E-government Strategy Research Articles

E-government performance in democracies versus autocracies

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between political regimes and e-government performance, with a focus on governments’ perspectives of e-government. First, the authors use United Nations (UN) E-government Development Index (EGDI) to establish the current patterns of e-government performance across different regime types, and then develop their own typology of the various perspectives of different political regime types to e-government adopted in the literature. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between e-government performance and regime types.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a mixed-method research approach that involves quantitative (statistical databases) as well as qualitative (interviews) methods to go beyond the statistics and obtain interpretations of explored patterns of e-government performance and regime types. The research instruments for this study include the Jupyter open-source software used for drawing the relevant correlations, and validating the results using expert interviews.FindingsThe results of the analysis support the research hypothesis that democracies have better e-government implementation than autocracies. The findings suggest that the type of a political regime has an influence on the conceptualization of e-government, the implementation of its practices and subsequently the assessment of its performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study relies on the UN EGDI and data from previous literature. the UN Index only measures the supply side of government outputs without taking into consideration their impact on citizens, which does not provide a holistic view of the whole picture. Therefore, the UN EGDI rankings do not necessarily imply citizen satisfaction or improved e-government.Practical implicationsFrom a practice point of view, this study gives information to government leaders as well as technical experts on how the political regime influences the government’s performance in e-government. In fact, this paper bridges the gap between theory and practice by calling policymakers to take different regime worldviews and motivations into consideration before setting e-government strategies or even assessing e-government performance. Considering the current global digital transformation, it should be ensured that practitioners take these regime specifications into consideration. In the long term, the results of this research will prove that setting up e-government or e-participation platforms is not enough as technology alone is not enough to strengthen democracy or let alone stimulate citizen engagement. When dealing with e-government initiatives, the focus should be broadened beyond the technological aspect and take the social and political motivations of governments into consideration.Social implicationsFrom a theoretical standpoint, this study calls for a more holistic e-government performance indicator that could take the regime perspectives into consideration and integrate them into its evaluation process. An indicator that can accommodate the different objectives pursued by different regime types. This could also be achieved by setting two indicators with each one matching the perspective of the specific regime type, which takes us to Ashby’s “Law of Requisite Variety” (1991). The Law of Requisite Variety states that “the system must possess as much regulatory variety as can be expected from the environment” (Ashby, 1956). This law has some implications for this study. It implies that the regime worldview influences the requisite variety depending on the political context where e-government is being implemented. Because we have two regime worldviews, we need to have at least two responses (in this case indicators) that consider the variety of political contexts. Therefore, through appreciating the differences between these two worldviews, this study recommends using the Law of Requisite Variety to investigate the influence of political regimes on e-government. In the same way, in our repertoire of responses, we should not assume that one discipline has the answer but have a variety of cross-disciplinary responses.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study lies in going beyond the statistical analyses of the UN EGDI to come up with possible interpretations of the reasons why political regimes differ in their e-government performance and what could be the reasons behind such variations. Based on analyzing correlations between e-participation performance and regime types, and interviews with experts, two different e-government perspectives could be identified: one for democracies and one for autocracies. Through identifying the relationship between these perspectives and the e-government performance of each regime type, this study provides governments and policy makers with new evidence that different regime types have different motivations for developing their e-government performance. Hence, e-government policies and strategies ought to match particular political contexts.

Role of Information and Communication Technology in Agricultural Development of India

The desired higher growth in the agricultural sector can be achieved only when there is proper application of information and communication technology (ICT) with adequate investments from both public and private sectors. There is a great scope to implement ICT in order to communicate and integrate the entire agri-food supply chain. The beneficiaries of ICT in agriculture are not only confined to farmers but also encompass food processing companies and suppliers within the agri-food sector. The tools of ICT applications have the potential to provide networking of agriculture sector within the country and globally. It is against this backdrop that the present study not only addresses issues relating to the applications of ICT for economic change in the agricultural sector of India but also identifies the past and present major ICT initiatives in agriculture, the factors responsible for the success of ICT services and the elements of an appropriate framework for assessing the impact of ICT on agricultural development. It is observed that the application of ICT solutions for the development of rural India have been opening a vast range of possibilities to a majority of the population living in rural settings to cross the digital divide. The e-governance strategy for the agriculture sector is capable of exhibiting strategic flexibility to simultaneously integrate the opposing forces. JEL Classification: D83, D85, Q13, Q16

