Benchmarking e-Government: A comparison of frameworks for computing e-Government index and ranking

Countries are often benchmarked and ranked according to economic, human, and technological development. Benchmarking and ranking tools, such as the United Nation's e-Government index (UNDPEPA, 2002), are used by decision makers when devising information and communication policies and allocating resources to implement those policies. Despite their widespread use, current benchmarking and ranking tools have limitations. For instance, they do not differentiate between static websites and highly integrated and interactive portals. In this paper, the strengths and limitations of six frameworks for computing e-Government indexes are assessed using both hypothetical data and data collected from 582 e-Government websites sponsored by 53 African countries. The frameworks compared include West's (2007a) foundational work and several variations designed to address its limitations. The alternative frameworks respond, in part, to the need for continuous assessment and reconsideration of generally recognized and regularly used frameworks.     

A public value perspective for ICT enabled public sector reforms: A theoretical reflection

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical discussion of information system adoption in the public sector (often referred to as e-government) and to contribute to the debate by offering a public value perspective. The paper points to the public value paradigm as an alternative approach to studying ICT-enabled public sector reforms. This paradigm, we argue, proposes an alternative way of framing the nature of the problems faced when ICT enabled public sector reforms are initiated and studied. The public value perspective proposes a new and richer context in which to study and research these phenomena. It also calls for the redefinition of the ways we assess e-government in the context of public sector reforms. It is therefore seen as vital to evaluate the socio-political impact of ICT adoption in the public sector.     

Conception, development and implementation of an e-Government maturity model in public agencies

Governments worldwide are encouraging public agencies to join e-Government initiatives in order to provide better services to their citizens and businesses; hence, methods of evaluating the readiness of individual public agencies to execute specific e-Government programs and directives are a key ingredient in the successful expansion of e-Government. To satisfy this need, a model called the eGovernment Maturity Model (eGov-MM) was developed, integrating the assessment of technological, organizational, operational, and human capital capabilities, under a multi-dimensional, holistic, and evolutionary approach. The model is strongly supported by international best practices, and provides tuning mechanisms to enable its alignment with nation-wide directives on e-Government. This article describes how the model was conceived, designed, developed, field tested by expert public officials from several government agencies, and finally applied to a selection of 30 public agencies in Chile, generating the first formal measurements, assessments, and rankings of their readiness for e-Government. The implementation of the model also provided several recommendations to policymakers at the national and agency levels.     

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.     

E-Government in developing countries: Experiences from sub-Saharan Africa

This article addresses the different institutional and cultural contexts which must be considered when implementing E-Government in sub-Saharan Africa. Although E-Government is a global phenomenon, simply transferring ICT solutions and related organizational concepts from developed to developing countries seems inappropriate. E-Government undoubtedly has the potential to reduce administrative and development problems. However, it is obvious that compared to developed countries, additional effort is necessary when implementing E-Government in developing countries. More than in developed countries, the different initial institutional, cultural, and wider administrative contexts must be considered to avoid unintended effects. It is oversimplifying the issue to merely state that E-Government projects fail in Africa and other developing regions. Although E-Government in African countries lags far behind developed countries, this should be considered more as a state failure or lack of capacity in general. In particular, the different administrative contexts and rationalities must be taken into an account when implementing E-Government projects and strategies. Therefore, especially for African countries, a context-oriented approach seems to be a more promising route to the successful implementation of E-Government. The results of this approach may not seem ambitious from a western perspective, but could contribute to the solution of real-life and development problems in African societies.     

Seeking electronic information from government resources: A comparative analysis of two communities' web searching of municipal government websites

This study examines queries submitted through two municipal government websites over a 3-year period to discover patterns in information seeking that current web log analysis literature have not discovered or addressed. The findings reveal: in spite of subtle differences strong similarities remain between two different communities' information needs from municipal government websites; demographic variables and close physical proximity do not appear to affect these similarities; there appears to be a belief that municipal government websites can deliver all types of information; and, using methods presented in this paper, municipal governments may better manage their online information resources.     

The e-Government evaluation challenge: A South African Batho Pele-aligned service quality approach

Over the past decade, governments have embarked on major Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investments in an attempt to take advantage of the benefits of the internet in extending the channels by which services are provided to their respective citizenries. With the increasing reliance on ICTs, one of the challenges facing public sector managers is how to evaluate the success or effectiveness of their ICT investments. Given the citizen-focused objectives of governments, service quality approaches offer a suitable frame for evaluating ICT effectiveness. This paper therefore extends current e-Service quality research into the e-Government domain. The paper reports on the development of a multi-item instrument for evaluating the e-Service quality constructs of an e-Government website in South Africa. The development of this instrument also takes into account the service delivery principles which have been adopted by the South African government viz. the Batho Pele program. The study shows that there are six service quality dimensions applicable in e-Government evaluation, viz. website design, navigation, communication, site aesthetics, information quality, and security. The generic instrument allows practitioners to modify and utilise it according to their needs.     

