COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts.     

E-government developments on delivering public services among EU cities

Since the late 1990s, governments at all levels have launched electronic government projects aimed at providing electronic information and services to citizens and businesses. Although Web sites are becoming essential elements of modern public administration, little is known about their effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to study the quality and usage of public e-services to citizens in Europe.According to the results of this study, e-government seems to be following a more or less predictable development pattern ranging from a stage in which interaction is limited to what is shown on the screen to stages in which there is two-way communication and service and financial transactions can be completed with a satisfactory level of protection of personal privacy. At present, e-government in almost all the cities studied is merely an extension of the government, with potential benefits in speed and accessibility 24/7. Despite the limited degree of development observed, online access has advantages that are impossible to replicate offline. Even though few expect e-government to completely replace traditional methods of information, e-government is becoming a powerful tool of transformation that has become embedded in the culture and in the agenda of the public sector.     

User acceptance of mobile e-government services: An empirical study

The traditional focus of e-government services research has been on non-mobile services but now with the incorporation of mobile services more people are able to access these Mobile e-government services (m-government services). In addition, such services are critical for improving user-to-government communication effectiveness and maintaining relationships. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that determine user acceptance of these services. Based primarily on the theory of planned behavior and supplemented by the mobile communication perspective, a sample of 331 users of m-government services in Taiwan was tested. The findings show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust, interactivity, external influence, interpersonal influence, self efficacy, and facilitating conditions are critical factors. This study has given us a better understanding of critical mobile communication factors in improving user acceptance of m-government services. Implications and recommendations for research and practice are also presented and discussed.     

Transforming local e-government services: the use of application service providers

This study examines the potential of application service providers (ASPs) to transform electronic government (e-government) services at the local level. The ASP model helps local governments overcome barriers to offering next wave e-government services such as a shortage of skilled IT staff and limited financial resources. The realization of full potential, however, requires first the adoption of an ASP model. Five conditions that favor the decision to use an ASP are (1) strong top management support, (2) promise of large efficiency gains, (3) enough IT capability on the part of the government unit to identify key piece of technology, (4) less burdensome outsourcing rules and procedures, and (5) a variety of high quality and reliable ASPs from which to choose locally. To ensure the success of an ASP project, local governments need to build in-house IT capability to evaluate an ASP and to develop proper performance measures. Management should focus on serving citizens and businesses and develop the capability to negotiate as well as manage service-level contracts with ASPs. Continual top management support is necessary for dealing with possible initial resistance and ensuring interdepartmental communication and cooperation.     

A decision support system: Automated crime report analysis and classification for e-government

This paper investigates how text analysis and classification techniques can be used to enhance e-government, typically law enforcement agencies' efficiency and effectiveness by analyzing text reports automatically and provide timely supporting information to decision makers. With an increasing number of anonymous crime reports being filed and digitized, it is generally difficult for crime analysts to process and analyze crime reports efficiently. Complicating the problem is that the information has not been filtered or guided in a detective-led interview resulting in much irrelevant information. We are developing a decision support system (DSS), combining natural language processing (NLP) techniques, similarity measures, and machine learning, i.e., a Naïve Bayes' classifier, to support crime analysis and classify which crime reports discuss the same and different crime. We report on an algorithm essential to the DSS and its evaluations. Two studies with small and big datasets were conducted to compare the system with a human expert's performance. The first study includes 10 sets of crime reports discussing 2 to 5 crimes. The highest algorithm accuracy was found by using binary logistic regression (89%) while Naive Bayes' classifier was only slightly lower (87%). The expert achieved still better performance (96%) when given sufficient time. The second study includes two datasets with 40 and 60 crime reports discussing 16 different types of crimes for each dataset. The results show that our system achieved the highest classification accuracy (94.82%), while the crime analyst's classification accuracy (93.74%) is slightly lower.     

The perceived impacts of e-government on U.S. cities: A survey of Florida and Texas City managers

This study examines the perceived impacts of electronic government or e-government adoption on U.S. cities. This research conducted a survey of Texas and Florida city managers in the fall of 2005 to find out their opinions on the impact of e-government on their city government. The results indicated that e-government is having a positive impact on management, stakeholder involvement, needs and collaboration, and procurement in American cities. There are, however, concerns over spam or unsolicited e-mail and the ability of e-government to reduce the level of staffing. The results of this study imply that, according to city managers' perceptions, e-government adoption in American city governments is positively viewed as having an impact on their organizations and communities.     

