The use of information systems in the Greek public financial services: The case of TAXIS

One of the most important transactions between government and citizens is taxation. The modernization efforts of the public sector using information and communication technology (ΙCT) have led to the application of large information systems. TAXIS (TAX Information System) is a major information system in the Greek public financial sector. It supports the Inland Revenue Services' employees to serve the citizens and the state. This study investigated the TAXIS usage and its evaluation by the tax office employees. An appropriate questionnaire was developed and distributed to tax office employees in three branches. The analysis of one hundred responses revealed useful results for governmental policy makers, tax officials as well as public information system developers. Most responders were pleased with TAXIS' characteristics except of the handbooks' effectiveness and the system's speed. Gender differences were located in their daily usage, problems' awareness, feelings and considerations about the security of TAXIS.     

Building context-based knowledge of government social media communication through an ethnographic study of the US Coast Guard

Governments are increasing digital communication with citizens, yet little is known about how the public sector influences communicators’ daily social media activities. This ethnographic study uses interviews, documents, and participant observation to offer a rare emic view of the US Coast Guard (USCG) social media program. Breaking up the monolithic public sector communication context, influences on social media communication were nested within five contexts: organization, military, parent agency, federal government, and the US public sector. By observing how the contexts and related attributes influence personnel and the program, the study provides insights related to social media communication processes rather than merely content products. Findings extend theoretical and practical applications by identifying enablers and challenges to government social media communication within an applied context. USCG's culture and history of transparency and engagement drive the strategy, while resource constraints and a devaluing of social media within the decentralized organization constrain program effectiveness and real-time engagement.     

Building state information highways: lessons for public and private sector leaders

In America’s state houses small yet powerful collections of policy leaders, in the public and private sector, are guiding the initial conception and early implementation of advanced communication networks. This article investigates how the beliefs of leading actors collide to produce two distinctive state networks. Rather than focus exclusively on the simple dichotomous “yes” or “no” decision regarding the adoption or nonadoption of an advanced telecommunications system, like a statewide information highway, this article focuses on the critical role of debate imbedded within that decision. Analysis and presentation of interviews and extensive literature reviews of the development of information highways, in North Carolina and Iowa, provide the setting for the generation of hypotheses suggesting the future trajectory of technology policymaking. While praised for their bold, visionary leadership and innovative system designs, the accounts of network development in these two American states also provide a cautionary tale for other subnational governments and for private sector telecommunications firms interested in the business of building public sector information highways.     

Information-sharing in public organizations: A literature review of interpersonal, intra-organizational and inter-organizational success factors

Information sharing is considered an important approach to increasing organizational efficiency and performance. With advances in information and communication technology, sharing information across organizations has become more feasible. In the public sector, government agencies are also aware of the importance of information sharing for addressing policy issues such as anti-terrorism and public health. However, information sharing can be a complex task. Identifying factors that influence information sharing is critical. In the literature, research in information sharing focuses on the interpersonal, intra-organizational, and inter-organizational levels. This paper reviews the current information-sharing research, discusses the factors affecting information sharing at the three levels, and provides summative frameworks. These frameworks provide a means to discover future research opportunities, and a systematic way for practitioners to identify key factors involved in successful information sharing.     

Blockchain governance in the public sector: A conceptual framework for public management

A key challenge behind the adoption of blockchain in the public sector is understanding the dynamics of blockchain governance. Based on a systematic literature review, this article analyzes different approaches to blockchain governance across disciplines and develops a comprehensive conceptual framework for the study of blockchain governance decisions in the public sector. The framework clusters nine types of governance decisions (infrastructure architecture, application architecture, interoperability, decision-making mechanism, incentive mechanism, consensus mechanism, organization of governance, accountability of governance, and control of governance) into three levels of analysis (micro, meso, and macro-levels). Drawing on public management theories and concepts, the article elucidates the implications of various governance choices in each level of governance and provides a primer for researchers and policy practitioners on the design of blockchain-based systems in the public sector.     

