Article

E-government for transparency, anti-corruption, and accountability: Challenges and opportunities for Central American countries

January 2012

Authors:

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

This chapter discusses the development of e-Government in Central American countries. The study presents an analysis of the role that e-Government has played during the last decade (2000-2010) in order to promote transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption measures. It starts with a definition of the principal concepts of the study and the e-Government development in the Region. It then reviews the laws and regulations and analyzes Web technology deployment in new agencies that have been legally established by Central American governments to advance transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption initiatives. In this context, the research aims to explore the question about whether information and communication technologies (specifically e-Government) facilitate transparency and accountability, and limit corruption in developing countries. The results provide support to this general statement and also suggest that public institutions themselves, and their non-digital procedures, still play a significant role in promoting more transparent practices. Finally, the text concludes with how to reinforce the policy of employing digital technology as an instrument for promoting good government in emerging economies.

Corruption as a source of e-Government projects failure in developing countries: A theoretical exposition

Article

Feb 2016
INT J INFORM MANAGE

Adel M. Aladwani

While the literature has touted e-Government as a tool for combating corruption, no study has discussed so far how corruption could influence e-Government project failure. This article tries to fill part of this void in past research by proposing a contextual framework that highlights the role corruption plays in stimulating the failure of e-Government projects in developing countries. Informed by prior relevant literature on general systems, organizational information processing, corruption, as well as e-Government, the proposed framework argues that the prevalence of corruption in developing economies could restrict moral and governance capabilities of administrative systems overseeing e-Governments in a way that could lead to the failure of these entities to produce initiatives that meet stakeholders' expectations. This theoretical study discusses this idea and underscores the value of the suggested framework for guiding scientific inquiries into this important topic and helping the public officials interested in planning, managing, and auditing e-Government initiatives.

The Factors Affecting on E-Government Adoption in Algeria: The Moderating Role of Trust

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2021

This paper explores the effect of e-government implementation on businesses in Algeria's e-business climate. It investigates whether technological factors and organizational factors would be advantageous or hinder Algerian firms’ e-government adoption. The role of trust also examines in moderating the interrelationship. Employing integrated Technology-OrganizationEnvironment (TOE) structure and Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory, this paper illustrates the implementation of e-government by Algerian companies. Enhanced comprehensions of e-government adoption are expected and further might help rectify the disparity and conflicting the literature findings.

Do Digital Payment Transactions Reduce Corruption? Evidence from Developing Countries

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2021

Extant studies have broadly attributed anti-corruption effects to digitization, although there is a paucity of studies on the role of digital payments in reducing corruption. With the increasing pervasiveness of digital payments and the widespread nature of corruption, particularly in developing countries, it is timely to explore the link between digital payments and corruption. Using a global panel dataset of digital payments and Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), the study explores the relationship between digital payment transactions and corruption in 111 developing countries from 2010-2018. Our results, based on a fixed-effects analysis, show that digital transactions reduce corruption. Results remain robust to the use of instrumental variable analysis to alleviate endogeneity concerns. Our finding has implications for curtailing corruption in developing countries.

Corruption as a Source of Government Project Failure in Developing Countries: Evidence From Ghana

Article

Jul 2018
Proj Manag J

This study explores how corruption impacts the failure of government projects in developing countries with evidence from the Ghanaian context. This study solicits the perceptions of project management practitioners (14), contractors (6), government officials (clients; 5), and the general public (5) on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption influences government project failure on all the failure criteria that were used for the evaluation. However, corruption influences failure at two different levels: project management and product phase. At the project management level, corruption has direct influence, while at the product phase level, the influence is indirect.

 Damoah, I; Akwei, C.A. and Amoako I.O., Botchie, D. (2018), Corruption as a source of government project failure in developing countries: Evidence from Ghana, Journal of Project Management, accepted and forthcoming.

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2018
Proj Manag J

Isaac oduro Amoako

This study explores how corruption impacts on the failure of government projects in developing countries with evidence from the Ghanaian context. This study solicits the perceptions of project management practitioners (14), contractors (6), government officials (clients) (5) and the general public (5) on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption influence government projects failure on all the failure criteria used as the evaluating tool. However, corruption influences failure at two different levels – project management and product phase. At the management level, corruption has direct influence whilst at the product phase level, the influence is indirect.

Framework for E-Government Systems Design and Implementation for Developing Countries

Book

Mar 2016

Catherine G. Mkude

Sustainable development is among the key issues in the current global conversations on socio-economic development agendas . Governments are required to ensure that their ongoing efforts to respond to the economic, social and environmental challenges are sustainable. However, governments are faced with complex, multi-faceted and interdependent challenges. Such challenges cannot be dealt with by a single government – let alone a single ministry. Thus not only, effective collaboration among agencies across the government and with the private sector are increasingly important, but also the delivery of essential services that meet citizens’ needs and the facilitation of citizen engagement in policy making and in public service provision. In recognising the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in addressing the challenges, a good deal of efforts in electronic government (e-government) implementation are put in place to increase the efficiency of the public sector, to stimulate economic growth and to promote social inclusion, particularly of the marginalised populations. Efforts are also put into the sharing of knowledge and innovative design solutions for e-government implementation among different countries. Despite the increasing efforts of governments in developing countries to leverage the added value of e-government implementation, they still lag behind governments in developed countries due to factors such as insufficient funds, insufficient ICT infrastructure and low ICT literacy of officials in the public sector. This has led to the different pace in which developed and developing countries invest in and implement innovative e-government solutions. This difference in pace has resulted in a gap in e-government implementation between developed and developing countries. Consequently, developing countries continue to rely on and use e-government expertise, design approaches and solutions from developed countries. However, this requires careful consideration of the different contexts of countries. The ways in which a country designs, implements, evaluates and sustains e-government initiatives is influenced by a number of factors that define its context, for example: democratic practices, economic status and availability of ICT infrastructure. The problem scope described above, particularly the gap in e-government implementation between developed and developing countries and the crucial need to consider the different contexts of countries, was the motivation for this doctoral thesis. To address the identified problems, the aims of this research are twofold: (1) to contribute in bridging the gap between developed and developing countries in e-government implementation and (2) to contribute in improving e-government implementation in developing countries. To achieve these aims, the objective of the research is to develop a framework for e-government systems design and implementation. The development of the framework is based on design science research including literature review and empirical investigation of e-government design and implementation approaches employed in developed and developing countries. As per requirement of design science research, the framework is evaluated in Tanzania to demonstrate its usefulness and applicability. The framework, empirical findings and the evaluation results are not only significant contributions to enlarging the spectrum of e-government research but also significant to e-government planners and implementers in developing and developed countries. The latter is ensured by the inherently generic and flexible nature of the framework in order to be applicable in different countries with much emphasis placed on understanding the context of a country.

Mitigation of Corruption by Implementing e-Government Using Soft Computing

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2022

Shareef Maulod Shareef

Electronic government (e-government) allows citizens to contact government authorities directly through computers, smartphones, and the Internet. In the return reducing face-to-face interaction with government employees decreases their permissive role and the potential for corruption, hence enabling the government to be more effective and trustworthy and provide transparency and accountability. However, e-government is not the only aspect of the larger battle against corruption; it is not the only way to reduce corruption. e-government is successful in the fight against trivial and administrative corruption. In spite of that, broad governmental actions, including both preventative and perhaps disciplinary anticorruption measures are required to combat corruption. This research aims to identify the factors that affect success in reducing the level of corruption in e-government, and then evaluate these factors by developing a model that determines the effective factors that impact the mitigation of corruption. We believe that a soft computing-fuzzy logic algorithm is an appropriate method for evaluating and determining the effective factors, and hence might lead to a feasible way to the success of e-government. The findings revealed that the model is adaptable and may be used in e-government performance applications for government authorities and experts.