Experiences of Applying Electronic School Management in A Number of Countries and the Possibility of Benefiting from Them

The aim of the research is to showcase the experiences of some countries in the application of school electronic management and the possibility of getting benefits from them at the local level. The researcher used the comparative approach by presenting the experiences of some Arab and foreign countries in applying and analyzing electronic studying of school management and how to get benefits from them. The researcher clarified the concept of electronic management, its importance, objectives and motives for its application in schools. The researcher reviewed the experiences of some foreign countries in the application of electronic school management, such as the experience of (the United States of America, Singapore, France) and conducted a comparative analysis between them, as well as the experience of some Arab countries in this field as the experience of (Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Egypt) and applied a comparative analysis between them. The researcher concluded the following: There is a need for scientific and realistic planning gradually according to the stages of the process of applying electronic school management, the existence of a clear comprehensive strategy that falls under the e-government strategy for the qualitative transition from traditional school management to electronic, the formation of positive trends for individuals and institutions towards technology, training administrative and educational cadres and the beneficiary groups of students and parents for the application of electronic school management, ensuring the involvement of the private sector and local community institutions to invest in the services provided, providing the basic requirements in the application (financial, human, administrative) considering the privacy of the country.

The impact of service quality, system quality on citizen’s satisfaction with mediating role of trust in E-Government

This paper aims to explore the relationships between e-government attributes in terms of quality of service, system quality and quality of information with user satisfaction in using e-government services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A quantitative approach for answering the research question was chosen. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 121 were returned with 40.3 percent response rate out of it 115 surveys were found usable with 38.3 percent response rate. Data was analysed using structural equation model (SEM). Study findings also provided evidence of the direct impact on user satisfaction of e-government attributes (Information quality, service quality, and system quality). The research will help policy-makers recognize e-government users and enact specific policies to address the e-government services needs of people. Moreover, findings of the study and the suggested model can be used as guidance for the development and implementation of e-government strategies for the UAE government.

Good Governance via E-Governance: Moving towards Digitalization for a Digital Economy

E-governance has become a well-celebrated trend in developed countries for the last three decades. It is considered an effective instrument to ensure good governance practices in any state. According to the digital state survey, the USA ranked highly in e-governance delivery, Europe ranked second, and Asia ranked third in e-governance among all other regional entities. However, this survey ranked countries on social measures such as e-democracy, e-commerce, e-revenue, e-taxation, etc. Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought a revolutionary change in the performance of governments all over the world. Governments are using ICT for multiple purposes, i.e., they use Government to Employee technology (G2E) to make their communication and correspondence efficient with their employees; they use Government to Government technology (G2G) to make their record-keeping procedures smooth and efficient; and they use Government to Business (G2B) and Business to Government (B2G) technology to create ease in doing business and attract local and foreign investors for economic development. Governments use government-to-citizen technology (G2C) to make service delivery more efficient, responsive, and end-user-friendly. However, for a long time, governments remained reactive to e-governance strategies, but this trend has changed. Now, they are proactive in adopting the e-governance model to ensure better social indicators and a corruption-free society. This study used the descriptive approach to describe the various initiatives undertaken by the current government to enhance the service delivery of the public sector. Therefore, this study has several implications for policymakers wishing to analyze the output of technological initiatives undertaken for good governance.

Challenges of E-Governance in Public Service Delivery in Ghana

The Government of Ghana has taken steps and initiatives to provide speedy and quality services to Ghanaians through e- governance, but the success of e-governance depends on the availability of legal frameworks and policies backed by proactive measures. The purpose of the study is to review and understand the e-governance strategies applied in Ghana’s public service delivery and the challenges associated with the implementation of these e-governance initiatives. Dwelling on secondary data, the study’s findings indicates that several polices and frameworks support e-governance initiatives in Ghana, but their implementations are burdened with social, cultural, political, and legal constraints.