Personalization in the public sector: An inventory of organizational and user obstacles towards personalization of electronic services in the public sector

The public sector more and more deploys personalized e-government services. Personalization offers great opportunities to make communication more effective and efficient, to infer and predict citizens' behavior and to even influence behavior. However, some drawbacks must be considered. Important organizational barriers hinder the implementation of personalized e-government services and important user obstacles, such as access, trust, control, and privacy, have to be overcome to make fruitful use of those personalized e-government services.     

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.     

Mapping the challenges of Artificial Intelligence in the public sector: Evidence from public healthcare

The nascent adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the public sector is being assessed in contradictory ways. But while there is increasing speculation about both its dangers and its benefits, there is very little empirical research to substantiate them. This study aims at mapping the challenges in the adoption of AI in the public sector as perceived by key stakeholders. Drawing on the theoretical lens of framing, we analyse a case of adoption of the AI system IBM Watson in public healthcare in China, to map how three groups of stakeholders (government policy-makers, hospital managers/doctors, and Information Technology (IT) firm managers) perceive the challenges of AI adoption in the public sector. Findings show that different stakeholders have diverse, and sometimes contradictory, framings of the challenges. We contribute to research by providing an empirical basis to claims of AI challenges in the public sector, and to practice by providing four sets of guidelines for the governance of AI adoption in the public sector.     

Collaborative accountability for sustainable public health: A Korean perspective on the effective use of ICT-based health risk communication

The sustainability of public health practices requires collaboration between the government and its citizens. On the government's side, social media can provide a conduit for communicating health risk information in an effective and timely fashion, while also engaging citizens in informed decision-making. On the citizen's side, information communication technology (ICT)-based practices cannot function unless citizens recognize and act on their responsibility to actively engage with government social media platforms. Despite an increasing interest in understanding the adoption of ICT practices and e-government services for health risk communication, there remains a crucial need for a comprehensive framework to explain which factors determine citizen use of digital government resources. The purpose of this study is to investigate how to increase government accountability for motivating citizens to engage in ICT-based health risk communication, thereby attaining sustainable public health practices through collaborative governance.By integrating trust and health risk information into the e-government adoption model (GAM), this research examines factors that influence citizens' likelihood of using government social media resources. Survey data from 700 Korean citizens were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that individuals with higher social media competency are more likely to (a) seek risk information through social media and (b) perceive the government's social media sites as easy to use. Consistent with the GAM, intentions to use the government's social media sites for information and interactions appear to increase as citizens perceive more value in using them regarding information quality, ease of use, functional benefit, and security. Furthermore, perceived trust in the government's social media resources appears to function as a mediator of this process. Initial trust in the government is an important determinant of perceptions of its digital resources. Citizens who trust the government tend to evaluate new initiatives positively and are more likely to accept and make use of them.The results of this study can inform policy design and implementation by elucidating the mechanisms that determine citizens' adoption and usage of digital government services. Theoretically, this work expands the GAM to include health risk communication and adds empirical evidence to the small yet growing body of knowledge of e-government initiatives. These findings also highlight the importance of public trust in the government, as this encourages citizens to seek health risk information and assistance from the government. Overall, the data and model generated in this investigation represent an important step toward the successful and sustainable modernization of public services.     

Goals,obstacles, and strategies in risk communication: A problem‐solving approach to improving communication about risks

Research in the field of risk communication, the study of communication about uncertain physical hazards, has chiefly focused on enhancing understanding of risk concepts or making the development of risk management policy more democratic. For risk communication to be effective, a third focus is also necessary: risk communicators need an understanding of communication as a problem solving process. To facilitate this understanding, this paper offers a framework for analyzing risk communication situations and developing messages to use in those situations. The paper discusses four goals frequently pursued by risk communicators: creating awareness about the existence of important phenomena, enhancing understanding of complicated ideas, developing agreement about policy options, and motivating action. Obstacles to these goals and strategies for achieving them are identified in a diverse set of literatures.     