The Contradictory Role of Corruption in Corporate Innovation Strategies

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

This study considers the influence of the work experience of Russian top managers on the willingness to stimulate innovative processes in companies, including using some corruption schemes to bypass bureaucratic barriers at a certain stage. Using a logit model based on enterprise surveys carried out by the World Bank, data on the managers of small and medium-sized businesses were analyzed. It was revealed that the presence of «corruption competencies» has a positive effect on the innovative activity of enterprises in developing countries. This effect is due to the fact that corruption in such countries acts as a mechanism to reduce the transaction costs associated with innovation. The level of corrupt activity of managers increases as they accumulate experience due to the high degree of bureaucratization and the weakness of institutions, which turn into time and financial costs for enterprises. In the short term, corruption can accelerate the development of innovation, but it cannot serve as a permanent tool in this regard, since its long-term consequences turn out to be extremely negative.

Working Paper 23: New perspectives in e-government and the prevention of corruption

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2017

Gemma Aiolfi

Does e-government have an impact in reducing corruption? Do e-government solutions sufficiently take private sector perspectives into account to maximise its potential for addressing corruption risks? This paper addresses these and additional questions about the dynamic between governments and the private sector with respect to harnessing e-governance tools for corruption prevention. It is written primarily from a private sector perspective and for private sector actors who are interested in a more comprehensive understanding of the scope and examples of e-government solutions to improve their anti-corruption policies, but concludes with numerous recommendations for the private sector and governments alike.

Electronic Government and Public Policy

Article

Sep 2013
GEST POLIT PUBLICA

This article discusses the implications of electronic government reforms on public policy and management, provides recent data about Latin America, and includes a brief introduction to each of the articles in this special issue. The document inquires into the importance of knowledge about electronic government for public administrations, considering the opportunities to improve government management and public policies. With this purpose, this article describes the level of development of electronic government in Latin American countries, as well as the main strategies implemented by several governments of the region during the last few years. In addition, it examines the contribution of each of the papers included in this special issue to the recent developments in electronic government. Then, the article outlines future areas of interest in the field of electronic government, which are expected to be part of government agendas, as well as research efforts about e-government within the next decade. This is achieved through a presentation of current dynamics andfuture trends of this phenomenon, particularly in the context of Latin American countries. The article concludes emphasizing the importance of connectivity and networks in order to generate innovation in public administrations of the present and future.

Examining Digital Technology Constraints on Higher Education in Developing Countries Through the Lens of the Capability Approach

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Jun 2018

This paper uses the capability approach to examine constraints that potentially hinder students to tap into the full potential of digital technologies in the context of higher education in a developing country. We start with an overview of Sen's capability approach and related conversion factors, and discuss how digital technologies influence students' capability development. Then, we provide results gained from analyzing qualitative data collected among developing country students. The eight key constraints that emerged from the analysis (dependence on technology, procrastination, teacher's habit, lack of institutional policies, limited internet access, lack of university infrastructure, inaccurate information, and mass of information) are described and further classified. This research provides a renewed digital technology constraint notion and exemplary evidence highlighting the connotation of these constraints for students pursuing higher education in the context of a developing country.

E-government and accountability: How to mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships

Article

Jun 2018

Purpose Electronic government (e-government) is perceived as an effective tool to enhance accountability in public organizations. However, e-government implementation to enhance accountability is still unclear and involves many complex processes because of the multiple accountabilities disorder. The e-government elements that contribute to mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are still underdeveloped in the current literature. This paper aims to provide understanding on how e-government enhances public organizations’ accountability by highlighting the key elements of e-government that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a qualitative case study approach by using the case of Jordan Customs. Data were collected using a triangulation approach that involved semi-structured interviews, document reviews and observation. Findings The findings revealed that the e-government elements that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are classified into three contexts, namely, technological, environmental and organizational aspects. The technological elements include systems integration, single window and electronic connectivity. The environmental elements embrace public participation and partnership council. The organizational elements comprise having well-defined strategic plan and risk management approach. Research limitations/implications This study contributes and gives further insight into how to address the confusion, fuzziness and dysfunctions in accountability relationships existing in the literature by providing several success elements that mitigate the problematic of disorder between accountability relationships in public organizations. The paper highlights the need to investigate further elements, particularly, in the organizational context, to assist public organizations in improving their performance to enhance accountability in their operations. Practical implications This study provides guidelines for future e-government implementation strategy in public organizations, particularly, in the context of developing countries, as most of the recent studies of e-government in developing countries indicated that they are suffering from difficulty of managing e-government implementation to promote accountability successfully and are struggling with a lack of resources and experiences to handle this new trend of technology. Originality/value This study is of a significant value, as it is one of the preliminary studies that empirically extend the accountability dimensions suggested by Koppell (2005) with the key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability proposed by Heeks (1998b) and other current literature. This paper enriches the body of literature by providing some new key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability in public organizations. It also contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of knowledge by adding further interpretation on how these elements reduce the existing confusions and dysfunctions in accountability relationships.

Gobierno electrónico, gestión y políticas públicas: Estado actual y tendencias futuras en América Latina

Article

Jan 2013
GEST POLIT PUBLICA

This article discusses the implications of electronic government reforms on public policy and management, provides recent data about Latin America, and includes a brief introduction to each of the articles in this special issue. The document inquires into the importance of knowledge about electronic government for public administrations, considering the opportunities to improve government management and public policies. With this purpose, this article describes the level of development of electronic government in Latin American countries, as well as the main strategies implemented by several governments of the region during the last few years. in addition, it examines the contribution of each of the papers included in this special issue to the recent developments in electronic government. Then, the article outlines future areas of interest in the field of electronic government, which are expected to be part of government agendas, as well as research efforts about e-government within the next decade. This is achieved through a presentation of current dynamics and future trends of this phenomenon, particularly in the context of Latin American countries. The article concludes emphasizing the importance of connectivity and networks in order to generate innovation in public administrations of the present and future.

Electronic Government, Management and Public Policies: Current Status and Future Trends in Latin America

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2013
GEST POLIT PUBLICA

This article discusses the implications of electronic government reforms on public policy and management, provides recent data about Latin America, and includes a brief introduction to each of the articles in this special issue. The document inquires into the importance of knowledge about electronic government for public administrations, considering the opportunities to improve government management and public policies. With this purpose, this article describes the level of development of electronic government in Latin American countries, as well as the main strategies implemented by several governments of the region during the last few years. In addition, it examines the contribution of each of the papers included in this special issue to the recent developments in electronic government. Then, the article outlines future areas of interest in the field of electronic government, which are expected to be part of government agendas, as well as research efforts about e-government within the next decade. This is achieved through a presentation of current dynamics and future trends of this phenomenon, particularly in the context of Latin American countries. The article concludes emphasizing the importance of connectivity and networks in order to generate innovation in public administrations of the present and future.