Evaluating the Economic Impact of the E-Government Project, Analytical Study on the E-Government Initiative in Syria

This study aimed to introduce the importance of implementing the e-government project in general and in Syria in particular, in addition to clarifying the economic impact on the implementation of this strategic project, and thus clarifying the necessity of the financing and directing this project. Accordingly, the study used the most important recent periodic government reports issued by the government regarding the implementation of this project. This paper relied on an analytical approach whereby the economic impact of e-government was analyzed in general, and then the same effect was studied on the Syrian side, and the study took into account the analysis of the return on the basis of value. The study showed that e-government initiatives improve labor productivity in the public sector, provide meaningful services, save costs, and achieve growth in GDP. Where the study confirmed that the application of e-government has a positive impact on the Syrian economy by studying the return, whether on the government as an implementing agency or on the citizen as a beneficiary. Syria is currently going through a transitional phase and economic progress and is striving for success. This requires re-engineering the infrastructure and managing all official bodies that deal with beneficiaries through the application of e-government in most of its institutions, and based on the results of this study, future analytical studies must be conducted. About statistical analysis to know the impact of implementing the e-government project inside the institutions on the beneficiary citizens and on the performance of employees. Accordingly, this study provides a methodology for analyzing the financial and economic benefits of projects within the e-government strategy, it can be said: This paper helps shed light on the goals of e-government and spread public awareness as a result of implementing this project and show its economic impact. Also, this study may serve the researchers as input for future research.

Influence of Electronic Administration on Public Service Delivery among State Agencies in Kenya

E-Administration remains a key E-Government strategy that seeks to ensure the management of the government institutions and organizations if effectively done to enhance effectiveness and proper service delivery. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of E-Administration on the public service delivery among state agencies in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design to collect data from the target population comprising of 4230 employees within the management cadre at 132 specific government state agencies. Convenient sampling technique was used by the study to sample the respondents within the 132 specific government state agencies. A sampling formula was applied to calculate the sample size of 365 employees and self-developed questionnaires were used to collect data from the sample. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that E-Administration had a significant and positive influence on public service delivery by the state agencies in Kenya. The study further established that strategy execution had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between E-Administration and public service delivery by the state agencies in Kenya. The study recommended that the government through the state agencies should embrace E-Administration as a way of enhancing public service delivery. The management of state agencies should furthermore embrace strategy execution practices so as to enable success of E-Administration.

Evaluasi Tingkat Kematangan e-Government Pada Partisipasi Masyarakat dan Pelayanan Publik Menerapkan Framework Gartner

E-government as part of internet products has become a topic of discussion in internet and mass media discussions and is popular after being linked to the regional autonomy policy of districts / cities in Indonesia. However, there are still many government information systems that are developed and implemented that do not function optimally at both the regional and central government levels. Measuring the level of E-government maturity is needed to determine the extent to which the successful application of E-government is. The purpose of the E-government maturity assessment is to provide basic data, advanced data, and all that is necessary for the development of an E-government strategy. Gartner is one of the models used to measure the maturity level of e-government. Gartner's model suggests four critical phases of the evolution of e-government, namely: web presence, interaction, transactions, and transformation. The gartner model is used to measure the maturity level in Sukoharjo district. The research methodology used a questionnaire and the calculation used the average score for each dimension. To determine the relationship between dimensions and criteria, the PLS (Partial Least Square) method is used. Research has proven that the maturity level of E-government is 4.06 (predictable process). The dimensions of transformation and usability affect community participation using e-government in Sukoharjo district.

