Challenges in the adoption of crisis crowdsourcing and social media in Canadian emergency management

When a disaster occurs, government agencies are responsible for managing the response and recovery efforts of the impacted communities and infrastructure. Crowdsourcing and social media are widely used in disaster response, yet their primary implementation and application are often via non-governmental agencies and private citizens. A review of the literature suggests that government emergency management agencies in Canada have made little documented progress in adopting crowdsourcing or social media for emergency management. Most of the literature around crowdsourcing and social media for emergency management focus on its use or role outside of Canada (e.g. the USA, Australia, etc.). In order for government agencies in Canada to progress, it is important to identify the Canada-specific barriers and constraints. This study offers a new perspective from Canadian government emergency management agencies to address this gap. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with 15 government officials from 14 agencies, this study identifies the primary challenges and constraints faced by Canadian agencies looking to adopt crisis crowdsourcing. Results indicate that organizational factors, policies, and federal legislation in Canada present barriers to crisis crowdsourcing (including crowdsourcing through social media) adoption within agencies at various levels of government. Based on these results, recommendations are made to support the adoption of crisis crowdsourcing amongst Canadian government agencies.     

The effect of crowdsourcing on organizational learning: Evidence from local governments

Modern local governments must learn in order to deal effectively with the growing pressures of a rapidly changing environment. Crowdsourcing has entered the stage of popularization and wide adoption as a part of local government. Based on organizational learning perspective, this study develops a multi-level model of learning from crowdsourcing and a joint relationship between crowdsourcing and organizational learning in local governments. This paper adopts a multi-method research approach: (1) the model was tested with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using a survey of 205 local governments units in Poland; (2) in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 top managers from 18 local governments units in Poland. The empirical results show that: (1) crowdsourcing has significantly positive affects on individual, group, organizational levels of learning, feed-forward, and feed-back flows; (2) type of crowdsourcing, such wisdom crowd, crowd creation, and crowd voting are linked with organizational learning. Moreover, one type of crowdsourcing, such crowdfunding is not related with organizational learning of local governments. These findings contribute to both academic research and practical implications, advancing our understandings of relationship between crowdsourcing and organizational learning in local governments.     

Understanding the e-government paradox: Learning from literature and practice on barriers to adoption

We have identified a paradox in the still low adoption of e-government after more than two decades of policy efforts and public investments for the deployment of online public services. Using as evidence the focus and evolution of this focus over the period 1994–2013 in a vast body of literature produced by academia, international organisations and practitioners, we show that: a) the deployment of e-government was for a long time concentrated on more technological and operational matters and that only more recently attention switched to broadly defined institutional and political issues (hypothesis 1a); and b) institutional and political barriers are one of the main factors explaining lack of e-government adoption (hypothesis 1b). A decision making process that is still unstructured, untrustworthy, and not fully leveraging the available evidence hinder the perception of public value and citizens' trust in government, which contribute to low level of e-government adoption. We conclude suggesting that a smart government producing public value is grounded in a triangle of good decision defined by politics, values, and evidence and that to achieve it public sector should go beyond the traditional concept of service innovation. It should rather introduce conceptual and systemic innovation pertaining to a new way of thinking and of interacting with stakeholders and citizens as sources of both legitimacy and evidence.     

The roles of privacy concerns and trust in voluntary use of governmental proximity tracing applications

A growing aspect of e-government is healthcare-related. Although preventative e-health services provided by governments like proximity tracing applications (PTAs) can bring important benefits, their adoption is lagging behind expectations. Researchers and policymakers need a better understanding of the factors that influence their adoption. The paper draws from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model and extends it by including privacy concerns as an explanatory factor regarding the intention to use PTAs. The study empirically evaluates the impact of privacy concerns together with two of its antecedents – trust in government and trust in technology – on the intention to use a PTA. Data from 762 adult respondents from Slovenia and Germany were collected and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The main findings are: (1) even in the unique context of a PTA the universal predictors of UTAUT have a significant impact; (2) privacy concerns have a direct impact on intention to use; and (3) trust in government and trust in technology both have a significant impact on privacy concerns. The theoretical implications are important for technology adoption research on e-health services provided by the government generally and PTAs in particular.     