Electronic government and public policy current status and future trends in Latin America

Article

Jan 2013
GEST POLIT PUBLICA

This article discusses the implications of electronic government reforms on public policy and management, provides recent data about Latin America, and includes a brief introduction to each of the articles in this special issue. The document inquires into the importance of knowledge about electronic government for public administrations, considering the opportunities to improve government management and public policies. With this purpose, this article describes the level of development of electronic government in Latin American countries, as well as the main strategies implemented by several governments of the region during the last few years. In addition, it examines the contribution of each of the papers included in this special issue to the recent developments in electronic government. Then, the article outlines future areas of interest in the field of electronic government, which are expected to be part of government agendas, as well as research efforts about e-government within the next decade. This is achieved through a presentation of current dynamics and future trends of this phenomenon, particularly in the context of Latin American countries. The article concludes emphasizing the importance of connectivity and networks in order to generate innovation in public administrations of the present and future.

E-Government as a Tool in Controlling Corruption

Article

May 2022

Combating corruption is crucial to achieve sustainable development. With the digital revolution, the use of Information and Communications Technology by the government can promote more efficient services, diminishing the discretionary power of officials, and thus reducing corruption and promoting sustainable development. This study empirically investigates the impact of e-Government in reducing corruption on a large panel data of 175 countries, from 2003 to 2019, by estimating regression models. The results suggest that e-Government, accountability, political stability, economic wealth, and internet are significant determinants of corruption. E-Government can be a significant tool to curb corruption, although e-Government Development Index needs to exceed a threshold of 0.39 to reduce corruption. Although e-Government is a recent phenomenon, it can be regarded as an important tool for combating corruption and improving governance, enhancing transparency in public administration, since it reduces discretional power and increases the chance of exposure, eliminating some opportunities for corruption.

ONLINE ACCOUNTABILITY NO SECTOR PÚBLICO: ESTADO DA ARTE

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

RESUMO: Os websites institucionais podem ter um papel primordial na promoção da accountability das entidades públicas, já que a internet tornou mais fácil a divulgação de informação, a interação bidirecional com os stakeholders e a responsabilização de gestores públicos, de políticos e das próprias instituições. Tanto quanto é do nosso conhecimento, ainda não foi exposto o estado da arte sobre a accountability no sector público num ambiente online. Este trabalho tem como objetivo suprir esta lacuna e proporcionar uma revisão abrangente do que já foi realizado neste campo de investigação, bem como prover uma agenda para pesquisas futuras. A metodologia utilizada foi a análise documental e bibliométrica dos papers que abordaram esta temática. Embora não consensual, muita da literatura deixa antever que o potencial da internet na promoção da accountability ainda não foi plenamente atingido. Quanto a perspetivas futuras, existem várias pistas que podem ser seguidas, incluindo a aposta num maior suporte teórico das pesquisas, a diversificação das instituições ou áreas geográficas analisadas, a averiguação do papel da web-based accountability nas democracias iliberais ou a identificação dos determinantes e dos fatores explicativos para os níveis de online accountability das instituições públicas. ABSTRACT: Institutional websites can play a major role in promoting accountability for public entities, since the internet has made it easier to disseminate information, bidirectional interaction with stakeholders and hold public managers, politicians and the institutions themselves accountable. As far as we know, the state of the art on accountability in the public sector in an online environment has not yet been exposed. This work aims to fill this gap and provide a comprehensive review of what has already been done in this field of research, as well as providing an agenda for future research. The methodology used was the documental and bibliometric analysis of the papers that addressed this theme. Although not consensual, much of the literature suggests that the potential of the internet in promoting accountability has not yet been fully achieved. As for future perspectives, there are several clues that can be followed, including betting on greater theoretical support for research, the diversification of the institutions or geographic areas analyzed, the investigation of the role of web-based accountability in illiberal democracies or the identification of determinants and the explanatory factors for the levels of online accountability of public institutions.

Determining the Accessibility of e-Government Websites in Sub-Saharan Africa Against WCAG 2.0 Standard

Chapter

Jan 2021

The purpose of this study was to determine the conformance levels of government websites in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and examine which macro factors influenced the accessibility these websites. The findings indicated that the majority of government websites in SSA still had a long way to go to become accessible based on the WCAG 2.0 standards. None of the 217 government websites examined adhered to all the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. Cross country analysis showed that there are three macro factors influencing e-government accessibility in SSA, namely Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and percentage of the active population (15-64 years). Countries with high HDI levels and low CPI levels tend to have websites with fewer accessibility errors, while those for countries with high percentage of the active population have more accessibility errors.

Controlling petty corruption in public administrations of developing countries through digitalization: An opportunity theory informed study of Ghana customs

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2021

Atta Addo

Despite myriad anti-corruption interventions, including digitalization-based efforts, petty corruption in public administrations of developing countries persists, undermining socioeconomic development. Extant research that links corruption to social and economic conditions has yielded inconclusive findings on whether digitalization can reduce corruption. Informed by opportunity theory from the field of criminology, which suggests that opportunities – rather than motives or systemic factors – beget crimes, we explore an alternative approach in this study: how digitalization could reduce the opportunities for petty corruption. We draw on a case study of the 30-year digitalization effort at Ghana’s customs administration based on fieldwork, including 91 in-depth interviews with current and former customs officials, importers, clearing agents, banks, regulators, and other stakeholders. Our findings suggest that information technology (IT) enables corruption control over time by reducing corruption opportunities through sociotechnical reconfiguration of work practices and organizational arrangements.

Assessing the Impact of Corruption in the Management of Educational Infrastructural Projects in Ghana

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Aug 2017

This study assesses how corruption impacts on the management of educational infrastructural projects in Ghana. Corruption is a constant concern for countries facing economic problems. Increasingly, researchers have devoted research to the discussion of the phenomenon; however, these discussions have focused mainly on the relationship between corruption and variables such as; economic development, social effects, innovation, firm management quality, gross domestic product (GDP), returns on investment, increase in government budget, political discontent, instability and violence, rule-violating intentions, democracy, and inequality. Despite the extensive research devoted to the subject, there is limited research on the potential impact of corruption on the management of educational infrastructural projects in developing countries. We, therefore, contribute to both academia and practice by assessing the potential impact of corruption on these projects using multiple project management success/failure criteria as the assessment tool. Using an in-depth semi-structured interview, we solicit the views of thirty (30) project management practitioners in Ghana on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption impact negatively on the management of Ghanaian educationalinfrastructural projects on all the performance criteria used as the evaluating tool. The findings indicate that corruption influence government projects failure on all the failure criteria used as the evaluating tool. However, most of the corrupt practices that impact negatively on these projects are traced to partisanship politics, political culture, national culture and institutional system in the country.

Examining the anti-corruption effect of e-government and the moderating effect of national culture: A cross-country study

Article

Feb 2018
GOV INFORM Q

Taewoo Nam

This study addresses whether e-government influences the level of corruption control in a cross-country view. To that end, it examines the influence of e-government service maturity on corruption control considering international-level political, economic, and cultural differences. The path analysis on the relationships among various global indicators reveals that e-government service maturity contributes to controlling corruption, and national culture moderates the anti-corruption effect of e-government. Cross-country disparities in political, economic, and cultural conditions influence the variation in the impact of e-government on corruption control. While convincing evidence that affluent democracies can control corruption more effectively than other countries is presented, an examination of cultural moderation finds that national cultures characterized as having unequal power distribution and uncertainty avoidance have a decreased anti-corruption effect of e-government.

