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2018 | Book

User Centric E-Government

Challenges and Opportunities

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About this book

This book provides user studies and theories related to user-centered technology design processes for e-government projects. The book mainly discusses inherent issues of technology design implications, user experiences, and guidelines for technology appropriation. Ethnographic studies focusing on real life examples will enable readers to understand the problems in an effective way. Furthermore, the theories and results will help researchers and practitioners to handle these challenges in an efficient way.

E-Government is about harnessing the information revolution to improve the efficiency of government processes and the lives of citizens. It aims at a citizen centered approach to governance through effective use of the Internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). E-Government promotes transparency and effectiveness of a government’s processes as well as citizens’ participation (e-participation) in the affairs of the government. Whereas E-government projects are huge undertakings for government departments, a user-centric approach requires citizens’ participation in the design and delivery of e government services. In both these respects, there are huge challenges and governments require long term commitment as well as correct planning and availability of financial resources to address them.

System design for e-governmental applications is inherently a complex process. In successful e-government projects, appropriately designed technology infrastructure plays a pivotal rule. The technology appropriation process requires that e-government technologies should be in line with the work practices of end users, so that successful usage of these technologies can be realized. E-governmental systems which fail to take into account such human factors result in failure and wasting huge amounts of public money as well as a loss of confidence of the public in such technological infrastructures. It is highly important that citizens are enabled to have access to the appropriate information technology, have knowledge and skills to use the available technology, and have the positive commitment to affect the governments’ strategies. So, enabling citizens to effectively participate is much more difficult. This book addresses these inherent challenges and available opportunities with respect to user-centric e-government.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Introduction

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. The Challenges in Implementing E-Democracy in the United States
Abstract
Early predictions for information communication technology foresaw a transformation of the way that civil society interacts with government, but the implementation of that technology has thus far failed to transform the democratic process. Technology has changed certain aspects of government administration, particularly for governments in technology-rich areas, but a full synthesis of public participation and technology has yet to occur. This chapter discusses the prerequisites for full implementation of e-democracy, which includes but is not limited to the internal government implementation of technology. Beyond effective implementation of technology, e-democracy also requires a virtually engaged civil society willing and able to utilize an electronic public sphere. Great care must be taken in the event of the rise of true e-democracy to prevent marginalization of those who lack the ability to connect for reasons of income, infrastructure, or privacy concerns. Technology has the potential to foster a more inclusive public sphere and a more inclusive democracy, but great care must be taken to ensure that unnecessary censorship does not occur, that the virtual public sphere is not abused by corporations, that e-democracy is accessible, that the privacy of participants is protected, and that participants in the virtual public sphere are acting in good faith.
Robert Cropf
Chapter 2. Exploring the Emergence of Open Spatial Data Infrastructures: Analysis of Recent Developments and Trends in Europe
Abstract
In the past 20 years, European public authorities have invested considerable resources in the development of spatial data infrastructures. With the European INSPIRE Directive as an important driver, national spatial data infrastructures were developed throughout Europe to facilitate and coordinate the exchange and sharing of geographic data. While the original focus of these spatial data infrastructure was mainly on data sharing among public authorities, it became more and more evident that these data could also be of great value to users outside the public sector. In recent years, several countries and public administrations started to make a shift towards the establishment of an ‘open’ spatial data infrastructure, in which also businesses, citizens and non-governmental actors were considered as key stakeholders of the infrastructure. This chapter provides an analysis of the measures and solutions implemented in four European countries (the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Finland) to make their spatial data infrastructures open to businesses, citizens and other stakeholders. The analysis shows that in these four countries the move towards more open spatial data infrastructures can mainly be seen in the increased availability of geographic data and spatially enabled services to citizens, businesses and other stakeholders.
Glenn Vancauwenberghe, Bastiaan van Loenen
Chapter 3. Improving Domestic Revenue Mobilisation in African Countries Using ICT: A Literature Review Analysis
Abstract
Many countries in Africa do not have adequate capacity to mobilize domestic fiscal resources for economic growth and development. This has led to an extremely low tax-to-GDP ratio in many African countries. Countries in the Sub-Sahara Africa region continue to fall below 7% growth rate. For economic development and growth to happen, a country should have an effective and efficient tax system to mobilize domestic fiscal resources to finance the provision of essential public goods and services. For domestic taxation is a panacea for development. Currently, there are extensive calls for reforms in the tax systems. One of the reforms that can greatly change the face of many tax bodies in Africa and has a great potential to improve domestic revenue collection is the integration of ICT into the tax systems. A number of African countries have started an array of initiatives to exploit ICT with a view of improving domestic tax revenues. Indeed, in this modern age, it is quite difficult to conceive of a tax administration system that can perform to its expectation without making considerable use of ICT. However, high expectations on the use of multi-million dollar ICT resources to improve the tax systems in Africa has either not materialized or has proven to be a much more time-consuming and costly than originally envisaged. There is a need to investigate the current use of ICT in Tax Administrations and the extent to which ICT addresses significant challenges in Tax Administration. The lessons outlined in this chapter may be important in informing governments in Africa on how to successfully improve Tax Administration using ICTs.
Emmanuel Eilu