Public-sector Financial Management and E-government: The Role Played by Accounting Systems

ABSTRACT The paper investigates the relationship between two central features of public-sector financial management reforms: accounting innovations and e-government. It focuses on the quality and ease of access to information provided by different accounting systems and e-government strategies. Based on a sample of 33 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the findings underscore the need to adopt a holistic perspective that considers not only technological issues but also the quality and integrity of information, its international comparability, and the socioeconomic context. The results suggest that both technical and social factors should be considered in adopting e-government.

Current Trends in the Implementation of E-Governance Elements in the Field of Public Health under the Threat of a Global Pandemic

The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has led to the emergence of a number of useful electronic tools in the field of public healthcare. This aspect is relevant for study. Estonian experts are the first to rethink e-governance strategies in a pandemic. They offer to store public health data on remote corporate servers and to collect patient’s personal information using Blockchain technology. Modern technologies use drones, recordings of video cameras of street surveillance, connection to Wi-Fi networks to track citizens in quarantine conditions. One of the most effective tools for monitoring in the field of public health was electronic applications for smart phones. Electronic tools are relevant in the field of public health both at the regional level and in urbanized territories. Asian countries systematically implement such tools with the support and consent of the local population. And in Europe, governments are trying to protect the democratic freedoms of citizens and use the impersonal data of mobile operators to record mass gatherings of people on electronic maps. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has launched a mobile application ‘Diy Vdoma’ (‘Action at Home’) since the beginning of April 2020 to monitor the quarantine regime of observation and self-isolation. Consequently, the use of electronic tools in the field of public healthcare, especially during the global pandemic, gives state and regional authorities the opportunity to control the situation. However, the issue of the balance between the observance of public sanitary and epidemiological security and the preservation of democratic human rights and freedoms is remained. The practice of using e-governance tools is opens up an additional aspect for researchers to study There is an additional aspect to study, i.e. reliable and timely information about emergencies posted on government platforms on the Internet allows public and human rights organizations to control the activities of public authorities in crisis situations effectively and to prevent violations of individual rights and freedoms, to monitor the use of budget funds during a pandemic and to assess the quality of their functions by the state.

On obtaining a stable vote ranking methodology for implementing e-government strategies

Recently, a lot of studies have been conducted on what factors and strategies affect the successful implementation of e-government programs around the world. Most of these studies lack a clear plan for selecting strategies and setting their priorities for implementation and thus ensuring the success of such programs. In a previous study conducted by the same researchers, these strategies and their implementation priorities were defined based on the opinions of 20 government experts who were interviewed and asked to rank the strategies based on 23 factors resulting from the SWOT analysis that summarizes the context under study, specifically Jordan as an example of a developing country. However, there is a problem that still exists facing many of these countries, which is the divergence of opinions of government decision-makers in ranking their priorities for implementing various government strategies, including e-government programs, and thus affecting the quality of the strategic decision taken. Therefore, this study will address the problem by finding a new methodology that enables to obtain a stable ranking of strategies in order to make the best strategic decision to implement the e-government program in the context under study or other similar contexts in the region. This study assumes that we can obtain a stable ranking of strategies related to implementing e-government programs when we only use the SWOT factors that produce stable ranking votes. To validate this, three main experiments with a number of proposed scenarios were developed to aggregate expert rankings on the implementation of e-government strategies using some common vote ranking methods, namely, parametric methods such as Borda, Copeland and Maximin, and algorithmic methods such as Stuart and Robust Rank Aggregation (RRA). Then, to evaluate the results of the three experimental scenarios, two new measures were proposed, namely the Similarity Index measure and the Matching Index measure. The results confirmed the validity of the assumption regarding the importance of obtaining a stable vote ranking in selecting the best strategies to ensure success in implementing e-government program in the context under study or other similar contexts in the region.