Determining the Accessibility of e-Government Websites in Sub-Saharan Africa Against WCAG 2.0 Standard

Article

Jan 2017

The purpose of this study was to determine the conformance levels of government websites in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and examine which macro factors influenced the accessibility these websites. The findings indicated that the majority of government websites in SSA still had a long way to go to become accessible based on the WCAG 2.0 standards. None of the 217 government websites examined adhered to all the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. Cross country analysis showed that there are three macro factors influencing e-government accessibility in SSA, namely Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and percentage of the active population (15-64 years). Countries with high HDI levels and low CPI levels tend to have websites with fewer accessibility errors, while those for countries with high percentage of the active population have more accessibility errors.

Botswana's e-Government Programme: The Case for a Multi-Stakeholder e-Trust Model

Article

Jan 2014

Although Botswana has realised the importance of e-Government, its acceptance by citizens, the private sector, Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) is essential. The acceptance will be an indication whether these three stakeholders have trust on e-Government. Trust, which is seen as critical to the acceptance of e-Government, normally centres on citizen trust and overlooks other key stakeholders in the e-Government process. Using Botswana as a case study, this chapter proposes a multi-stakeholder e-Government trust model which focuses on citizen trust and trust perspectives from the government, private sector, CBOs and CSOs. The multi-stakeholder trust model stimulates governments to be mindful of trust and how it permeates the acceptance of e-Government.

Construyendo la Administración Electronica Local

Book

Full-text available

Dec 2004

J. Ignacio Criado

Uno de los factores que más decisivamente ha contribuido a los cambios en el seno de las Administraciones Públicas en los últimos años es la adopción de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC). Durante las décadas de 1970 y 1980 las aplicaciones tecnológicas en el sector público se justificaban atendiendo a su capacidad para incrementar la productividad de los proyectos basada en una reducción de los efectivos humanos y en un aumento del trabajo realizado. Hoy, con la generalización de nuevas tecnologías de comunicación, con Internet y la World Wide Web (WWW), los fines perseguidos por las Administraciones Públicas se orientan hacia el ciudadano y la mejora de la calidad de los servicios públicos. A pesar de la importancia creciente de las TIC para las Administraciones Públicas existen escasos estudios que den cuenta de las transformaciones en curso. Los investigaciones que se desarrollaron en la década de 1980 y 1990 trataron de aprehender la realidad de las tecnologías, pero asumiendo el escaso bajage conceptual de su incorporación en las organizaciones públicas, esto es, sin considerar cambios profundos más allá de los ahorros de costes, el reforzamiento de las estructuras de poder existentes y las mejoras en la gestión interna. Por otra parte, los politólogos y sociólogos han escrito muchas páginas acerca de las posibilidades de reforma o innovación de la democracia mediante las oportunidades asociadas a Internet, pero los estudios desde la perspectiva de la Administración Pública no han ofrecido todavía una visión clara acerca de las aportaciones de Internet para la gestión del sector público. Todo ello subraya la importancia de esta investigación de carácter empírico dentro del marco de la Ciencia de la Administración en España. Este libro parte de la realidad compleja en la que interactúan sociedad y tecnología, ya que el objetivo consiste en arrojar luz sobre algunos de los efectos de las TIC e Internet en el seno de las Administraciones Públicas. En concreto, nos hemos centrado en conocer algunos resultados dentro de las Administraciones locales y para ello hemos analizado los Ayuntamientos de la Comunidad de Madrid (CAM). Se han atendido determinadas variables de análisis que consideramos centrales y que nos han permitido realizar unas generalizaciones limitadas por la ausencia de investigaciones empíricas en nuestro país sobre este fenómeno. El cambio conceptual asociado a Internet ha revitalizado el interés sobre el uso e impacto de las TIC en las Administraciones Públicas, dando nombre a lo que se ha venido a llamar como e-Administración. Teniendo en cuenta ese amplio interés, esta publicación se dirige a una pluralidad de destinatarios. Junto con la rigurosidad académica debida al perfil del equipo de investigacion, también se ha planteado una aproximación a la realidad de la gestión diaria de las Administraciones locales. Este libro tiene, por tanto, un interés potencial para directivos y políticos, empleados de base y especialistas en TIC de las Administraciones locales, así como para investigadores y público en general. Todos tienen entre sus manos un instrumento que invita a la reflexión, orienta la investigación futura, proporciona herramientas útiles para mejorar lo existente y facilitar el cambio o, simplemente, detalla una serie de conclusiones de interés para todo ciudadano. Los datos de esta investigación se fundamentan en un riguroso trabajo de campo dividido en dos partes fundamentales. Por un lado, un cuestionario sobre recursos y usos TIC en los Ayuntamientos de la CAM. Este cuestionario fue remitido a todos los Ayuntamientos de la CAM con el objetivo de obtener una muestra representativa del conjunto. En ese sentido, los cuestionarios se enviaron directamente a los Alcaldes de los Ayuntamientos, aunque los destinatarios finales eran los responsables de las unidades encargadas de la gestión de las TIC en los Ayuntamientos, en los que existiera este tipo de personal, o aquellas personas más próximas a ese perfil. Los cuestionarios fueron remitidos en dos ocasiones a todos los Ayuntamientos desde el 15 de diciembre de 2002, de manera que el trabajo de campo se cerró el 28 de febrero de 2003, recibiéndose cumplimentados durante ese período un 38% del total de los cuestionarios enviados. Por otro lado, se realizó una observación directa de todas las páginas web operativas de los Ayuntamientos de la CAM. A pesar de la experiencia disponible dentro de otros proyectos previos, existe una gran complejidad técnica a la hora de realizar este tipo análisis, de manera que durante varios meses se estudió el detalle de las dimensiones de estudio y su concreción en indicadores cuatificables. El trabajo de observación directa se extendió desde noviembre de 2002 hasta febrero de 2003, analizándose un total de 104 páginas web, teniendo en cuenta cerca de un centenar de indicadores en cada una de ellas. Este libro se divide de la siguiente manera. El Capítulo II presenta de forma general el problema del uso y difusión de las TIC en las Administraciones Públicas (e-Administración) planteando algunas de sus vertientes principales. El Capítulo III analiza los resultados del cuestionario sobre recursos y usos en TIC de los Ayuntamientos de la CAM detallando cuatro bloques de preguntas/respuestas relevantes para la investigación. El Capítulo IV ofrece los resultados de la observación directa de todas las páginas web operativas de los Ayuntamientos de la CAM divididos siguiendo cuatro dimensiones y decenas de indicadores dentro de ellas. El Capítulo V tiene una perspectiva más práctica, ya que ofrece una sistematización de puntos críticos con carácter práctico sobre el desarrollo de la política de e-Administración en las Administraciones locales. Finalmente, tiene especial interés el glosario de términos técnicos que se detalla al final del texto, mientras que la bibliografía recoge una serie de referencias que permiten al lector ampliar determinados puntos de vista sobre algunos de los temas planteados a lo largo de las páginas del libro.

Information Systems and Public Sector Accountability

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jul 1998

Richard Heeks

Increased accountability is a key component of public sector reform. This paper investigates the relationship between accountability and both information technology and information systems. It concludes that IT has had a very mixed impact, supporting accountability in some cases, but also skewing or undermining it in others. Information systems - computerised or not - are an essential part of public sector accountability. However, new IS have a flexible impact, with accountability outcomes being determined mainly by management decisions and by wider organisational and environmental factors. As such, the broader context must be conducive to accountability before accountability IS initiatives will work.

