Expanding the Technology Acceptance Model to examine Personal Computing Technology utilization in government agencies in developing countries

This study assessed the use of “Personal Computer Technology” in public organizations of developing countries in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan [Qazi, R. (2006). Expanding the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): A Consideration of Personal Computer Technology Use in Public Organizations of a Developing Country of South Asia, Pakistan (Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University, 2006). Dissertation Abstracts]. The study expanded the “Technology Acceptance Model” by adding additional external factors such as ‘Organizational Culture’ and ‘Individual Factors’ (e.g. ‘Level of Education’ and ‘Duration of Training’), and belief factors such as ‘Perceived Personal Utility.’ Financial compensation to employees was used as a control variable because preliminary data analysis showed that it explicitly differentiated results of the study between those employees who felt they were adequately rewarded (financially) and those who were not. For example, when respondents replied ‘Compensation’ was ‘Yes,’ i.e. that at least some level of direct compensation was provided for PCT utilization then a statistically significant, positive relationship between ‘Level of Education’ and ‘PCT Use’ was found. However, when respondents replied that ‘Compensation’ was ‘No,’ a statistically significant, negative relationship between ‘Level of Education’ and ‘PCT Use’ exists. Additional results of this study are presented in this article.     

Do they want it? Do they use it? The ‘Demand-Side’ of e-Government in Australia and New Zealand

Drawing on 435 telephone interviews in Australia and 498 in New Zealand, this paper investigates the ‘demand’ side of e-government. That is, we examine the use of and support for e-government measures. Whilst respondents were generally supportive of e-government on a number of measures, we find that the majority were reluctant to use some of the more sophisticated ‘transactional’ e-government measures, and less than half had even visited a government website. High users of information and communications technologies (ICT) were more likely to use e-government measures, and are more positive towards e-government in general across several measures. Similar to a number of U.S. studies, we find a ‘digital divide,’ where older age, and less education were associated with lower ICT and e-government use and support. Income level was not a statistically significant predictor in all cases however, and gender was not significant for e-government support.     

Perceptions of transparency of government policymaking: A cross-national study

In the past two decades, governments from around the world have adopted access-to-information laws at a rate unlike any other time in history. This reform in government information policy parallels a global movement of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, which have pressed countries to advance the norm of transparency. Competition in the global economy has also provided a strong incentive for governments to show openness, as business leaders and donor nations contend that access-to-information is critical for efficient markets. Given the growing interaction between governments and transnational firms, and the global emphasis on access-to-information, this cross-national study examines the relationship between business executives' perceptions of transparency in government policymaking, and several indicators suggested in the literature as means to advance the flow of information about government. The study found countries that respondents ranked as ‘most transparent’ had significantly higher levels of access-to-information laws, telecommunication infrastructure, E-Government, free press, and higher income levels, than countries with low transparency levels. Our regression findings indicate that telecommunications infrastructure and free press influenced the perceptions of government transparency in a positive and significant way. The evidence indicates that democracy did not contribute toward the perceptions of transparency. The findings also suggest that nations aiming for openness by adopting access-to-information laws and engaging in E-Government may signal to businesses that their governments are aware of the international norm of transparency—though these conditions are not necessarily sufficient to advance the perceptions of government transparency.     

Publishing public performance results on the Internet: Do stakeholders use the Internet to hold Dutch public service organizations to account?

This paper analyzes the relation between publishing public performance results on the Internet, stakeholder accountability, and the effectiveness and legitimacy of Dutch public service organizations. The empirical research focuses on Web sites with performance results of schools and hospitals. These results are published on the Internet by ‘third parties’ (government organizations, associations of public service organizations, and newspapers). Publications of performance results stimulate schools and hospitals to score better on performance indicators because they feel the ‘public eyes’ on them. However, the risk of a ‘performance paradox’ and adverse effects is great since strategic behavior may lead to higher scores but not improve the effectiveness of these organizations. The research provides moderate support for negative effects on the legitimacy of schools and hospitals which may be attributed to the sole use of the Internet as a medium for access to information and negligence of its communicative potential.     