Pennsylvania's transition to enterprise computing as a study in strategic alignment

We theorize about the strategic alignment of computing with organizational mission, using the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's efforts to pursue digital government initiatives as evidence. To do this we draw on a decade (1995–2004) of changes in Pennsylvania to characterize how a state government shifts from an organizational to an enterprise perspective regarding computing. We document and analyze the strategic and operational aspects of a series of information and communications technology (ICT) planning efforts to highlight the nature and roles of strategic alignment used to achieve this transition. Findings from this analysis mark the importance of combining several approaches to strategic planning regarding the adoption and application of ICT.     

档案部门数字化外包意愿分析——资源依赖与交易费用的视角

档案数字化是开发利用档案信息资源、创新档案服务的基础,外包则是数字化过程中非常普遍同时又颇有争议的方式。从资源依赖和交易费用的双重视角,分析档案数字化中外包的选择问题,即在什么条件下,档案部门会倾向于采用外包的方式开展数字化工作。从资源依赖视角分析人力资源、技术设备资源、场地资源的外部依赖性对数字化模式的影响;从交易费用视角则分析市场竞争、沟通协调、质量控制和安全保障四方面的影响。对广东省19家档案机构的问卷调查表明:档案部门在人力资源、技术设备上的外部依赖性,是采用外包的主要促进因素;外部场地资源的安全问题及数字化安全保障上的顾虑,则是限制外包意愿的主要因素。     

众包对图书馆的影响及其运用

众包理念和模式在图书馆领域的运用,将影响图书馆学理论架构,促进图书馆学理论创新;重新界定图书馆的组织边界,促进图书馆制度创新;打破图书馆专业化的门槛,促进图书馆技术和业务流程的创新。图书馆应充分借鉴众包的优势,鼓励大众进行知识交流与创新,加强图书馆文献资源建设的针对性,提高图书馆文献揭示与读者检索的一致性,推动图书馆资源和网络信息的开发与利用,促进图书馆知识交流。     

Statutory reform of the U.S. Government printing office A view from the GPO

Legislation has been introduced in the 104th Congress that would make sweeping changes to Title 44 of the U.S. Code, the authorizing laws for the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). An analysis of this legislation, which was originally provided to Congress in August 1995 during hearings before the Committee on House Oversight, shows that it would have a substantially negative impact on government printing and distribution, in terms of increasing costs and reducing public access to government information. GPO today faces three major challenges: cutting costs, expanding the dissemination of government information in electronic formats, and combatting the decentralization of federal printing and distribution activities, which increases costs and impairs public access to government information through GPO's Federal Depository Library Program. The question is whether a complete overhaul of Title 44 would be more likely to place at risk a system of cost-effective, comprehensive, and equitable public access to government information that currently serves the nation well. This article suggests that the alternative is to continue with the program of downsizing and technological innovation and to seek statutory changes that would be consistent with GPO's strategic direction and that would recognize GPO's role in the emergent information age.     

Open data innovation: Visualizations and process redesign as a way to bridge the transparency-accountability gap

Open government data has led to public policy innovation in pursuit of various expected benefits. One of the intended goals of open data innovation to improve transparency and accountability. However, our current understanding of open data innovation and its ability to generate transparency and accountability is limited, particularly with regard to empirical evidence. In this paper, we describe how a state agency redesigned its organizational processes around visualization tools and how such efforts helped bridge the transparency-accountability gap by enhancing the understandability and usability of open government data. We conclude that open data innovation does not stop with the adoption of an open data policy, but rather involves an ongoing cycle of improvements through which the organization responds to its various stakeholders' use of open data, thereby increasing usefulness of those datasets and, subsequently, improving overall accountability.     

Lean government and platform-based governance—Doing more with less

Governments from all over the world are looking for ways to reduce costs while at the same time to stimulate innovation. While pursuing both objectives, governments face a major challenge—to operate in a connected environment, engage stakeholders and solve societal problems by utilizing new methods, tools, practices and governance models. As result, fundamental changes are taking place on how government operates. Such changes are under the larger umbrella of ‘lean government’ (l-Government). Lean government is a new wave which is appearing as a response to traditional approaches—like electronic government (e-Government) and transformational government (t-Government), and aims at reducing the complexity of the public sector by simplifying and streamlining organizational structures and processes, at the same time at stimulating innovation by mobilizing stakeholders. In l-Government, public organizations introduce platforms facilitating innovation and interactions with other public organizations, business and citizens, and focus on their orchestration role. Experimentation, assessment and gradual improvement based on user requirements are key factors for realizing l-Government.     

