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Communication Channel Choice between Enterprises and Government
Abstract
The aim of the current article is to identify the factors influencing the enterprises' choice of communication channels with government comparing e-government to traditional service delivery channels such as telephone, mail, fax or visiting a government office in the context of media richness theory. The article, through logistic regression of data from a survey of Estonian and German enterprises, assesses the preferred communication channels in terms of the nature of enterprises' interaction with government and other characteristics of enterprises, as well as their experience with using e-government services. The analysis indicates that the use of communication channels between enterprises and government differs between countries and depends on the size and location of enterprise, economic sector, enterprise growth trend and some other characteristics. The study showed that the quality and ease of use of e-government services have an impact on increasing use of electronic communication channels.
... Communication is an important government function. It is the means for improving the three principle elements of government (Melicher, 2007): Accountability -explaining government stewardship and providing mechanisms to hold governments accountable; Effectiveness -building broad support and legitimacy for programs; and Responsiveness -knowing citizens needs and responding to them. ...
... For this, a firm understanding of governmental policies is necessary. Meanwhile, for governments it is necessary to understand the key factors and basic rules of journalistic work (Melicher, 2007). ...
The study undertakes a systematic literature review of government-provided E-Services for businesses (Government to Business E-Services). The literature review process selects and analyses 331 publications. The research highlights the polydispersity of identified publications, resulting from the fragmentation of disciplines. The primary activities in this research field occur mainly in Europe and Asia. In addition, there is a steady engagement of researchers on G2B E-Services. The overall maturity level of governmental services identified in the literature review is quite satisfactory. The main research topics are E-Procurement, E-Customs, E-Taxes, Interoperability, Process Transformation, Cost and Pricing Issues, Barriers and Key Success Factors, and Assessment of Effectiveness. Case studies and surveys are the most popular research methods. In the future, a deeper analysis of the stakeholders' views, enhancement of planning, development and transformation of G2B E-Services, redesign of back-office processes, and interoperability between different systems should attract research interest. Finally, we expect further analysis of E-Customs and E-Invoices, as these services have significant added value.
Purpose
This paper aims to thoroughly review the research literature concerning e‐service in the public sector (2000‐2009) for the purpose of summarising and synthesising the arguments and ideas of the main contributors to the development of e‐service research and explore the different perspectives. In addition, the paper attempts to identify the key characteristics of e‐service; and to gather conceptual perspectives on the nature, scope, and transformation to e‐service.
Design/methodology/approach
A classification of the relevant publications that are concerned with the theory and application of e‐service is presented together with potential future research areas.
Findings
Most of the literature has focused on the underlying perspectives of approaches to e‐service. It clearly acknowledges that contextual issues and factors influence e‐service. However, there is still no standard definition of the concept and vagueness about what exactly e‐service is, creating confusion and comparability issues, and making it difficult for researchers to build on each others' work. In addition, the key underlying theme throughout the literature is that e‐service in the public sector necessitates closer working relationships between government stakeholders.
Originality/value
By reviewing the relevant publications, the paper develops a clear articulation of the concept, nature, boundaries, components, and elements of e‐service which is significant in order to understand the e‐service research better and manage e‐service in the public sector. With a rapid growth in the volume of research output on the topic of e‐service, the paper considers different viewpoints, theories, and methods in e‐service research to date to draw conclusions about current status and possible future directions for e‐service in the public sector.
Background. The question whether old media are driven out of existence by new media has been a long concern in academic and industrial research but has received no definitive answer. Aim.This paper goes beyond most previous studies of Internet impact on traditional media, which have placed their relationship within a competition-based framework, to specifically investigate the complementary effect of online news and information usage on traditional sources.
Method. Secondary data analysis of a national survey of 4270 Australians conducted in late 2003, employing hypothesis testing for the mean, partial correlations, and a linear regression analysis.
Results. Online news and information usage at different usage levels is positively associated with the use of traditional news and information sources, especially those that are more information-intensive. Those who relied on the Internet the most for news and information still used traditional sources substantially.
Conclusion. The findings suggest that even if a displacement effect takes place, there will be no replacement (absolute displacement): traditional media will still exist to complement the Internet in serving human beings' news and information needs.
Many governmental organizations are changing their service channel management strategies to multi-channel management. However, very few empirical studies exist that explore how these multi-channel strategies should be shaped. In this article we test a number of hypotheses on citizens' channel use behaviour and the determinants of this behaviour. Further, we take into account the differences between citizens with and without a personal computer. In our conclusions we call for multi-channel strategies that do not only incorporate the features of service channels and the front—back office integration, but also deal with personal characteristics and task characteristics. Further, digital divide issues still influence channel usage by citizens, so it is necessary to keep all channels open for citizens. Finally, our study reveals that multi-channelling is a very complex subject on which research is still in its infancy.
Points for practitioners
• Multi-channel management may benefit most from channel integration.
• Channels have different characteristics that render them suitable for different (parts of) services.
• Computer `have-nots' still rely on traditional service channels, so these should remain accessible.
Having realised the benefits resulting from delivering on-line public services in the context of electronic government, administrations strive to extend the spectrum of services offered to citizens and enterprises, as well as to engage multiple communication channels in service delivery, in order to increase the target audience and, consequently, the service effectiveness. Insofar, however, only the web channel has been sufficiently used for service delivery, whereas other channels have not been adequately exploited. One of the main reasons of this lag is the cost incurred for the development and maintenance of multiple versions of an electronic service, each version targeted to a different platform. In this paper, we present an approach and the associated tools for developing and maintaining electronic services that allows the automated production of different versions of the electronic service, each targeted to a specific platform.