Freedom of information and ‘vexatious’ requests — The case of Scottish local government

This paper investigates the cost and incidence of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests within councils in Scotland and in particular, the cost and incidence of requests which have been defined as ‘vexatious’ in order to investigate if the negative perceptions surrounding the cost and misuse of the legislation are justified. Additionally, the criteria and guidelines that councils are using to define ‘vexatious’ are also examined. The approach taken to the research in this study is a survey of the 32 councils in Scotland using freedom of information requests as the data collection method.     

Flexible information infrastructures in Dutch E-Government collaboration arrangements: Experiences and policy implications

How can the flexibility of an information architecture in E-Government collaboration arrangements – defined as a set of multi-rational agreements – be achieved, if one acknowledges the fact that the use of ICT may automate the status quo between organizations which work together in a policy chain? Research shows that flexibility cannot be achieved by only looking at technological requirements and agreements. Other agreements should be considered which express multiple (political, legal and economic) design rationalities and values. Moreover, flexibility is also influenced by the structure and dynamics of the power and trustworthiness of the relationships between the organizations involved. This implies that E-Government policies should focus not only on the technical aspects of information exchange infrastructures, but on the politics of collaboration.     

When virtual reality meets realpolitik: Social media shaping the Arab government–citizen relationship

Since most activists participating in the recent uprisings in Arab countries have been using social media to an unprecedented extent, public analyst and researchers have rushed to reflect on and explain the phenomena, often attributing a ‘change agency’ to social media as such. This argumentative research collects evidence from literature, recent surveys and focus groups in order to contextualize our understanding of the role of social media and its usage in reshaping the Arab government–citizen relationship: Are the traits of social media significant enough to single them out and discuss their specific impact on the government–citizen relationship? Are we well advised to attribute an ‘agency’ of social media in shaping politics and inducing political change? And in view of the actual use of social media: What are the options of containing emerging ‘destructive’ phenomena and ‘improving’ the government–citizen relationship? Answers are outlined to support contextualized design of social media technology and regulation: (1) Arab citizens basically support democratic concepts; however (2) social media as such do not act and therefore do not ‘create’ e.g. democracy; rather (3) social media enable a new political sphere for Arab citizens, nevertheless challenged by realpolitik; and (4) social media need care taking in terms of shaping political communication and shaping the media itself in order to serve well as mediator among citizens and between citizens and government.     

Universal museums, museum objects and repatriation: The tangled stories of things

This paper discusses the contribution of the 2003 ‘Declaration on the Importance and Value of Universal Museums’ to the debate on repatriation. The ‘Universalist’ approach taken by the Declaration is first considered, noting the implications of its emphasis on art, the heritage of museums and objects, along with its focus on the sculpture of ancient Greece and the enlightenment origin of museums such as the British Museum. It is argued that it reveals an essentialist approach that derives from a particular Western perspective, rather than being truly ‘universal’, and then considers whether a similar problem underlies many of the arguments advocating repatriation. The second part of the paper explores the opportunities offered by an approach which emphasises the ‘biography of objects’. This demonstrates how the tangled histories of objects and their many meanings can be considered. Repatriation is shown to be able to result in an increase in knowledge and understanding, rather than its destruction, and so meets the declared aim of the Declaration to ‘foster knowledge by a continuous process of reinterpretation’.     

A conceptual model for the development of broadband and e-government

The paper discusses the interconnection of the adoption and diffusion of broadband (‘BB’), e-government (‘EG’) and e-commerce (‘EC’) services. It provides a structured literature review and proposes a conceptual framework for studying the interconnection of the development and adoption of BB, EG and EC. The interconnections of various concepts are shown along with several hypotheses that are thoroughly theoretically grounded. The role of different technology acceptance models is discussed, while the importance of including various aspects in policy preparation analyses is emphasized.     

