Rex Arendsen

Does e-government reduce the administrative burden of businesses? An assessment of business-to-government systems usage in the Netherlands

The reduction of the administrative burden on businesses is an important governmental policy objective. Electronic government is presented as a promising reduction strategy in many countries. Underlying assumptions and mechanisms are hardly ever made explicit and scientific evidence of successful implementations is scarce. This paper presents an assessment of business-to-government systems in use in the Netherlands. Results show that organizational characteristics are the most influencing factors of perceived burden reduction and implementation effectiveness. Whereas perceived organizational benefits positively relate to the overall confirmation of the former system adoption decision. Surprisingly the quantitative, usage related characteristics do not present any statistical relevance. These findings help us understand existing differences in appreciation between business and governmental representatives on the successfulness of e-government projects in reducing the administrative burden on businesses. Furthermore, research results can help to enhance the effectiveness of e-government policy and measurement instruments

Government as a launching customer for einvoicing

The invoice is an important business document. Despite a large number of convincing arguments, overall adoption rates of electronic invoicing disappoint. Several European countries try to accelerate diffusion speed, some by law, others by stimulating market drivers. This paper focuses on the question whether the government can make a difference as a launching customer of eInvoicing. Results from a large scale survey show that both organisational and situational factors explain the adoption of eInvoicing. Companies that conduct business with governmental organisations are more prone to start implementing eInvoicing. Consequently, this group of suppliers is the obvious target group to launch this innovation. By doing so, government could accelerate the diffusion of eInvoicing.

On the Origin of Intermediary E-Government Services

The majority of SMEs tends to outsource administrative tasks, including their direct relationships with the (electronic) government. Commercial intermediary service providers therefore have to be part of governmental multi channel e-service delivery strategies. This research paper explores the origin, added value and future position of these intermediary organisations with respect to the delivery of e-government services to businesses. Results indicate that (re-)intermediation is more likely to occur within this context than disintermediation is. SMEs do not want to be captured within a non-profitable electronic hierarchical relationship with a governmental organisation. The empirical study on the impact of the legal obligation of the use of e-tax services illustrates that SMEs instead prefer the `save haven of a commercial relationship with an intermediary service provider. Thus creating and fuelling a new market of intermediary e-government services.

Exploring information-seeking processes by business: analyzing source and channel choices in business-to-government service interactions

With the rise of electronic channels it has become easier for businesses to consult various types of information sources in information-seeking processes. Governments are urged to rethink their role as reliable information source and the roles of their (electronic) service channels to provide efficient service support. This article addresses how governments cope with the availability of numerous sources and channels and focuses on similarities, differences and interdependencies between source and channel selection processes. Individual and group interviews were held with businesses throughout the Netherlands. The results indicate that some factors influence source and channel choices (e.g. task characteristics), others influence only channel choice (e.g. situational factors, channel characteristics). Source and relationship characteristics uncover interdependencies between both, since these source-related concepts influence channel choices. Further insight is needed to increase our understanding and come to an integrated theory of source and channel choices in information-seeking processes. Points for practitioners The channels used by the government are in their own control (i.e. information quality); however, other sources and their channels are outside their control. Management of these sources can be realized through strategic partnerships with crucial sources. The first implication is that governments provide content to other sources, which these sources can use for advice to its customers. The second implication concerns the use of cross-referrals between sources and their channels. For instance, the government website contains a recommendation to call an advisor for specific information since this source-channel combination provides only general information.

In search of information: Investigating source and channel choices in business-to-government service interactions

Businesses, far more frequently than citizens, need government information and services to exert their rights and duties. In optimizing their service delivery processes, governments tend to focus on a set of communication channels they offer to businesses to deliver these services. However, in reality, businesses use not only a plethora of different channels but also multiple information sources, extending beyond governments. The focus of this study is to investigate the use of information sources, communication channels and the interaction effects between these sources and channels. A quantitative survey among 1218 representatives of small and medium-sized businesses was conducted. The results show that in most cases, businesses use set combinations of channels and sources; however, driven by factors such as the exact situation, people deviate from these patterns. The results provide novel and extensive insights into how governments can improve service delivery to one of their most important client groups – businesses.

On the Interaction of Source and Channel Choice in the Government-to-Business Context

Communication processes between governments and businesses are increasingly networked. This paper increases our understanding of the information seeking behavior of businesses in the Government-to-Business domain. We conducted a quantitative study among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Netherlands to discover source-channel interaction. The results provided several interactions regarding nature of relationships with sources, channel and source choice. This proves that it is important to consider source and channel choice together to gain an important insight regarding information seeking behavior of businesses. Today’s networked environment implies that besides having direct contact with governments, businesses make use of other sources to get governmental information. In addition, they use various channels to contact these sources, suitable to the type of relationships. This is vital information for governments, because it helps to optimize their service delivery strategy towards businesses.

Exploring the future of public-private egovernment service delivery

Intermediary service providers are important users and actors of eGovernment. This paper explores future longer-term collaborative models and partnerships between the public sector and divers new intermediaries. Four distinguished and logical scenarios of public-private cooperation around 2015 have been developed. Each extrema presents a plausible future and specific implications and effects regarding the future role and position of the intermediary (e-)service providers. Whereas the current state-of-the-art shows a wide variety of intermediate roles, each of the future scenarios tends to stress one specific role. Being prepared for these futures is a major competitive advantage. The scenarios present the framework for assessing the impact of societal trends and present a test bed for the design of future-proof eGovernment strategies.

Channel Choice in the G2B Context: Towards a Research Agenda

Knowledge about e-governmental service delivery towards businesses in general and the use and choice of service channels in particular is lacking. Current insights are mostly based on research in the context of citizens. Important differences in both domains can be found in the more networked character of the business context. These differences show that research towards the business context is needed. In order to fill the gap we provide an overview of existing knowledge about channel choice in G2B context. To conclude, we present a research agenda for future research on this topic.

Source and Channel Choices in Business-to-Government Service Interactions: A Vignette Study

To deal with tax matters, businesses have various potential sources (e.g., Tax Office, advisor, industry organization, friends/family) in their environment. Those sources can be coupled with an increasingly wide variety of channels (e.g., telephone, face-to-face, website, e-mail) through which information can be obtained. This has led to an increasingly complex information flow between governments and businesses. This paper provides new directions for public service delivery strategies by studying both source and channel choices of businesses using the vignette method. The findings indicate that source and channel choices are determined in different ways (i.e., positive or negative) by different factors. Furthermore, we found that source and channel choices are interrelated. It is concluded that that sources and channels fulfil different roles for information seekers. It is advisable for government to anticipate these roles in the design of their service delivery strategies.

Navigating on web sites: Exploring the life events approach

To help users find their way on complex web sites, an adequate information architecture and navigation design is important. Currently, a navigational structure based on so-called life events is becoming increasingly popular. In close cooperation with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, we executed two studies (a card sort study and a comparative usability test) to investigate the attitude and experiences of the users with regard to a web site based on life events. The results of the card sort study showed that citizens do not spontaneously think about life events as a possible way to categorize and label content elements of a government web site. The results of the usability test showed that a navigational structure based on life events does not lead to more effective or efficient search processes. A web site with a navigational structure based on life events is as usable as a structure based on themes.