Government Reorganization in the ICT Sector: Analysis of Multi-Level Factors from the Case of South Korea

Abstract

Governments around the world have invested agreatdealof time and energy to reform their administrative structures for increasing public officials’ efficiency in internal affairs and improving citizens’ satisfaction on public service. The literature on government reorganization, consisting mostly of in-depth case studies on the influential factors of government reorganization through a small-N sample of countries, has contributed to understanding the essence of government reorganization. This study raises its limitations and the necessity of follow-up studies examining the influential factors of demands and needs for government reorganization for diagnosis and prediction purposes through a large-N sample of individuals. In this vein, this study aims to perform logistic analysis to investigate the factors influencing the perceptions of survey respondents (i.e., the general public and government officials) on the need for government reorganization based on information and communications technology (ICT) in the Korean public sector. According to research findings, “possibility of conflict between security and smart work” and “urgency of responses to AI development” are associated with an increase in the perceived necessity to reorganize the ICT sector. On the other hand, “organizational amalgamation by integrating government-affiliated institutes” and “policy direction in the mobile era” are associated with a decrease in the perceived necessity to reorganize the ICT sector. These research findings suggest that scholars and practitioners need to consider multi-level factors of government reorganization when they conceive, design, adopt, and implement the restructuring of ICT-sector agencies.