E-Government clusters in the EU based on the Gaussian Mixture Models

The use of advanced ICT technologies and the support of new ways of thinking, acting and working in public administration, together with the increased provision of information and interactive services accessible through various channels, is the foundation of eGovernment. In recent years, there has been visible progress in all EU countries in terms of the general framework for e-government strategy, which is based on best practices and methodologies. The aim of our research is to discover the way in which the EU states are situated from the point of view of the digitalization of the administration. For this I used Gaussian models. The main research parameters were: accessibility; transparency, investments in information and communication technologies and investments in infrastructure related to public administrations in EU countries. The results show significant differences between state administrations. We applied Gaussian Mixture Model clustering in order to make an analysis of the national E-government situation in the European Union for 2018. The GMM algorithm estimated six clusters. We find that the first cluster, with Nordic countries, Netherlands and Austria, has the highest values of telecommunication infrastructure, citizens’ access to e-government services and Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. At the opposite pole, in cluster 2, Romania and Bulgaria have the lowest values of these three indicators, while their public investment levels are not significantly under EU averages. Our research provides not only an overview of the digitization of administrations, but also what are the main lags that state administrations have to recover in order to reach a digital system integrated into the EU's administrative space.

E-gobierno y cambio institucional: el impulso de la transversalidad en la administración pública.

El artículo plantea la conexión entre el impacto organizativo del gobierno electrónico y el concepto de transversalidad, enfatizando en su definición los componentes de integración, coordinación y comunicación interdepartamental, así como la idea de proponer unos objetivos compartidos que no son propios de ningún ámbito de la organización sino generales del conjunto. A continuación se discuten, en clave neoinstitucionalista, su concreción en el campo de la organización, los roles directivos y los estilos de relación. La cultura de la transversalidad se plantea como un referente para el impulso de estrategias de gobierno electrónico en las administraciones públicas.

Global e-government development: besides the relative wealth of countries, do policies matter?

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether, discounting the effect of the relative wealth of countries, it is possible to observe the relevance of policies for e-government development.Design/methodology/approachThe deviations of countries' results from what could be expected, considering their relative wealth is calculated by using the residuals of a linear regression using the Gross Domestic Product per capita as the independent variable and the UN E-Government Development Index as the dependent variable. The countries that achieve better and worse results than expected are then identified and their cases are analyzed by resorting to secondary sources, namely, published research referring to their cases. Those research documents were identified by successively searching the Scopus database, the Google Scholar database and the Web of Science.FindingsThe existence of formal e-government strategies and plans and the capacity to implement them can make a difference, allowing countries to achieve better results than expected or, in their absence, to perform worse than expected.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed methodology can be useful to e-government researchers, particularly as a basis for deeper and more detailed studies.Practical implicationsCountries should invest in well-developed and focused strategies and continuity of public policies and their capacity to deliver results. For that purpose, political commitment and high-level coordination are key factors. For low-income countries, long-lasting cooperation with external experienced partners is crucial. For high-income countries, innovative thinking is a key enabler.Originality/valueThis study uses an innovative method to look beyond the effect of the relative wealth of countries and investigate the relevance of public policies for e-government development.

Building e-Governance for Development: A Framework for National and Donor Action

As noted in a related paper, information and communication technologies have a valuable potential to help meet good governance goals in developing countries. Yet that potential remains largely untapped to date. Why? Because of poor human, organisational and technological infrastructure and because of the inappropriate approaches taken by donors, vendors and governments. This paper hopes to point the way forward by describing the contents of a National e-Governance Initiative (NeGI) for developing countries that would address the problems of the past and would grasp the opportunities provided for governance by the new connectivity. Over a short- to medium-term timeframe, an NeGI aims to help deliver the following outcomes: • Awareness and commitment to e-governance at a high level. • A set of key e-governance institutions that can strategically plan and facilitate e-governance projects. • New laws and regulations that enable e-governance. • A national e-Governance Strategy. • The operational capacities to implement e-governance pilot projects. • A set of e-governance pilot projects focused on 'networked government'. The paper places a particular emphasis on the potential contribution of donor agencies to such an Initiative. Principles, impacts, risks, priorities and other issues relating to e-governance initiatives are also described.