Patently Obvious: The place for patents in information literacy in the sciences

Patents are an underutilized source of scientific information, particularly in the life and health sciences. Patents and patent applications usually contain the first disclosure of new technologies and processes and serve to link theory with practice, providing ‘real world’ examples of the application of scientific research. Increasingly, scientific discoveries are reported first in the patent literature, rather than in academic journals. To ensure that science students have the skills that match the information resources they will use as professionals, patent searching must become part of their information literacy instruction. This article will discuss how valuable the patent literature can be to students, and how to incorporate patent searching into library instruction. By way of illustration, a case study will document how students in one class, Biochemistry 561, were introduced to patents.     

GovQual: A quality driven methodology for E-Government project planning

We present a multidisciplinary methodology for E-Government project planning. The set of expertise needed for the design of E-Government systems includes social, juridical, economic, organizational, and technological perspectives. To properly address such a broad range of influences requires a unique vision. Our long-term aim is to use an integrated approach to examine a number of issues which currently present challenges in many E-Government projects. This paper in particular focuses on social and technological aspects of E-Government. The methodology has four phases: (1) state reconstruction, (2) quality assessment, (3) new quality targets definition, and (4) preliminary operational planning. A case study provides evidence of the feasibility and effectiveness of the methodology.     

Social media strategies: Understanding the differences between North American police departments

Within a short timeframe, social media have become to be widely used in government organizations. Social media gurus assume that the transformational capacities of social media result in similar communication strategies in different organizations. According to them, government is transforming into a user-generated state. This paper investigates this claim empirically by testing the claim of convergence in social media practices in three North-American police departments (Boston, Washington DC and Toronto). The research shows that the social media strategies are widely different: the Boston Police Department has developed a ‘push strategy’ while the Metropolitan Police Department in DC has developed a ‘push and pull strategy and the Toronto Police Service a ‘networking strategy’. The paper concludes that a combination of contextual and path-dependency factors accounts for differences in the emerging social media strategies of government organizations. Social media have a logic of their own but this logic only manifests itself if it lands on fertile soil in a government bureaucracy.     

试析政府电子文件的信息安全与归档管理

电子政务环境下产生的电子文件涉及个人隐私以及各级党委、政府和国防的核心政务,它关系到个人、党政部门、各系统乃至整个国家的利益,有的甚至涉及国家安全.因此,倘若电子政务环境电子文件信息安全因各种主客观因素而无法得到有效保障,不仅电子政务的便捷与高效无从保证,而且会对国家战略利益带来严重威胁.因此,本文对政府电子文件的信息安全与归档管理进行了研究,希望能为维护电子文件的安全与完整提出一定的参考.     

The study of the success indicators for pre-implementation activities of Iran's E-Government development projects

E-Government and E-Government development project studies have been conducted in most industrialized societies, as well as in Iran. Due to their nature and structure, E-Government development projects have numerous political, social, and economic impacts on society. Given the incorporation of significant capital, human resources, information, and political commitments, these projects are considered quite vital to society. Following the systematic pre-implementation activities of E-Government development projects is critical for the success of such projects; ignoring such issues leads to various problems during E-Government project implementation. This research aims to explore and detect the success indicators for pre-implementation activities of E-Government development projects, evaluate the validity of these indicators, and investigate the indicators' status in the Fuel Smart Card Project. The researcher has also provided some suggestions on the successful implementation of E-Government development projects.     

Assessing irreversibility of an E-Government project in Kenya: Implication for governance

This paper offers an exploratory analysis into the relationship between E-Government conceptualization and its intended impacts. By combining three independent research streams of technology transfer, information technology conceptualization and impacts, the expected national impacts of E-Government were theorized to influence how policy makers and implementers in developing countries conceptualize E-Government. The paper utilizes a qualitative research approach that is underpinned by critical realist assumptions. Actor–Network Theory was used as the meta-theory for the analysis. The findings point to a thinly-veiled control agenda by the Central Government bid to extend their control over local authorities through E-Government. The process of building an E-Government infrastructure is unfolding in an environment in which local actors' interests are weakly inscribed, while interests of the global actors are strongly inscribed. The overall implication is a trend in which the Central Government is enhancing bureaucratization through managerialization.     

