir perceptions of IS success, with those who conduct no user testing displaying the weakestassociations among success variables. Findings also suggest that webmasters who do little or no usertesting conveniently assume that citizen users are satisfied, while webmasters who are moreknowledgeable of the user experience have a greater perception of levels of success.Practical implications – The fact that the majority of webmasters do not perform any type of usertesting triggers a reflection on the need for such important intermediaries to enhance their feedbackchannels. User involvement in assessing IS success cannot be overlooked, especially considering thatuser empowerment in the design, implementation, and evaluation of information systems matches awindow of opportunity originating in the ongoing growth of web interactivity.Originality/value – The paper is one of the few that investigates constructs of IS success in thepublicsector,andarguablythefirstonethatfocusesontheimpactsofusertestingontherelationshipsbetween constructs of IS success in a public setting.KeywordsDenmark,Norway,Informationsystems,Websites,Publicsector,Feedback,Intermediaries,DeLone and McLean IS success model, Webmasters, User testingPaper type Research paper

The Influence of Quality on E-Commerce Success: An Empirical Application of the Delone and Mclean IS Success Model

This research addresses difficulties in measuring e-commerce success by implementing the DeLone and McLean D&M model of IS success 1992, 2003 in an e-commerce environment. This research considers the influence of quality on e-commerce success by measuring the information quality and system quality attributes of an e-commerce system and the intention to use, user satisfaction and intention to transact from a sample of respondents. This research provides an empirical e-commerce application of the updated IS success model proposed by DeLone and McLean 2003. This paper found significant relationships between Information Quality and System Quality and three success dimensions: intention to use, user satisfaction and intention to transact. It found the following constructs to be most important in predicting success: ease of understanding, personalization and reliability. In particular, that reliability is more important than usability where transactions are concerned and security though important, is not the most important factor.

Measuring information quality and success in business intelligence and analytics: key dimensions and impacts

The phenomenon of cloud computing and related innovations such as Big Data have given rise to many fundamental changes that are evident in information and data. Managing, measuring and developing business value from the plethora of this new data has significant impact on many corporate agendas, particularly in relation to the successful implementation of business intelligence and analytics (BI&A). However, although the influence of Big Data has fundamentally changed the IT application landscape, the metrics for measuring success and in particular, the quality of information, have not evolved. The measurement of information quality and the antecedent factors that influence information has also been identified as an area that has suffered from a lack of research in recent decades. Given the rapid increase in data volume and the growth and ubiquitous use of BI&A systems in organisations, there is an urgent need for accurate metrics to identify information quality.

How to Create Public Value Through Open Data Driven Co-Creation: A Survey of the Literature

The drive for openness in government, with open data as a key component, has seen governments around the world devote a large amount of resources to publishing government collected and held data. Scarce resources are being devoted to this goal with the primary goals designated as economic growth and increased innovation. A somewhat overlooked aim is the creation of public value which can be deployed as an openness and trust enhancing apparatus. This preliminary work addresses this gap by aiming to develop the core knowledge of how public value can be co-created with open data. Through an extensive survey of the relevant literature, this research seeks to build an initial framework of public value as applied to co-created open data. Grounded in the structured literature review technique, the authors surveyed the pertinent literature to identify the primary factors that enable value co-creation from the citizens point of view. Furthermore, this research proposes an adapted collection of public values as they relate to open data.

Public values on the cusp of change, the journey from consultation to collaboration

As eParticipation matures, the expectations of citizens have increased due to the availability of new forms of digital media and global initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership. Yet, recent research has highlighted old managerial approaches and institutional cultures as key challenges to citizen engagement with government. This research describes the creation of a public value strategic triangle created specifically for eParticipation to enable the analysis of the necessary conditions to enable value creation in eParticipation.

An Analysis of the 2016 American Presidential Nominees’ Tweets: A Magical Realism Perspective

Twitter is the latest social networking tool said to be reshaping presidential political campaigns. In order to maximize the influence of their messages to voters, presidential nominees often use various techniques to transmit their campaign messages in the most effective way to the electorate. However, there is little scholarship on the use of Twitter as a strategic tool for presidential political campaigns. Using a nuanced magical realism theoretical perspective, this paper seeks to fill this gap through a content analysis of several of the presidential campaign nominees’ tweets, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Jill Stein, in the six months leading up to election day on November 8th, 2016. Consequently, this study provides a methodological contribution pertaining to the utilization of magical realism to understand how Twitter is shaping the new political landscape. Furthermore, it provides an illustration of the application of specific techniques which underpin the magical realism concept and how they can be applied by other information system researchers.