Transformational change and business process reengineering (BPR): Lessons from the British and Dutch public sector

Facilitated by electronic government, public agencies are looking for transformational change by making a radical improvement. At first glance, this development is similar to the business process re-engineering (BPR) movement in the private sector. While policy makers and practitioners in the public sector have branded their recent improvements as BPR, the academic and research community have thus far eluded from making any comparisons. This has left a vacuum in terms of understanding the complexity of the challenges facing e-Government re-engineering and resultant change in public agencies. The aim of this paper is to translate the BPR movement findings to the field of e-Government induced change in the public sector. BPR characteristics and challenges are derived using normative literature and compared with two cases of public sector transformation in the UK and Netherlands. The results of these cases show that e-Government-induced change requires a plan for a radical improvement which, in contrast to BPR, is obtained by incremental steps and has a high level of participation. The findings offer policy makers valuable insights into the complexities and possible strategies that may need to be followed in order to succeed in e-Government implementation.     

The opinion of Belgian government communication professionals on public communication about policy intentions: Pros/cons and conditions

This article examines the opinion of Belgian government communication professionals regarding the controversial governmental communication about policy not yet adopted by the competent authority (i.e. the legislature) (CNAP). Based on a semi-structured, face-to-face survey among thirty-two Belgian Federal and Flemish spokesmen, we gain insight into the conditions which governmental CNAP is allowed according to these practitioners. We also gain insight into their general opinion on CNAP as well as into their arguments for and against this kind of government communication. The most important pro-CNAP belief is that it keeps citizens from being presented with a fait accompli. The most important argument against CNAP is that it creates false expectations among citizens.     

Communicating About Chronic Caregiving in the Workplace: Employees’ Disclosure Preferences,Intentions, and Behaviors

A growing number of Americans are living with chronic health conditions that require informal, ongoing care from family members who are also in the paid labor force. In this exploratory study, communication privacy management is used to make sense of chronic caregiving (N = 48–64) and noncaregiving (N = 174–178) employees’ disclosure preferences, intentions, and behaviors in the workplace. We find that workers in general anticipate that they would disclose to many individuals at work about their caregiving, but employees actually disclose much less information to far fewer people at work when they occupy the chronic caregiver role. For chronic caregivers, positive perceptions about coworker supportiveness predict increased disclosure behaviors. Finally, future research directions as employers, workers, and policy makers prepare for the complex challenges associated with negotiating paid work and unpaid chronic caregiving are provided.     

Public information problems in the implementation of public policy: The long road of the reflecting license plate in Belgium

During the last ten years in Belgium, government information policies have put public information provisions at the center of policymaking. However, the contemporary daily practice of public information provision tends to be seen as incidental to the policymaking process. The introduction of the reflecting license plate in Belgium is a prime example of a case in which little attention has been paid to the quality of public information during the ongoing policy process. First, we define the notion, quality of public information, as a necessary condition for the successful implementation of policy objectives. We then chronologically outline the main policy intentions and decisions, and we describe the factors hindering the smooth introduction of the license plate, focusing on those related to information provision. Finally, we examine whether the current public management reform in the Belgian Federal administration can improve the quality of information supplied during the ongoing policy process.     

Implications of the use of artificial intelligence in public governance: A systematic literature review and a research agenda

To lay the foundation for the special issue that this research article introduces, we present 1) a systematic review of existing literature on the implications of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in public governance and 2) develop a research agenda. First, an assessment based on 26 articles on this topic reveals much exploratory, conceptual, qualitative, and practice-driven research in studies reflecting the increasing complexities of using AI in government – and the resulting implications, opportunities, and risks thereof for public governance. Second, based on both the literature review and the analysis of articles included in this special issue, we propose a research agenda comprising eight process-related recommendations and seven content-related recommendations. Process-wise, future research on the implications of the use of AI for public governance should move towards more public sector-focused, empirical, multidisciplinary, and explanatory research while focusing more on specific forms of AI rather than AI in general. Content-wise, our research agenda calls for the development of solid, multidisciplinary, theoretical foundations for the use of AI for public governance, as well as investigations of effective implementation, engagement, and communication plans for government strategies on AI use in the public sector. Finally, the research agenda calls for research into managing the risks of AI use in the public sector, governance modes possible for AI use in the public sector, performance and impact measurement of AI use in government, and impact evaluation of scaling-up AI usage in the public sector.     