Effectiveness of E-Government Infrastructures

Frontmatter
Chapter 4. A Method to Evaluate E-Government Service Quality Attributes
Abstract
Many government organizations attempted to leverage Internet-based technologies to improve public service through electronic means, termed as e-service. Besides the tangible services, government increasingly encounter and adopt intangible services to meet user needs. Government invests significant financial amounts alongside the non-financial resources to keep e-services up-to-date. E-government service assessment ensures the quality of their services, resource allocation priorities and potential service factors to identify what services may work together to engage users to the government policies. Although a limited studies have been done, researchers proposed several multicriteria decision methods to index e-service quality based on user survey profiles. This study presents a multicriteria decision model combining Analytic Hierarchy Process and entropy weight technique to demonstrate e-government service priority selection. The model synthesize a local and global index priorities among 18 different categories of e-services, classified into three quality dimensions. The presented analysis do not offer the complete roadmap of e-government evaluation. Further research needed to set priorities to specific e-services. The empirical result indicates that improving e-Efficiency is the top priority, followed by e-Support commitment and e-Reliability information in tracing e-government service and engagement.
Mohammad Anwar Rahman
Chapter 5. Trust in the System: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Usefulness of the E-Filing System
Abstract
This study examines the mediating effect of perceived usefulness on the relationship between trust in the system (correctness, response time, system support, availability and security) and continuance usage intention of e-filing system in Malaysia. Data was collected from two urban cities in Malaysia; Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. A total of 355 data was collected and analyzed using Partial Least Squared Method (PLS). The result showed that Perceived Usefulness has a mediating effect on the relationship between trust in the system variables (correctness, response time and security) with the continuance usage intention and trust in the system variables (correctness and response time) has significant positive relationship with continuance usage intention. Perceived usefulness was found to be the most important predictor of continuance usage intention meanwhile response time was found to be the most important predictor of perceived usefulness. However the variables of system support and availability does not have any significant impact on perceived usefulness and also on continuance usage intention.
T. Santhanamery, T. Ramayah
Chapter 6. Administrative Efficiency and Effectiveness with the Application of E-Government: A Study on Bangladesh Public Administration
Abstract
Administrative efficiency and effectiveness is the key to positive administrative changes. Notably, most government in developing world have lack in efficient and effective administrative mechanisms to meet the citizen demands. The governments have a promise to gain administrative efficiency and effectiveness with substantial administrative changes. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are considered as one of the most important tools behind these changes. ICTs can leverage the concept of online or e-government where citizen can be a part of government and actively participate to its functions to make the administration effective and efficient. However, the administrative systems in the developing world are more often reluctant in communicating with its customers and getting feedback from them for positive administrative changes. The application of e-government has failed to achieve its goals due to rigid administrative approach in these countries. Bangladesh is not an exception where government has introduced e-government with a bunch of positive visions without supportive administrative systems. This paper finds some loopholes and crucial reasons of failing to achieve the efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of Bangladesh.
Abir Hasan Khan
Chapter 7. Agile Collaborative Architecture for the Development of E-Government Services in Romania: Electronic Public Procurement Case Study
Abstract
When speaking about electronic government, Romania is giving a special attention to relations between government and organizations. The main reason is the fact that private organizations are the driving force of economic growth. On the other hand, are two principles of public procurement: more attention to transparency and efficient use of public funds. SEAP (Public Procurement Electronic System) as G2B eGovernment solution was gradually developed starting 2002, offering numerous benefits. Still, it does not solve all the problems and challenges of the procurement process. This chapter offers a general view of the current state of the public procurement in Romanian organizations, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of SEAP. Also, we present solutions for improvement of public procurement process, both from legislative and technological perspective. Special attention is given to a performant collaborative system that helps solve challenges of procurement, both on national and international level. Modern approaches like: Service Oriented Architecture, Business Intelligence, Business Rules, Business Process Management, Cloud Computing and others are used to create an agile architecture for development of G2B e-procurement services.
Marian Stoica, Marinela Mircea, Bogdan Ghilic-Micu
Chapter 8. User Centric Services Under the Web 2.0 Era. Coproduction, Execution and Efficiency of Public Services
Abstract
Public agencies are being pressured for innovation, driving service delivery towards a more personalized, outcome-driven, participative, efficient and collaborative model. This paper captures the perception of policymakers responsible of strategies for e-government in local governments about the influence of Web 2.0 technologies on: (a) the design and coproduction of public services; (b) the easy access to services and the problem solving in the execution of public services; and (c) the evaluation of public services and the improvement of efficiency and accountability. To answer these research questions, an e-survey was sent to policymakers responsible of strategies for e-government in large Spanish local governments. Findings indicate that Web 2.0 technologies are seen as simple adaptations of offline behaviour in public services, which fail to generate meaningful interaction with citizens. It responds to the “representation” strategy, which is focused on the “push” tactic in which no interactions are allowed and a means of “crowdsourced democracy” is produced.
Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar

User Centric E-Government

Frontmatter
Chapter 9. Towards User Centric E-Government
Abstract
Governmental organizations play an important role in any society to offer services to their citizens. Digital media has transformed the conventional government administration into e-government. However, the successful adoption to e-government systems by citizens is still a bigger challenge. User centered design approach focuses on involving citizens in the design of e-government systems. In this chapter, we re-emphasize the need for user centric e-government to motivate e-government researchers to use this approach in the design of e-government systems for better user acceptance.
Madeeha Saqib, Asiya Abdus Salam
Chapter 10. Enacting Digital Government Services for Noncitizens: The Case of Migration Services
Abstract
Historically, e-government approaches have focused on citizens as the most important audience for government information and services. This focus is appropriate for most traditional public services. However, a large number of service users are noncitizens, including, for example, people applying for immigration services. Theoretically and practically, there are interesting differences between government services targeted to citizens and migration services. Some of these differences are due largely to the rules and laws that apply in each case, but there are also differences related to the fact that the majority of users of migration services are not citizens and they are very diverse in many respects. For instance, in the case of noncitizens the audience and their needs can be as broad as their different nationalities and different contexts they reside in. This chapter identifies and explains some of these differences and also a few similarities. It considers the variables from Fountain’s technology enactment framework and includes some additional environmental conditions based on a previous extension of that initial model, applying them to the case of immigration services for border workers in the south of Mexico. Based on this analysis, this chapter suggests a preliminary reinterpretation of the technology enactment framework and highlights the differences between e-government services for citizens and for noncitizens, in order to propose a discussion about a group of users that has not been thoroughly analyzed in the literature, but which is important for scholars and practitioners to consider.
Luz Maria Garcia-Garcia, J. Ramon Gil-Garcia
Chapter 11. The ‘engage’ System: Using Real-Time Digital Technologies to Support Citizen-Centred Design in Government
Abstract
Much of the literature on citizen-centric e-government focuses on the evaluation and classification of systems, while relatively little research exists on methods to ensure that such systems are designed around unmet user needs. This chapter focuses on the use of a specific ICT-based tool for citizen-centred service design within Northern Ireland. The ‘engage’ system is a novel technology for user research developed by Ulster University and commissioned by a variety of public sector clients to support the development of new policies and services. The ‘engage’ platform is examined in the context of the wider trend towards user-centred design and digital transformation in government. The relative advantages and disadvantages of the system are analysed in light of alternative user research methods and tools currently in use in the public sector. Lessons from real-world trials over a period of approximately 5 years are discussed, and implications for the future adoption of user research technologies in the public sector are explored.
Brian Cleland, Jonathan Wallace, Michaela Black