User acceptance of SMS-based e-government services: Differences between adopters and non-adopters

Delivering public services through the SMS channel is popular in developed and developing countries, and it has demonstrated its benefits. However, citizens' acceptance of the services is still an issue. This paper presents a study on user acceptance of SMS-based e-government services. Constructs of the proposed model were derived from a survey on citizens' motivations for using SMS-based e-government services (142 respondents from 25 countries), prominent theories on individual acceptance of technologies, and current studies on user acceptance of SMS and e-government services. The model was validated using data from 589 citizens in three cities in Indonesia, who are non-adopters. The relationships between the factors then were compared with data from 80 adopters of SMS-based e-government services in Australia. The proposed model explains what factors influence non-adopters to accept SMS-based e-government services, and the comparison explains the relative importance of the factors for the adopters. The findings are promising for governments who wish to evaluate a new SMS-based e-government system very early in its development in order to assess potential acceptability and for governments who would like to diagnose the reasons why an existing SMS-based e-government service is not fully acceptable to citizens and to take corrective action to increase the acceptability of the service.     

E-Government evaluation of delivering public services to citizens among cities in the Yangtze River Delta

Delivering public services to citizens via the Internet is the basic goal of E-government. Although websites are becoming essential elements of public e-services in local public administration in China, little is known about their efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the actual status of Web-enabled public services to citizens in municipal e-government implementation in the Yangtze River Delta. Eight categories of public services to citizens delivered through the Internet have been identified in the websites of the 14 local municipal governments. These public services include birth, marriage, domicile register, education, social security, public utility, health and traffic. Using the methodology of service maturity, this study evaluates the quality and usage of public e-services to citizens in the Yangtze River Delta. The results of this study show that almost all city governments are shifting from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm to the e-government public service paradigm, albeit with significant differences in public e-services level in these cities. At present, e-government public services to citizens in almost all the cities studied are mostly limited to on-line presentations of government information with a low degree of development of interaction and on-line transaction. The municipal governments and policymakers in the near future will have to strengthen the interactivity of their websites with citizens and improve the on-line transaction level in order to deliver citizen-centric public e-services.     

E-Government evaluation of delivering public services to citizens among cities in the Yangtze River Delta

Delivering public services to citizens via the Internet is the basic goal of E-government. Although websites are becoming essential elements of public e-services in local public administration in China, little is known about their efficiency and effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the actual status of Web-enabled public services to citizens in municipal e-government implementation in the Yangtze River Delta. Eight categories of public services to citizens delivered through the Internet have been identified in the websites of the 14 local municipal governments. These public services include birth, marriage, domicile register, education, social security, public utility, health and traffic. Using the methodology of service maturity, this study evaluates the quality and usage of public e-services to citizens in the Yangtze River Delta. The results of this study show that almost all city governments are shifting from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm to the e-government public service paradigm, albeit with significant differences in public e-services level in these cities. At present, e-government public services to citizens in almost all the cities studied are mostly limited to on-line presentations of government information with a low degree of development of interaction and on-line transaction. The municipal governments and policymakers in the near future will have to strengthen the interactivity of their websites with citizens and improve the on-line transaction level in order to deliver citizen-centric public e-services.     

e-GovQual: A multiple-item scale for assessing e-government service quality

A critical element in the evolution of governmental services through the internet is the development of sites that better serve the citizens' needs. To deliver superior service quality, we must first understand how citizens perceive and evaluate online. Citizen assessment is built on defining quality, identifying underlying dimensions, and conceptualizing measurements of these e-government services. In this article an e-gov service quality model (e-GovQual) is conceptualized and then a multiple-item scale for measuring e-gov service quality of governmental sites where citizens seek either information or service, is developed, refined, validated confirmed and tested.     

关于电子政务绩效评估的初步研究

从国内外电子政务管理的发展来看,继各国各地各类电子政府系统初步建立并投入使用后,相关的电子政务绩效评估已在一定范围内进行,电子政府评价是现代政府绩效评估的一个组成部分。文章认为,在我国开展电子政务绩效评估在宏观理论和实践层面都具有积极的意义,但无论在理论还是在实践上都还很不成熟,有些基本的问题需要探讨。     

A structured analysis of e-government studies: Trends and opportunities

E-government involves the use of information and communications technology to facilitate government interaction with citizens, employees, businesses and other governments. E-government studies provide a platform to examine prior developments, and explore future opportunities in the field. This paper presents a theoretical model for the analysis of e-government studies and further uses a bibliometric analysis to examine constructs such as theoretical perspectives, methods, and units of analyses. We examine current trends in e-government research, and discuss emerging opportunities.     