Definiendo la E-administración: las páginas web de las Administraciones públicas

Article

Full-text available

May 2011

América Latina en la era del gobierno electrónico. Análisis de la introducción de nuevas tecnologías para la mejora de la democracia y el gobierno

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2008

Yanina Welp

Gobierno electrónico en Latinoamérica. Aproximación desde una perspectiva intergubernamental

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2011

J. Ignacio Criado

En diferentes contextos políticos se están desarrollando actuaciones coordinadas en materia administrativa tecnológica por diferentes países, tal y como se ha formulado en el ámbito latinoamericano a través de la Carta Latinoamericana de Gobierno Electrónico o el Libro Blanco de Interoperabilidad de Gobierno Electrónico para América Latina y el Caribe. En particular, el presente artículo analiza los esfuerzos realizados y las perspectivas de futuro de la colaboración entre los diferentes países de atinoamérica para promover políticas y actuaciones conjuntas relacionadas con el eGobierno. La investigación toma como caso de contraste el análisis crítico de la europeización (europeanization), concepto que ha despertado un creciente interés en el ámbito de las ciencias sociales, teniendo en cuenta su aplicación en el ámbito europeo de acciones intergubernamentales en las políticas públicas, en general, y el eGobierno, en particular. Todo ello pretende facilitar el conocimiento acerca de los patrones inscritos en las actuaciones realizadas de manera concertada por los gobiernos de América Latina para la promoción del eGobierno, así como identificar aspectos concretos en los que incidir en el futuro, especialmente, en lo que corresponde a establecer prioridades sobre la gobernanza de la interoperabi-lidad. En definitiva, los resultados de este artículo reposicionan la cuestión de la interoperabilidad en una esfera de colaboración política e intergubernamental, más allá de una mera consideración de colaboración técnica entre diferentes agentes dentro del sector público.

El gobierno electrónico como herramienta para la accountability y la transparencia: Algunas reflexiones

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Jan 2005

Mila Gascó

Analyzing E-Government Research: Perspectives, Philosophies, Theories, Methods, and Practice

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2007
GOV INFORM Q

In recent years, there has been rapid growth in the volume of research output on the topic of e-government. To understand this research better, we used content analysis of eighty-four papers in e-government-specific research outlets (two journals and one conference series). Our analytical focus took in five main aspects: perspectives on the impacts of e-government, research philosophy, use of theory, methodology and method, and practical recommendations. Normative evaluation identified some positive features, such as recognition of contextual factors beyond technology, and a diversity of referent domains and ideas. Alongside this, though, research draws mainly from a weak or confused positivism and is dominated by over-optimistic, a-theoretical work that has done little to accumulate either knowledge or practical guidance for e-government. Worse, there is a lack of clarity and lack of rigor about research methods alongside poor treatment of generalization. We suggest ways of strengthening e-government research but also draw out some deeper issues, such as the role of research philosophy and theory, and the institutional factors – particularly pressures of competition and time – that may constrain development of e-government as a research field.

e-Government as a Carrier of Context

Article

Full-text available

May 2005
J Publ Pol

Richard Heeks

e-Government is a global project of technology transfer taking designs from one context into a different context. Using examples of projects, this paper finds that the context of design inscribed into e-government systems in both explicit and implicit ways can produce a mismatch with the context in which it is deployed. This creates a contextual collision that can often lead to e-government failure. In other cases, there is some form of accommodation between the two contexts: users may appropriate inscribed elements to their own purposes or there may even be a reciprocating accommodation leading to a viable system. Factors that shape either failure or accommodation are identified, as are the networks of interests that determine the design inscription and deployment accommodation processes. Conclusions are drawn about policy on e-government project design and development of e-government capacities; and about the relevance of developing/transitional economy cases for the literature on the sociology of technology.

Generating citizen trust in e-government using a trust verification agent: A research note

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2006

This is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern about the extent to which trust issues inhibit a citizen's take-up of online public sector services or engagement with public decision and policy making. A citizen's decision to use online systems is influenced by their willingness to trust the environment and agency involved. This project addresses one aspect of individual "trust" decisions by providing support for citizens trying to evaluate the implications of the security infrastructure provided by the agency. Based on studies of the way both groups (citizens and agencies) express their concerns and concepts in the security area, the project will develop a software tool – a trust verification agent (TVA) -that can take an agency's security statements (or security audit) and infer how effectively this meets the security concerns of a particular citizen. This will enable citizens to state their concerns and obtain an evaluation of the agency's provision in appropriate "citizen friendly" language. Further, by employing rule-based expert systems techniques the TVA will also be able to explain its evaluation.

Democracy, Accountability, and Representation

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2001

Accountability and Reflective Responsibility in Information Systems

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2006

Bernd Carsten Stahl

This paper discusses the role of accountability in responsibility ascriptions regarding information and communication technology (ICT). It starts with a definition of responsibility as the social construct representing the ascription of an object to a subject. Recounting the traditional responsibility, the paper will point out the weaknesses of responsibility with regards to ICT. It will then propose an alternative way of dealing with responsibility under the heading of reflective responsibility. Accountability will be defined as the structures and institutions that establish a link between object and subject. As such it is a necessary condition of successful responsibility ascriptions. The paper will discuss the influence of ICT on the construction of accountability and consequently on responsibility. It will highlight the problem of pathological accountability where accountability becomes reified and solidified and in effect goes counter to the social aim of responsibility. The paper will conclude with a discussion of how problems and pathologies of accountability can be overcome in order for reflective responsibility to be able to fulfil its purpose. Full Text at Springer, may require registration or fee

Internet, Política y ciudadanía

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2005

Rodrigo Araya Dujisin

La reflexión y el debate sobre gobierno y democracia electrónica usualmente han ido por caminos separados e incluso contrapuestos, donde el primero se reduce a aspectos informáticos de gestión y el segundo a un sistema utópico de relación política entre Estado y ciudadanía. Este trabajo enfatiza en las vinculaciones e interdependencia de estos ámbitos para acceder a una perspectiva general de los impactos de internet en la política.

Nuevas tecnologías, democracia y eficiencia de las instituciones políticas

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2005

Joan Oriol Prats

En este artículo, se estudia el impacto que las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y el nivel de democracia que tienen sobre el desempeño de las instituciones políticas. En primer lugar, se estudia empíricamente el impacto que las TIC tienen sobre la eficacia de la acción de gobierno. A este respecto, se muestra estadísticamente para un conjunto de 98 países que la tecnología junto con el nivel de democracia son determinantes fundamentales de la calidad de la acción de gobierno, mientras que el nivel de apertura de la economía (como estimador de globalización) no resulta significativo. En segundo lugar, a partir del trabajo de Brynjolfsson y otros (2002), se identifican los determinantes organizativos de la asimilación eficiente de las TIC por las empresas y se aplican al caso de las principales instituciones políticas. En base a estos determinantes, se explica por qué los parlamentos, los partidos políticos y la Administración pública han asimilado las nuevas tecnologías cada uno de ellos de forma distinta, y en menor medida que muchas empresas. Finalmente, se expone la dirección de algunos cambios organizativos e institucionales necesarios para incorporar en mayor medida las nuevas tecnologías al proceso político y, así, mejorar su eficiencia.

¿Hacia el fin de la administración pública burocrática? Los efectos de las TIC sobre el cambio organizativo: Los casos de Cataluña, Escocia, Emilia-Romaña y Quebec.