Hope communication as a predictor of documented and undocumented Latina/o high school students’ college intentions across an academic year

Drawing from hope theory, we examined whether hope communication predicted undocumented and documented U.S. Latina/o youth’s college intentions across an academic year. With three waves of survey data from 172 documented and 253 undocumented Latina/o high school students, auto-regressive cross-lagged analyses revealed that parent, teacher, and friend hope communication at the beginning of the year indirectly increased students’ college intentions by the end of the year. A trend emerged whereby undocumented students reported significantly less hope communication and weaker college intentions than documented students within most of the waves. Our findings suggest that hope communication has the potential to increase the educational, economic, and social mobility of Latina/o immigrant students by increasing their intentions to attend college.     

Information Seeking and Workplace Safety: A Field Application of the Risk Perception Attitude Framework

Communication theory is ideally suited to advance systematic forms of knowledge about workplace safety. The focus of this research is to examine workplace safety using health communication theory and research. A field study using a random sample of production workers (n=645) in a manufacturing organization was conducted, to investigate individuals’ risk perception and efficacy beliefs and to validate the predictions of the risk perception attitude framework. Results were consistent with the theory, as risk and efficacy jointly predicted safety behavior, behavioral intentions, and safety information-seeking intentions. Given a particular level of risk, those with greater efficacy beliefs displayed more positive safety outcomes than those with lower efficacy beliefs. The responsive group (high risk, high efficacy) reported safer outcomes than the avoidant group (high risk, low efficacy) and the proactive group (low risk, high efficacy) reported safer outcomes than the indifferent group (low risk, low efficacy). This theoretical frame provides practical directions as to what shapes the safety behaviors and communication patterns of workers in dangerous jobs and offers insights for safety information-seeking and workplace safety.     

The Relationship Between Family Communication Patterns and Child Vaccination Intentions

This study examined the role of family communication patterns in assessing the intentions of individuals to vaccinate their children. Using the theory of planned behavior, we constructed a path model whereby family communication patterns led to perceptions regarding vaccinations and finally to the intentions. The model showed excellent fit, with both communication and conformity orientations inversely related to vaccination beliefs. There were also significant inverse indirect effects between the two orientations and vaccination intentions. The family communication patterns interacted to predict both vaccination control and perceived norms outside the family. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Predictors of on-line services and e-participation: A cross-national comparison

Effective e-government creates an environment for citizens to have greater access to their government and, in theory, makes citizen-to-government contact more inclusive. Our research examines two distinct but related measures of e-government effectiveness, namely the online service index and the e-participation index, both reported in the 2010 e-government survey conducted by the United Nations. We analyze the impact of political structure, public sector performance and policy initiatives on both indices in more than 150 countries. Our multiple regression analysis shows that there is greater e-government capability in countries that have more effective public sector governance and administration, and policies that advance the development and diffusion of information and communication technologies. More democratic institutions and processes, however, appear to have a negative impact on e-government. In addition, countries that practice effective governance and promote competition in the telecommunications sector demonstrate more extensive provision of e-participation. These results suggest that the path to e-government leverages different strategies depending on a nation's political structure, and that authoritarian countries may be utilizing e-government to maintain the status quo.     

Communication research in Hong Kong: Problematics,discoveries and directions 1

This paper first analyses the communication research environment in Hong Kong in regard to its socio‐political context, the media industry and more direct factors such as research freedom, financial‐institutional support, incentives, size and quality of trained personnel While the overall environment is facilitative, the small size of the research community in Hong Kong is limiting the volume of research output and scope of specialization. In reviewing researches in the last decade, it is found that commercial researches are generally more concerned about opinion distribution and media consumption. Government policy researches‐centre around media evaluations, preferences, programme standards and other regulatory issues. Academics pay most attention to political communication, international communication and, less so, information technology. As to future research, the author argues for more frequent use of longitudinal and comparative methods, the search for an original theoretical contribution to communication, an urban research agenda in development communication, the study of dependent communication development, interaction between mass media and political formation, regional cultural integration, advertising, media management, information technology and policy. The establishment of a communication policy forum is also called for to promote exchanges among academics, policy‐makers, media practitioners and interest groups. The expansion of the research community in Hong Kong hinges on successful faculty recruitment, the establishment of a doctoral communication programme and the relief of some staffs teaching overload.