Chapter 12. Play It to Plan It? The Impact of Game Elements on Usage of a Urban Planning App
Abstract
Public participation experts and scholars alike are experimenting with gamification in their quest to motivate citizens to participate in urban planning. This chapter investigates the impact specific game elements can have on citizens’ motivation in a mobile participation application. We present findings from a long-term field study with a gamified mobile participation prototype where we explored participants’ awareness, acceptance, and experiences of using gaming elements in the application. Our results indicate that the effects of gamified participation are limited as it seems to only be an effective strategy to increase participation for those who are affine to games. For others, the majority who is usually already intrinsically motivated, gamification has little to offer. Yet, when gaming elements offer added value to their engagement, our participants approved of these elements. This work contributes to both gamification as well as to the burgeoning field of mobile participation in urban planning by providing insights about the effect of specific game elements and recommendations for the use of gamification in urban planning applications.
Sarah-Kristin Thiel, Titiana Ertiö
Chapter 13. Usability Evaluation of the Mobile Application of Centralized Hospital Appointment System (CHAS)
Abstract
The aim of this study is to evaluate the usability of the mobile application of Centralized Hospital Appointment System (CHAS) developed by the Ministry of Health in 2012, as part of e-government efforts in Turkey. A study group was formed consisting of 16 people, 8 females and 8 males between the ages of 18 and 55, and selected for their CHAS experience. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used as part of a mixed research design. Qualitative data sources for the study consisted of observation notes taken while performing authentic tasks that were selected through field research, notes generated by the think-aloud method and meeting notes taken after the process. Quantitative data were collected with a performance evaluation form and questionnaire. Researchers analyzed the data using SPSS 21 program for the quantitative data, and using Microsoft Word and Excel for the qualitative data derived from the participant group. Descriptive analysis, nonparametric chi-square test (single sample with two variables) and Kruskal-Wallis H Tests were used for the quantitative analysis of the data. Moreover, a content analysis method was used for the qualitative analysis of the data. Results of the data analysis indicated that participants of both male and younger groups performed better than others, which was significantly distinctive and matched other literature related to the usability of technology in the many tasks performed by the application. In addition, participants who had experience of using touch-screen devices and were of higher educational status were found to be statistically significantly more successful than other participants. Findings derived from the study indicate that the general specifications and interface of the CHAS mobile application are beneficial and necessary for accessing the medical services. Conclusions also suggest that the application would be easier and more effective to use after the suggested revisions have been made.
Buket Taşkın, Hüsna İrem Coşkun, Hakan Tüzün
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
User Centric E-Government
Editors
Saqib Saeed
T. Ramayah
Dr. Zaigham Mahmood
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-59442-2
Print ISBN
978-3-319-59441-5
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59442-2

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