Understanding gender inequality in central e-government: A Korean case study

In this study, we examine gender inequality in the use of the Korean central government website in 2010. Adapting the digital divide and the gender differentiation hypothesis, we analyze e-government users and the determinants of their demand for e-government websites. Specifically, after controlling for socio-economic factors and family characteristics as demand determinants, we test whether gender inequality in e-government access and usage persists across central government units that provide differentiated public services. Our regression results indicate (i) no persistent gender inequality, supporting the gender differentiation hypothesis, and (ii) the importance of family characteristics as a determinant of demands for e-government websites. However, we also find a persistent divide in access to and usage of central e-government services by education and occupation, which deserves more attention and further research.     

Opportunities and threats: A security assessment of state e-government websites

This study assessed the security of the U.S. state e-government sites to identify opportunities for and threats to the sites and their users. The study used a combination of three methods – web content analysis, information security auditing, and computer network security mapping – for data collection and analysis. The findings indicate that most state e-government sites posted privacy and security policy statements; however, only less than half stated clearly what security measures were in action. Second, the information security audit revealed that 98% of the sites secured users' accounts with SSL encryption for data transmission, and the sites' search tools enable public users to search for public information only. Third, although the sites had most of their internet ports filtered or behind firewalls, all of them had their main IP addresses detected and their port 80/tcp open. The study discussed the threats and opportunities and suggested possible solutions for improving e-government security.     

Fifteen years of e-government research in Ibero-America: A bibliometric analysis

In this article it is presented a bibliometric analysis of e-government research in the Ibero-American (IA) Community. Data from the Scopus® database relating to 1129 research documents published between 2003 and 2017 was used. Presented analyzes include the most productive and impacting researchers, institutions and countries; determinants for country results; most relevant subject areas and specific research themes; and international cooperation patterns, namely within the IA Community. Contrary to what happens worldwide, e-government research production is still rising in IA. Besides the general heterogeneity, there are four relatively homogenous groups of countries to what concerns production and impact: leading, evolving, emerging, and expectant countries. IA has distinctive characteristics that make it interesting as an object of study and that constitute an opportunity for further development. Nevertheless, for results to continue to evolve, it is relevant that public policies related to e-government development and the promotion of research continue to be developed and that cooperation among IA researchers is properly promoted and supported.     

A hierarchical model of e-government service capability: An empirical analysis

Enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of e-government services at affordable costs continues to be an interesting discussion. Given the lack of guidelines on the effective management of such services, we propose a hierarchical model of e-gov service capabilities and develop theoretical links. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate observed data from 102 cities in 26 provinces in Mainland China. Furthermore, we adopted path analysis to explore the potential relationships among the effects caused by the processes involved in delivering e-gov services. Our results may serve as practical contributions to the management and improvement of e-gov service capabilities.     

A technical services perspective of implementing an organizational review while simultaneously installing an integrated library system

In December 1992, Appalachian State University Library personnel embarked on a lengthy, wide-ranging assessment of the Library's organizational structure. In March 1994, after over a year of preparation, examination, and study, a steering committee presented a new organizational model to Library staff and faculty. In February 1994 a contract was signed to install a new integrated library system (INNOPAC). The latter half of 1994 was devoted to implementing the new organizational model while simultaneously installing the new automated system. This paper describes the unique challenges this situation presented to the organization from a technical services perspective.     

Diffusion of e-government: A literature review and directions for future directions

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research published on the topic of e-government diffusion. This paper provides a meta-analytic review of the literature on the diffusion of e-government. We analyzed the related literature in the leading journals and from international conferences in the field of information systems and public administration. Our analytical results reveal the main theoretical foundations, research methods, and research topics found in the relevant literature. The meta-analysis identified four main research topics: (1) the factors that influence the diffusion of e-government, (2) the diffusion of e-government systems and applications, (3) the impacts of e-government diffusion on government agencies and employees, and (4) the relationships between information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures and the diffusion of e-government. Researchers have developed eight related theories to discuss e-government diffusion and adopted four methods to explore it. We suggest directions that researchers should pursue to strengthen the diffusion of e-government and to draw out deeper issues.     

面向市民的电子政务公共服务评价:以长江三角洲为例

市民是电子政务服务的主要对象,如何为市民提供高效、优质、规范、透明和全方位的公共服务,是电子政务的本质和宗旨。本文选择了与民生有关的生育、婚姻、户籍、文化教育、社会保障、公用事业、医疗卫生、交通出行共8项指标,采用电子政务公共服务成熟度方法,对长江三角洲各主要城市面向市民的电子政务公共服务进行了评价。结果表明：目前长江三角洲城市电子政务已处于公共服务型阶段,但公共服务的广度和深度都有待拓展和提高。