Article

Full-text available

Yanina Welp

El principal objetivo de esta investigación es examinar cómo la introducción de nuevas tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones está cambiando la estructura, funcionamiento y eficiencia de la administración pública weberiana, y analizar en qué medida se podría estar formando una administración-red. Buscamos identificar el peso de distintos factores que puedan explicar este proceso de transformación y sus resultados. Un análisis comparativo de cuatro regiones (Cataluña, Escocia, Emilia-Romaña y Quebec) observa el grado en el que las TIC influyen sobre i) las vías en que las administraciones públicas están siendo reorganizadas internamente; ii) la relación entre la administración y la ciudadanía; y iii) la colaboración entre actores públicos y privados en el diseño y gestión de políticas públicas.The main goal of this research is to examine how the introduction of new technologies is changing the organization, function and efficiency of public administration. The aim is to identify the elements (technological, organisational and cultural) that become relevant to the explanation of this process of transformation. A comparative analysis of four regions (Catalonia, Scotland, Emilia-Romana and Quebec) seeks to discover the degree to which ICT is transforming: i) the way in which public administration is being internally reorganised; ii) the relationship between citizens and administration and iii) the collaboration between public and private actors when favouring a more efficient public policy according to their networking criteria.El principal objectiu daquesta recerca és examinar de quina manera lintroducció de noves tecnologies de la informació i les comunicacions estan canviant lestructura, funcionament i eficiència de ladministració pública weberiana, i analitzar en quina mesura es podria estar construint una administració-xarxa. Busquem identificar el pes de diversos factors que puguin explicar aquest procés de transformació i els seus resultats. Una anàlisi comparativa de quatre regions (Catalunya, Escòcia, Emilia-Romanya i Quebec) analitza el grau en que les TIC influeixin sobre: i) les vies en que les administracions públiques son reorganitzades internament; ii) la relació entre ladministració i la ciutadania; iii) la collaboració entre actors públics i privats en el disseny i gestió de polítiques públiques.

Corruption, Transparency and a Role for ICT?

Article

Full-text available

May 2009

Paul Sturges

This is a pre-print. A traveller (the author) arrives in a foreign city (Kampala, Uganda) for the first time and picks up a newspaper (Sunday Vision). The front-page banner headline reads ‘Minister told to give bribe’. (Abbey, 2004) The story tells how a government minister in his private capacity as a motor dealer had successfully sued the government for compensation when it failed to purchase vehicles that it had contracted to buy from him. Leaving aside the issue of whether it is proper for a minister to act as a government contractor in this way, this is a classic corruption story. He alleges that after the judgement unnamed officials at the Ministry of Finance and Justice had told him that to obtain his money he must pay them 40% of the total sum. Then on page 5 of the newspaper the traveller finds an editorial lamenting the high incidence of bribery in the country and saying of those who doubted whether this was so ‘What do they know about corrupt policemen, unsavoury judges and crooked politicians? What do they know about lazy civil servants, zealous local government officials and marauding tax authorities?’ (Barenzi, 2004) Does the traveller infer from this that Uganda is an unusually corrupt country? No, he merely concludes that Uganda has an unusually outspoken press. Corruption is in fact universal, although particularly pervasive in developing countries. This paper will look at the way in which transparency can undermine some of the basis for corruption and speculate as to whether this provides a possible role for ICT applications.

Hacia una visión integrada del Gobierno Electrónico

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2003

La incorporación de tecnologías de información y redes de comunicaciones en todos los ámbitos sociales también ha afectado a las tareas de Gobierno y Administración. Dentro de esta dinámica se han originado de manera creciente estudios sobre Gobierno Electrónico (a partir de ahora e-Gobierno), aunque con escasa claridad sobre los enfoques existentes, el contenido del propio concepto y sus límites. Este artículo aborda esta problemática considerando tres dimensiones del concepto (e-Administración, e-Democracia y e-Gobernanza); los roles asociados a los gobiernos y administraciones públicas (prestadores de servicios públicos, promotores de la democracia y dinamizadores del proceso de elaboración de políticas públicas), teniendo en cuenta las nuevas oportunidades ofrecidas por el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) e Internet; y los diferentes actores críticos involucrados en el desarrollo de proyectos de e-Gobierno. La conclusión principal de este artículo supone la importancia de los diferentes actores críticos a la hora de desarrollar y mejorar la actividad pública y la necesidad de considerar las tecnologías como una oportunidad para caminar hacia gobiernos y administraciones públicas con un carácter relacional, más allá de meras etiquetas relacionadas con las modas y momentos concretos.

Can Information and Communication Technologies Make a Difference in the Development of Transition Economies?

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2006
Inform Tech Int Dev

Marcin Piatkowski

This article investigates the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) for faster convergence of seven transition economies from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia (CEER) with the EU-15 and the U.S. income level. First, the article argues that ICT accelerated the convergence of the four new EU member states with the EU-15 (the case of technological leapfrogging) but decelerated convergence of Romania, Russia, and, to a lesser extent, Bulgaria and Slovakia (the case of a growing digital divide). This divergence was mainly because of the lower quality of the economic and institutional environment, which inhibited the diffusion of ICT. Second, the article shows that ICT has a large potential to increase long-term growth in transition countries. Third, it argues that the use of ICT has an important role in stimulating productivity growth at the industry level and that it offers considerable potential for faster productivity growth in non-ICT-using, "old economy" industries. Realizing this potential, however, will crucially depend on far-reaching structural reforms, business reorganization, investment in human capital, and well-designed public "push strategy." These lessons are pertinent not only to transition economies, but also to most advanced developing countries. (c) 2006 by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Bridging the Digital Divide: New Route to Development or New Form of Dependency?

Article

Jul 2002
GLOBAL GOV

Robert Hunter Wade

La era de la información. La sociedad red, Vol. 1

Book

Jan 2002

M Castells

Sistemas políticos de América Latina

Article

Apr 1991

E-government and access to information

Article

Jan 2003

S. Bhatnagar

Towards a Model of the Determinants of the Success of State Government Portals in Mexico

Article

Jan 2009
GEST POLIT PUBLICA

Governments around the world have been developing digital government applications such as Internet portals. Although there are several potential benefits from such applications (for citizens and for government internal operations), most of them fail to deliver results, and there is still little knowledge about their key success factors. Using institutional theory, particularly the technology enactment framework, the research reported here explores the relationships among contextual, institutional and organizational factors and their impact on the success of state portals in Mexico. Results show that these relationships do exist and that portal success is mainly influenced by contextual factors related to electronic services demand and by organizational processes and structures of the agencies responsible for information technologies in the states.

Más allá de la ejecución: la necesidad de evaluar las iniciativas de Gobierno Electrónico

Chapter

Jan 2007

Mila Gascó

Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change

Article

Oct 2002
ACAD MANAGE REV

Corrupción: Un análisis a través de indicadores de gobernabilidad

Article

Jan 2007

Koldo Echebarria

Este documento analiza brevemente, en primer lugar, las principales evidencias empíricas que nos permiten reconocer las diversas implicaciones negativas que la corrupción tiene sobre el desarrollo de los países.En segundo lugar, explora los diversos modelos de comportamiento que explican el hecho de la corrupción. En tercer lugar, explora el problema de la medición de la corrupción, presentando indicadores disponibles para América Latina, razonando sobre sus causas y, por tanto, sobre posibles estrategias de respuesta a este fenómeno.