Axiomatics for the Hirsch index and the Egghe index

The Hirsch index and the Egghe index are both numbers that synthesize a researcher's output. The h-index associated with researcher r is the maximum number h such that r has h papers with at least h citations each. The g-index is the maximum number g of papers by r such that the average number of citations of the g papers is at least g. Both indices are characterized in terms of four axioms. One identifies outputs deserving index at most one. A second one establishes a strong monotonicity condition. A third one requires the index to satisfy a property of subadditivity. The last one consists of a monotonicity condition, for the h-index, and an aggregate monotonicity condition, for the g-index.     

基于主成分分析的特色数据库的评价

以郑州轻工业学院自建16个特色数据库为对象,基于主成分分析原理,采用SPSS软件分析这16个特色数据库评价指标的合理性和科学性。结果表明,评价指标的选择必须考虑指标间是否具有相关性,同时特色库建设的内容考虑的应该是数据库的覆盖的范围和数量、查准率、查全率、更新频率和使用频率、界面友好和方便程度。最重要的是数据库的建设必须以使用者为导向。     

Requirements engineering for e-Government services: A citizen-centric approach and case study

Throughout the last decade, user involvement in e-Government service design has been virtually non-existent. Over time, e-Government experts began to realize that these services would benefit from a citizen-centric requirements engineering approach which has led to a demand for such an approach for this particular field. This article presents a citizen-centric approach towards user requirements engineering for e-Government services. It utilizes interviews and citizen walkthroughs of low-fidelity prototypes. A case study of a social support portal illustrates the approach and shows the need for repeated citizen inquiry, as the implementation of user requirements in low-fidelity prototype design is not always accepted by prospective end-users.     

Trust and transformational government: A proposed framework for research

This paper examines the concepts of trust and transformational government, both of which have been the subject of increasing attention in recent times. It explores what trust and transformation mean, or could mean, for government, governance and public administration and whether transformational government is just a feel-good phrase or a genuinely new departure. As part of this, the question of what precisely is being, or could be, transformed is examined. The results of this examination suggest that the expectation that technology-enabled change has the ability to increase citizen trust, thereby transforming government may be too high, but that more research is needed. A framework for such research is proposed.     

The Contextual Benchmark Method: Benchmarking e-Government services

This paper offers a new method for benchmarking e-Government services. Government organizations no longer doubt the need to deliver their services on line. Instead, the question that is more relevant is how well the electronic services offered by a particular organization perform in comparison with those offered by others. Benchmarking is currently a popular means of answering that question. The benchmarking of e-Government services has reached a critical stage where, as we argue, simply measuring the number of electronic services is not enough and a more sophisticated approach is needed. This paper details the development of a Contextual Benchmark Method (CBM). The value of CBM is that it is both benchmark- and context-driven.     

A multilevel meta-analysis of studies reporting correlations between the h index and 37 different h index variants

This paper presents the first meta-analysis of studies that computed correlations between the h index and variants of the h index (such as the g index; in total 37 different variants) that have been proposed and discussed in the literature. A high correlation between the h index and its variants would indicate that the h index variants hardly provide added information to the h index. This meta-analysis included 135 correlation coefficients from 32 studies. The studies were based on a total sample size of N = 9005; on average, each study had a sample size of n = 257. The results of a three-level cross-classified mixed-effects meta-analysis show a high correlation between the h index and its variants: Depending on the model, the mean correlation coefficient varies between .8 and .9. This means that there is redundancy between most of the h index variants and the h index. There is a statistically significant study-to-study variation of the correlation coefficients in the information they yield. The lowest correlation coefficients with the h index are found for the h index variants MII and m index. Hence, these h index variants make a non-redundant contribution to the h index.     

Outsourcing,bureaucracy and public value: Reappraising the notion of the “contract state”

Large-scale outsourcing of information technology in the U.K. public sector – the NHS, the Inland Revenue, and the Department of Social Security over the years – raises a number of critical issues not just for how outsourcing can be conducted in public sector contexts but also about the efficacy of such arrangements in terms of enforcement of democratic values. We argue that marketization's target may well be bureaucracy, but the organizational form is a repository for democratic, civic, and public service values that can be eroded through how outsourcing has been conducted. The call for a reevaluation and the case for a distinctive public services management ethos are made if such values as equality, impartiality, communal good and public service are to be pursued and delivered. Selective outsourcing is revealed as effective – together with much needed rebuilding of internal capabilities – in keeping control of IT destiny, delivering on public service requirements, and managing external supply. The U.K. experience, we suggest, provides salutary learning for public services in other developed economies.     