Can the government really help? Online information for women experiencing violence

Domestic violence against women is a significant social and public health problem that requires a varied social service response for abused women and their children. Increasingly, this service response includes online sources and resources. Using content analysis methods, we examined the Canadian provincial E-Government response to providing information to women exposed to domestic violence. Our overarching question was “if an abused woman went to her province’s government website for information and help and used common search strategies, what would she find?”     

基于全社会层面的弱势群体知识援助体系建设

总结近年来弱势群体知识援助研究的理论,针对公共图书馆知识援助存在的局限性,结合文献信息单位分布的特点,探讨建立全社会层面弱势群体知识援助体系的必要性。初步构建适应现时代弱势群体知识援助的五种模式,即以公共图书馆为主体的知识援助模式,以“农家书屋”工程为主的新闻出版援助模式,以“文化共享工程”为主的文化、财政援助模式,以“三下乡”社会实践活动为主的高校知识援助模式,以志愿者服务和社会捐助为主的民间知识援助模式。提出知识援助体系正常运行的保障措施。     

Public memories and private tastes: The shifting definitions of museums and their visitors in the UK

There is no doubt that museums now operate in a distinctly different market to those of the past. Rottenberg [Rottenberg, B. (2002). Museums, information and the public sphere. Museum International, 54(4), 21-28] identifies the two major trends in museums in the latter years of the 20th century as being ‘the prevalence of a new market-orientated ideology that stressed the importance of revenue generation’ and ‘the introduction of new technologies that transfixed not only the museum profession, but also the world’. The main impact, which these and other changes have had is the revision of the museum into a setting for recreational experiences [Foley, M. and McPherson, G. (2000). Museums as leisure. International Journal of Heritage Studies 16(2), 161-174; Stephen, A. (2001). The contemporary museum and leisure: Recreation as a museum function. MuseumManagement and Curatorship 19(3), 297-308], rather than an educative one. This paper attempts to address some of these shifts in ideology and purpose.The main concern that museums face as they become more ‘recreation-focused’ is that they will lose what has long been believed to be their ‘integrity’, and thus stray from their original missions to preserve and educate, with critics suggesting that they may simply become arenas for pleasure rather than education.This paper concludes that in future, it seems inevitable that museums will become ‘hybrid places, combining recreation and learning, allowing visitors diversions from the intense stimuli of strolling through galleries and viewing multitudinous objects’ [Kotler, N. (2004). New ways of experiencing culture: the role of museums and marketing implications. Museum Management and Curatorship, 19(4), 417-425], with entertainment and education working together to fulfil the museum's mission. Museums need not be afraid of using entertainment, but should embrace it as a tool for learning, potentially attracting a wider and more diversified public.     

Why do people use information kiosks? A validation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

The importance of information kiosk development and implementation in the context of E-Government policies has been discussed in previous research. While many governments are today making considerable investments to implement information kiosks, previous research suggests that citizens may not use information kiosks in spite of their availability. However, the successful implementation of information kiosks depends significantly on whether or not citizens are willing to adopt the new information technology (IT). Therefore, based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study investigates the determinants of use behavior regarding information kiosks and the moderating effects of age and gender differences on the relationships between the determinants and behavioral intention/use behavior. Data collected from 244 respondents in Taiwan were tested against the research model using structural equation modeling techniques. The results partially support the applicability of the UTAUT in the context of information kiosks. The findings of this research provide several prominent implications for the research and practice of information kiosk development and implementation.     

Understanding the complexity of electronic government: Implications from the digital divide literature

Theoretically and practically E-Government and the digital divide are intertwined social phenomena. Using sophisticated information technologies (IT) in government has little social value if citizens are not able to use services or interact in political processes in meaningful ways. Similarly, understanding the development and use of IT in government without incorporating a demand perspective would potentially lead to partial explanations of a complex social reality. This article argues that studies about E-Government and the digital divide, which have been relatively disconnected research areas, have important parallels and potential intersections. These parallels may be useful in understanding E-Government projects and policies in a more comprehensive way and, consequently, for developing effective digital strategies. The paper reviews trajectories in E-Government and digital divide research and suggests potential implications drawn from the digital divide literature for E-Government research and practice, including model and theory development, understanding users, and some determinants of demand.