Guest editorial: From implementation to adoption: Challenges to successful E-Government diffusion

Article

Jan 2009
GOV INFORM Q

A Two-Stage Model of E-Government Growth: Theories and Empirical Evidence for U.S. Cities

Article

Dec 2004
GOV INFORM Q

Christopher G. Reddick

This article examines the current stages of development of e-government growth in American cities. A two-stage model of e-government growth is applied to municipalities. Stage I is the cataloging of information online and Stage II is transactions being completed online. This article examines the development of these stages along with the e-government relationships being government to citizen (G2C), government to business (G2B), or government to government (G2G). The two-stage model is applied to data from the 2002 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Electronic Government survey. The findings indicate that G2C Web sites are primarily in Stage I. There does not appear to be much movement outside of the information dissemination stage of e-government. In regards to the G2G relationships, cities are becoming more advanced with many transactions completed over the city's Intranet. However, the greatest advancement has taken place in the G2B relationship, in which procurement of equipment and office supplies was done by around half of the surveyed cities. These findings imply that e-government growth is more pronounced in some areas than others.

Bridging the Digital Divide: New Route to Development or New Form of Dependency?

Article

Oct 2002
GLOBAL GOV

Robert Hunter Wade

Transparency and Corruption: Does E-Government Help?

Article

Subhash Bhatnagar

Through its pioneering surveys in recent years, the Transparency International (TI) has tried to gauge the extent of corruption in different countries, identify Government departments where corruption appears to be most rampant, and establish some reasons why it seems to grow. Two major factors that contribute to the growth of corruption are the low probability of discovery, and perceived immunity against prosecution. Secrecy in government, restrictions on access to information by citizens and the media, ill defined/complex and excessive rules, procedures and regulations can all lead to a low chance of discovery.

Egovernment: Lessons from Implementation in Developing Countries

Article

Sep 2002

Subhash Bhatnagar

E-government applications from a large number of developing countries are reviewed. Different models of electronic delivery of services are compared. Delivery through conveniently located service centers where citizens are served by operators working on-line seems to be emerging as a popular model in countries with low penetration of Internet. Various elements that constitute readiness in implementing e-government are identified. It is argued that trial through a few quick strike , is important, as the benefits need to be demonstrated to citizens and civil servants.

Can Information and Communication Technology Help Reduce Corruption? How So and Why Not: Two Case Studies from South Asia

Article

Jan 2004

Rumel Mahmood

The deployment of electronic governance over the past few years has enabled citizens to access government information and services with more ease and less cost. Unfortunately, the majority of governments embracing these technologies and making the citizen-government interaction easier to navigate are found primarily in the industrialized West. One exception is India, which is the focus of this paper. Beyond viewing electronic governance as a means of facilitating state-citizen interactions, I explore the linkages between electronic governance and corruption deterrence, and by doing so, fill in a crucial void in the current literature. After reviewing successful ICT-led government reform efforts in the West from public administration literature, a simple model is proposed to determine how these technologies may come to be utilized for reform. The model is then applied to the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the neighboring government of Bangladesh to test the salience of the variables, and to determine why the former may be more successful than the latter.

The tyranny of international index rankings

Article

Jan 2012
J DEV ECON

International index rankings are popular, but perhaps too persuasive. They emphasize country differences where similarity is the dominant feature. Rankings based on Doing Business, the Human Development Index and Freedom House can be misleading, not because of wrong indicators, but because the estimation of the scores ignores inherent uncertainty. Re-estimated with a method that captures this uncertainty, it becomes clear that ranking every adjacent country is a rather courageous activity.

Are ICTs Improving Transparency and Accountability in the EU Regional and Local Governments? An Empirical Study

Article

Jun 2007
PUBLIC ADMIN

This paper conducts an empirical study about the effect of e-government on transparency, openness and, hence, accountability in 15 countries of the EU. Thus the effects examined cover over 84 per cent of EU population. The population also represents the different types of public administration styles that exist in Western developed countries. The paper compares the development and sophistication of 318 government web sites at sub-national level and tests the impact of contextual and organizational factors. The study refers to regional and local governments since they play a key role both in the national pattern of government and in administering welfare policies. Benchmarking studies of e-government are undertaken regularly by consultancy firms. Most of this literature focuses on central and federal governments in terms of examining trends in digital government. However, little research has been conducted from a comparative perspective on analysing the movement of EU countries to digital government at a sub-national level.

Models of E‐Government: Are They Correct? An Empirical Assessment

Article

May 2008
PUBLIC ADMIN REV

Research into e-government is relatively new. Nevertheless, much contemporary thinking and writing about e-government is driven by normative models that appeared less than a decade ago. The authors present empirical evidence from three surveys of local e-government in the United States to test whether these models are accurate or useful for understanding the actual development of e-government. They find that local e-government is mainly informational, with a few transactions but virtually no indication of the high-level functions predicted in the models. Thus, the models do not accurately describe or predict the development of e-government, at least among American local governments. These models, though intellectually interesting, are purely speculative, having been developed without linkage to the literature about information technology and government. The authors offer grounded observations about e-government that will useful to scholars and practitioners alike.

Reinventing Local Governments and the E‐Government Initiative

Article

Jul 2002
PUBLIC ADMIN REV

Alfred Tat-Kei Ho

The Internet provides a powerful tool for reinventing local governments. It encourages transformation from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm, which emphasizes standardization, departmentalization, and operational cost-efficiency, to the “e-government” paradigm, which emphasizes coordinated network building, external collaboration, and customer services. Based on a content analysis of city Web sites and a survey of Web development officials, this article shows that many cities are already moving toward this new paradigm. These cities have adopted “onestop shopping” and customer-oriented principles in Web design, and they emphasize external collaboration and networking in the development process rather than technocracy. The article also analyzes the socioeconomic and organizational factors that are related to cities' progressiveness in Web development and highlights future challenges in reinventing government through Internet technology.

The Politics of Perception: Use and Abuse of Transparency International's Approach to Measuring Corruption

Article

Jan 2008
POLIT STUD-LONDON

The annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published by Transparency International (TI), has had a pivotal role in focusing attention on corruption. Despite recent critiques of the CPI, it remains highly influential on research into the causes of corruption and is also extensively used to galvanise support for measures to fight corruption. In this article we explore the CPI in more depth in order to highlight how the index has been used for political ends which may not always turn out to be supportive of anti-corruption efforts. The argument is developed in four sections: in the first, we focus on Transparency International's definition of corruption, highlighting some conceptual difficulties with the approach adopted and its relationship to the promotion of ‘good governance’ as the principal means of combating corruption. In the second section, we outline some methodological difficulties in the design of the Corruption Perceptions Index. Although the CPI has been much criticised, we demonstrate in the third section that the index continues to exercise great influence both in academic research and in the politics of anti-corruption efforts, particularly as exercised by Transparency International itself. In the final section we argue that the CPI contributes to the risk of creating a ‘corruption trap’ in countries where corruption is deeply embedded, as development aid is increasingly made conditional on the implementation of reforms which are impossible to achieve without that aid.