E-government strategy formulation in resource-constrained local government in South Africa

ABSTRACT Digital initiatives are known to support service delivery and citizen engagement, however effective implementation is limited in resource-constrained municipalities in South Africa. One prevalent reason is the lack of a well-articulated strategy to guide deployment, as well as knowledge on how to develop them contextually. This paper uses design science and Weick’s theorizing approach to develop a systems-oriented E-government strategy formulation framework at local government level, for a digital citizen engagement initiative called Project X. The strategy formulation process became fundamental in engaging stakeholders and mapping for the effective operation of the digital initiative.

TreC platform. An integrated and evolving care model for patients' empowerment and data repository.

Health care has been deeply revolutionized by the new wave of information and communication technology (ICT) development, particularly related to the electronic/personal health record (PHR). The present paper describes the original design and implementation approach followed in the Trentino Province (Italy) to promote an Integrated Care Model for patients' empowerment and data repository, by means of an evolving Personal Health Record - PHR platform, named TreC (Trentino Citizens Clinical Record). The TreC Platform is conceived as a communication hub among different stakeholders. The core assumption of the TreC platform strategy is to consider the citizen/patient as main manager and owner of both his/her own health and his/her contacts with the health care systems. Over the years, the TreC platform has represented the core pillar in the digitalization process promoted at Province level. This has been strategically embedded in the multi-faceted e-government strategy endorsed by the Province of Trento. So far (October 2018), more than 89,000 citizens within the Province of Trento are using TreC platform as a way to communicate with the health care system and access their own personal health records. The experience gained through the TreC platform implementation and its results are promising, supporting the idea that a PHR platform can represent a key driving factor in improving health care quality and efficiency, both from a patient and a health care staff perspective.

E-government Readiness Assessment for Government institutions in Burundi

Electronic government (E-government) refers to the use of Information and Communication Technology, and specifically the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government. Indeed, Information and Communication Technology have been introduced in the government sector in the past two (2) decades in an attempt to achieve greater operational efficiency and effectiveness and e-government development is one of the most important factors of public sector rationalization, as well as faster countries' development. Given the growing development of e-government strategies worldwide, the Government of Burundi has also recently taken several measures by introducing e-government services for ensuring easy access to government information and success. The paper has then assessed the e-government readiness of several Government institutions in Burundi. The paper has used a qualitative approach and a framework provided by the European Commission to assess the e-readiness of public institutions. Several interviews with key respondents and an extensive desk review were conducted to ensure an effective data collection process. Hence, the paper revealed that Burundi has one of the lowest e-readiness rate worldwide and comes in at the low end of most of the rankings. The major causes being the lack of political will and the development level of the country. E-government being a good governance reform, the Government of Burundi must ensure a proper political will and sound administrative activities to make the journey to an implementation of e-government more effective.

Plain cartography – web maps for visually impaired and elderly people

Abstract. Governmental services are being digitalized rapidly, and many European countries are currently implementing their eGovernance strategies. Although digitalization in general lowers the barriers between governance and citizens, there is also a significant risk that where a section of citizens is concerned, the barriers actually get higher. eGovernment services rely mostly on visual user interfaces, but globally approximately 1.3 billion people have some form of visual impairment. Furthermore, societies around the world will face the challenge of demographic transition, where most people are expected to live longer than 60 years and by 2080 almost 30% of the EU-28 population may be over the age of 65.In our study, we propose a complementary approach to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 for accessible spatial communication, where the content of web maps is optimized for people with abnormal eyesight and possibly degraded cognition. By defining plain cartography, we set the design principles for simplified digital maps (Figure 1) by taking how maps are seen into account and how they are understood by these special groups.We demonstrate the implementation of design principles in the Plain Map series produced by the National Land Survey of Finland and summarize the results of a usability test. Based on these results, the need of plain cartography for the visually impaired is high. In general, the feedback of the Plain Map series was very positive, and maps designed with increased clarity and high-contrast colors were seen much better than regular background maps. The implementation of the presented principles for generating plain map series is a small effort for National Mapping Authorities (NMAs), but it has an enormous impact through the improved accessibility of background maps in eGovernment services.