Virtual healthcare in the new normal: Indian healthcare consumers adoption of electronic government telemedicine service

Digital healthcare is in the spotlight due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation. To get the deeper understanding of the healthcare consumers' adoption of e-government telemedicine service (EGTMS), the present research extends the unified model of e-government adoption (UMEGA) with perceived severity, self-efficacy, and political trust. The extended UMEGA model is empirically validated with 452 valid Indian healthcare consumers' responses. The findings reported that performance expectancy, perceived severity, effort expectancy, and perceived risk significantly influenced Indian healthcare consumers' attitudes towards EGTMS. Further political trust showed significant influence over social influence. However, social influence is observed as non-significant. Furthermore, attitude, political trust and facilitating conditions significantly influenced individuals' behavioral intentions towards EGTMS and observed significant influence of self-efficacy on effort expectancy. This is the first study that reveals the critical factors of Indian healthcare consumers' behavioral intention towards EGTMS. With the upsurge in e-government healthcare services, the outcomes of the study will benefit stakeholders such as governmental agencies, marketers, public administrators, and healthcare professionals as they provide suitable strategic recommendations to design and implement e-government telemedicine services.     

馆藏特色数字资源众包对图书馆核心能力及组织边界的影响研究

文章以企业能力与组织边界相关研究成果为指导,结合目前已成功实施的部分图书馆众包案例,对馆藏特色数字资源的规划、建设与服务过程展开分析研究。文章认为馆藏特色数字资源众包不仅利于增强图书馆建设数字特藏的能力,也有利于提升馆员专业能力、提高用户满意度、提升图书馆知识服务与创新能力,进而增强图书馆核心能力,不断扩大组织边界。最后文章提出图书馆需重新审视功能定位,确保核心能力与竞争优势,真正服务于知识经济和现代信息社会的建设。     

Alignment 2.0: Strategic use of new internet technologies in government

This paper challenges the view that strategies for using Web 2.0 should primarily be based upon technological characteristics. The value of the organizational strategic alignment approach for developing specific operational Web 2.0 strategies for government organizations is explored both theoretically and empirically. On the basis of a review of the literature we conclude that there are no a priori reasons why the idea of a fit between IT strategy and business strategic orientation cannot be applied to the development of operational Web 2.0 strategies for government organizations. The empirical exploration based on intervention research at the Dutch Department of Education results in the identification of five configurations: organizational transparency, organizational interactions, policy sector transparency, policy sector interactions and process and policy innovation. These configurations are logically consistent with the strategic orientations of the three directorates of the Department of Education. This overview does not pretend to be exhaustive but validates the idea that an alignment approach leads to differences in operational strategies. The configuration approach provides organizations with useful a starting point for developing their Web 2.0 strategies.     

Resistance and support to electronic government,building a model of innovation

In several countries forces that resist e-government innovations apparently override those that support them. A first step is taken in order to identify organizational processes of resistance and support to e-government innovations. A multi-disciplinary and non-linear innovation model is proposed that is inspired by the Minnesota Innovation Research Program's Innovation Pathway-model. The proposed model grasps the whole process of adoption and implementation of e-government services. Observable indicators of resistance and support on the complete innovation pathway of electronic government are derived from the proposed model. Future research will have to conceptually refine and empirically test both model and indicators.     

The effects of e-Government cloud assimilation on public value creation: An empirical study of China

Cloud computing applications have entered the stage of popularization and wide adoption as part of e-Government. Improving the implementation and assimilation of e-Government cloud applications (e-Gov cloud) to create public value has become an important issue. Based on theories of information technology (IT) assimilation, IT value, and organizational ambidexterity, this study develops a model of e-Gov cloud assimilation and explores the individual and joint effects of the depth and breadth dimensions of e-Gov cloud assimilation on public value. The model was tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using a survey of local government agencies in China. The empirical results show that the two dimensions of e-Gov cloud assimilation - depth and breadth - have significantly positive effects: (1) directly on operational public value and (2) indirectly on strategic public value through operational public value. Moreover, the complementary fit strategy of the depth and breadth of e-Gov cloud has a significantly positive effect on strategic public value, while the balanced fit strategy has no significant effect. These findings contribute to both academic research and practical implications, advancing our understandings of e-Government cloud assimilation on public value creation.     