The Hypothesized Relationship Between Accountability and Ethical Behavior

Article

Nov 2001

Unethical behavior is important to study because it may have an adverse influence on organizational performance. This paper is an attempt to better understand why individuals behave as they do when faced with ethical dilemmas. We first explore the definition, theories and models of ethical behaviors and accountability. This discussion of societal ethics and accountability as forms of social control segues into a discussion of how accountability may influence ethical behaviors. Based on the business ethics and accountability literatures, we suggest a number of research questions and hypotheses that need to be tested, as well as an appropriate research strategy.

La corrupción y los gobiernos : causas, consecuencias y reforma / por Susan Rose-Ackerman

Article

Susan Rose-Ackerman

Traducción de : Corruption and government. Causes, consequences, and reform Incluye bibliografía e índice

The Effects of E-Government on Trust and Confidence in Government

Article

Jan 2003

Trust in government has been declining for more than three decades now. E-government has been proposed as a way to increase citizen trust in government and improve citizen evaluations of government generally. Using two-stage models to analyze recent Pew survey data, this research explores the relationship between e-government use, attitudes about e-government, and trust in government. There is a statistically significant relationship between trust and use of a local government Web site, as well as other positive assessments of federal and local governments. The evidence suggests that e-government can increase process-based trust by improving interactions with citizens and perceptions of responsiveness. The findings are theoretically important for reconciling the conflicting research on the effects of e-government and for understanding variations by level of government. Citizen attitudes toward government, including trust, are core concerns for democratic governance and public administration.

Using Actor-Network Theory to Analyze E-Government Implementation in Developing Countries

Article

Mar 2007

Carolyne Stanforth

The implementation issues leading to successful application of information and communication technologies (ICT) is a well-researched area in the information systems literature. But there is little research work of this nature that is theoretically based and undertaken in the field of development informatics/ICT4D. Within this field, an important focus for any theoretically based study could be successful application of ICT in the public sector. This focus is taken in this paper because e-government is regarded by international financing institutions as a core component of the public sector reform programs that are currently reinventing government in developing countries. It is believed that key goals of the good governance agenda¿increased efficiency, improved resource management, and increased accountability¿will be engendered by the application of ICT. This paper presents actor-network theory (ANT) as a framework for understanding the processes of implementing e-government in developing countries. Drawing particularly on the work of Michel Callon and John Law, it applies this theory to a longitudinal study of the public expenditure management information systems supporting the fiscal reform program in Sri Lanka. Specific findings about the global and local networks that have shaped this set of e-government applications are presented. The conclusion is drawn that the application of ICT is an inherently political process and that a successful outcome requires continuous incremental action and improvisation to address the ongoing issues as they emerge. The paper identifies operational challenges in applying ANT that can be overcome by taking a more comprehensive analytical approach. Overall, ANT is seen as having a potentially wide area of application and being a promising theoretical vehicle for development informatics research

Digital Era Governance: IT Corporations, The State and E-Government

Article

Jan 2011

Government information systems are big business (costing over 1 per cent of GDP a year). They are critical to all aspects of public policy and governmental operations. Governments spend billions on them - for instance, the UK alone commits L14 billion a year to public sector IT operations. Yet governments do not generally develop or run their own systems, instead relying on private sector computer services providers to run large, long-run contracts to provide IT. Some of the biggest companies in the world (IBM, EDS, Lockheed Martin, etc) have made this a core market. The book shows how governments in some countries (the USA, Canada and Netherlands) have maintained much more effective policies than others (in the UK, Japan and Australia). It shows how public managers need to retain and develop their own IT expertise and to carefully maintain well-contested markets if they are to deliver value for money in their dealings with the very powerful global IT industry. This book describes how a critical aspect of the modern state is managed, or in some cases mismanaged. It will be vital reading for public managers, IT professionals, and business executives alike, as well as for students of modern government, business, and information studies. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/management/9780199296194/toc.html

Information and Communication Technologies, Markets and Economic Development

Article

Feb 2002

We thank Geoffrey Kirkman and Mridul Chowdhury for useful comments. 1 There is great optimism over the potential for information and communication technologies (ICT’s) to promote economic development and alleviate poverty. Currently, however, there is neither a solid theoretical basis nor convincing empirical evidence to support such optimism. This chapter identifies the economic underpinnings of the argument for a significant role for ICT’s in the development process. The basic premise is that information and communication are valuable commodities that can enhance the functioning of markets that are critical for the well-being of the poor. Recent advances in ICT’s can bring these benefits to even the poorest of the poor in the developing world. This chapter is organized as follows. We begin with a theoretical discussion of markets and economic efficiency, highlighting the desirable outcomes that result from well-functioning markets. Next, we discuss the critical role of information in generating efficient market outcomes. We then examine the extent of information flow, or lack thereof, in developing countries, and the consequences for market functioning. In doing so, we pay particular attention to the benefits well-functioning markets bring to even the poorest persons in the poorest nations. Finally, we evaluate the limited evidence to date on how bringing ICT’s to information-isolated communities can promote welfare, and provide new evidence

ICT and citizens' trust in government: Lessons from electronic voting in Brazil. Paper presented at the Information Communications Technologies and Regional Integration 9th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries

Jan 2007

C Avgerou
A Ganzaroli
A Poulymenakou
N Reinhard

Avgerou, C., Ganzaroli, A., Poulymenakou, A., & Reinhard, N. (2007). ICT and citizens' trust in government: Lessons from electronic voting in Brazil. Paper presented at the Information Communications Technologies and Regional Integration 9th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries. São Paulo, Brazil.

Jurisprudencia del uso del internet en los países de la comunidad andina

Jan 2004
180

Z G Benalcázar

Benalcázar, Z. G. (2004). Jurisprudencia del uso del internet en los países de la comunidad andina. In Proceedings of the Maestría Andina en Comunicación, Sociedad y Políticas Públicas, (p. 180).

El actual proceso de reforma en la administración pública vasca

Jan 1996
131-138

J M Castells

Castells, J. M. (1996). El actual proceso de reforma en la administración pública vasca. Revista Vasca de Administración Pública, 45(2), 131-138.

Procesos contemporáneos de reforma electoral en Américan Central y Caribe

Jan 2005

F García

García, F. (2005). Procesos contemporáneos de reforma electoral en Américan Central y Caribe.

Patchwork adoption of ICTs in Latin America. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries

Jan 2003
1-9

M García-Murillo

García-Murillo, M. (2003). Patchwork adoption of ICTs in Latin America. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 15(1), 1-9.

Why most e-government-fordevelopment projects fail: How can risks be reduced? iGovernment Working Paper Series

Jan 2003

R Heeks

Heeks, R. (2003). Why most e-government-fordevelopment projects fail: How can risks be reduced? iGovernment Working Paper Series, Nº 14. Manchester, UK: University of Manchester.

Implementing and managing e-government: An international text

Jan 2006

R Heeks

Heeks, R. (2006). Implementing and managing e-government: An international text. London, UK: SAGE Publications.

Avances y obstáculos en el fortalecimiento del estado en Centroamérica y República Dominicana: Un análisis de la capacidad institucional, la reforma de la administración y la gestión pública

Jan 2007

S Parrado Díez
C Colino
I Molina
Y Pino
E Del

Parrado Díez, S., Colino, C., Molina, I., Pino, Y., & Del, E. (2007). Avances y obstáculos en el fortalecimiento del estado en Centroamérica y República Dominicana: Un análisis de la capacidad institucional, la reforma de la administración y la gestión pública. Madrid, Spain: INAP.

E-government for transparency, anti-corruption, and accountability: Challenges and opportunities for Central American countries

Abstract

No full-text available

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