A comparative study of e-government XBRL implementations: The potential of improving information transparency and efficiency

This study examines the e-government implementation of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to increase accountability and transparency in business and financial information. The business and financial information gathered in XBRL format is machine-readable and interoperable, thereby improving the ease of public dissemination and analysis. This study focuses on identifying and examining the determinants of successful XBRL implementation and draws from several bodies of literature: e-government, institutionalism, collaborative public management, regulatory compliance, and management information systems to identify determinants of successful implementation. This study selects four diverse implementations: the Netherlands, Australia, the United States, and Singapore. Empirical analysis follows a comparative case study method. The findings of this exploratory study underscore the importance of program goals and strategic alignment in achieving information transparency and efficiency, the advantage of strategies correlating to institutional setting, the critical need to provide incentives for adoption, and the usefulness of incremental implementation. The managerial and theoretical implications of these findings as well as future research opportunities are explored.     

Computerization and e-Government implementation in Jordan: Challenges, obstacles and successes

With the latest revolution of technology in information, communications, and media, the need for computerization has been identified in most countries. Many social and technical advantages and problems come along with it. As a result, the Information Society concept has been created. There exist certain principles for building such a society, but in Arab regions it has unique challenges and obstacles. Jordan, responding to a royal vision, has established the goal of becoming a leader in information and economic developments among other countries in the region. Several plans and initiatives have been developed for this purpose. One of these initiatives is the implementation of e-Government, which offers several benefits for both the government and society. e-Government has five building blocks to achieve the expected results and the process of implementation involves passing through certain stages. Jordan, as an Arab country, faces several obstacles in the area of implementation. A readiness study for Jordan has been accomplished and implementation and achievements have been made in Jordanian e-Government.     

Public e-services for agency efficiency and citizen benefit — Findings from a stakeholder centered analysis

The main goals of e-government are to increase agency efficiency and offer benefits to citizens. These goals have often been addressed as two interplaying outcomes of public e-service development, which are possible to achieve in parallel. This article shows that the two frequently applied stakeholders of e-government (agencies and citizens) are much too extensive and heterogeneous in order to be meaningfully addressed in public e-service conceptualization and development. We conduct a stakeholder centered analysis of a public e-service development and implementation process in order to identify stakeholder groups and discuss how they differ in their perceptions and, consequently, also in their feelings of relevance and need related to the e-service. By adopting a multi-faceted perspective on stakeholders, public e-service development can be analyzed and understood in a way that takes several stakeholder groups into account. Our study contributes with deeper insights about a situation where stakeholder salience changes over time, while some stakeholder groups have low salience during the entire process. The result of conducting a stakeholder centered analysis is that we, by visualizing the stakeholder groups' differences, are better prepared to meet and combine different needs related to a planned e-service. Thus, we argue that a stakeholder centered analysis of expectations and opinions concerning the e-service help to develop e-services possible to succeed in offering both external service and internal efficiency.     

政府网站建设水平调查和分析方法研究

本文以考查我国政府网站的建设现状为目标 ,构建了评价政府网站功能、服务和网站使用效果的指标体系 ,并基于此体系对政府网站的调查和分析方法进行了研究。本研究中采用分层抽样与随机抽样相结合的调查方法 ,抽取我国 870个中央和地方政府网站作为研究样本。随后 ,从样本的数字特征分析、分布特征分析、相关与回归分析以及聚类分析四个角度 ,对我国政府网站服务项目的建设水平、功能种类数的分布情况、3项指标同总体建设情况的相关程度和处在不同完善度层次上的政府网站的特点进行了深入研究 ,在定量研究政府网站的建设情况方面走出了探索性的一步     

Electronic services in the public sector: A conceptual framework

Electronic services provided by governmental organizations, here referred to as public e-services, are frequently discussed in the e-government literature. There is, however, little consensus on the meaning of the concepts used to describe and discuss these e-services, and hence, the literature is full of synonymous terms and concepts. This paper is conceptual and presents efforts to understand e-services in the public sector domain by unpacking the public e-service concept into three dimensions; as being (1) a service, (2) electronic, and (3) public (as contrasted to being private). Based on a hermeneutic analysis, these dimensions are discussed in a number of combinations, illustrating that a multi-dimensional take on public e-services must be adopted in order to capture the complexity of governmentally supplied e-services and contribute to theory development, as well as practical utility.