To explore managerial issues and their implications on e-Government deployment in the public sector: Lessons from Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade

The objective of this article is to explore the experience of reconciling the strategic information system (IS) management with the radical transition of the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure in Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) between 1998 and 2003. This investigation will be beneficial for the implementation of IT projects, as well as the comprehension of the organizational and managerial issues related to the discontinuity of IT development in office automation. This paper conducts an interpretative approach by means of qualitative methods – namely through participatory observation and in-depth interviews with fourteen informants – to reveal the managerial issues and their implications on the adoption of electronic government (e-Government). Through the method of content analysis, this study reviews the process of decision making, implementation, and other issues emerging as a result of the adoption of new technologies in public authorities, such as the cognition of the employee toward the benefits and effectiveness of IS in public authorities.     

Political determinants in the strategic planning formulation of smart initiatives

Governments increasingly promote the adoption of smart initiatives based on the intensive use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to face urban challenges and improve the quality of life of citizens. Multiple styles of smart initiatives have been developed, depending on the government leadership, the level of participation, collaboration, and involvement of stakeholders and institutions in public decision-taking processes. In this respect, this paper identifies patterns of public strategies in their strategic planning approaches focused on political attributes, analysing 1635 smart initiatives disclosed on internet by 12 Spanish Smart Cities. Findings reveals that formal strategic planning is mainly performed in Smart Cities with conservative and coalition governments and where the predominant scope of strategy is global.     

Government Digital Transformation: Understanding the Role of Government Social Media

Government social media has been integrated as part of the government administrative tools to improve public service and promote public goals. However, the current government information literature is limited to understanding government social media adoption and its purpose for political marketing. The present study seeks to understand the role of government social media in promoting government digital initiatives (i.e., government-backed digital currency). The study validated the inter-relationships between government social media effort, privacy concerns, trust in technology, reachability, and citizens' participation in government-initiated digital innovations. A total of 505 responses from Chinese citizens were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire survey, and the data was submitted to a two-stage Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling-Artificial Neural Network analysis. The analytic results revealed that privacy concerns, trust in technology, and reachability positively influence digital participation. In addition, the information quality and perception of trust in government social media have significant positive influences on government social media engagement. The study provides strategic practical suggestions to government agencies in effectively utilizing social media as a communication platform to foster citizens' participation in government's digital initiatives.     

The TV News Scheduling Game: When the Face of the Newscaster Matters

From the late 1920s, all radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom was undertaken by a public sector broadcaster—the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Television was also the exclusive preserve of the BBC until the mid-1950s, when advertiser-supported commercial stations came into existence. This form of competition for audiences, but not for finance, between two broadcasting sectors—called by some a 'comfortable duopoly'—persisted until the late 1980s when the government permitted competitive entry by cable and satellite operators, introduced competition for advertising revenue between terrestrial stations, and placed commercial television broadcasting on a more competitive footing by introducing tendering for franchises. As these changes have occurred, the BBC has maintained its traditional system of regulation and has continued to operate under a Royal Charter. Although the expiry of the current Charter at the end of 1996 has provoked a debate about the role of the BBC, the government has stated its intention to renew the Charter for another 10 years. It seems likely that, until the year 2002 at least, the current system of regulating and financing public Service broadcasting in the United Kingdom will remain intact. However, the proliferation of channels represents a threat to the BBC's audience base. There may also be difficulties in combining within the same organization a public service mission and highly commercial activities, undertaken in a very competitive world market.     

Do public comments make a difference in open rulemaking? Insights from information management using machine learning and QCA analysis

Scholars still have a mixed picture of the impact of online public involvement in regulatory policy making, and a shortage of theoretical explanations. The novel theory put forward in this article is that substantive, technical and political factors combined can help explain the degree of success public involvement will have in shaping proposed rules. Using a study with 25 regulations from the United States Department of Education, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) measures the degree of content change between proposed rules and final rules. Substantive and political aspects in democratic legitimacy and pluralism approaches to participation, antecedents are theorized, and associations of the antecedents with the degree of content change are assessed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Findings show that the substantive public contributions do make a difference especially when media attention and input from professional organizations is present.