A meta-analysis of empirical e-government research and its future research implications

Abstract

The desired e-government potentials and its shortcomings in reality are key reasons why e-government has become a major topic of interest to academics and practitioners, leading to an extensive body of knowledge. However, the literature still demands further quantitative empirical research to substantiate theory development. This situation calls for a specific review of the literature that arranges relevant knowledge and provides a solid foundation for future research. However, available meta-analyses do not deliver the particular insights to appropriately address the shortage of quantitative empirical e-government research. Therefore, this study explicitly focuses on this specific field to systematically uncover areas requiring further exploration, and defines promising research directions for a solid foundation for future investigations. Key findings of the meta-analysis are: the existence of a systematic divide of existing quantitative empirical e-government studies into 12 research subtopics, which are assessed according to different classification criteria for scientific research gap-spotting; the identification of emerging subtopics that carry innovative research potential; and that e-government is expected to be an ongoing, open-ended research environment that still provides manifold investigative opportunities. Based on these findings, straightforward suggestions for future research are provided. Points for practitioners Beyond providing insights into the current state of quantitative empirical research for scientific researchers, this article also delivers value for professionals working in public management and administration. First, the study provides a comprehensive overview of e-government-related meta-analyses, which allows us to quickly identify the literature in order to tackle particular e-government management issues. Second, the article classifies existing quantitative empirical studies, defines specific subject areas and arranges relevant knowledge, which eases the processes of confining and labelling e-government activities. Last, since these deliverables are based on empirical studies that draw their conclusions from perceptions of reality, the summaries and classifications are thus regarded to be of special importance for public managers.

Citizens’ Involvement in E-Government in the European Union: The Rising Importance of the Digital Skills

“…This research area undoubtedly was, and still is, timely and fascinating: it is a well-known fact that the way the public sector relates to citizens has undergone a drastic transformation since the 1980s with the arrival of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and especially since the late 1990s with the advent of the Internet. Quantitative empirical e-government research still reflects a growing, open-ended field that provides many opportunities for investigation [9,15].…”

“…A growing corpus of literature has been analysing the impact of ICTs on the public sector from multiple perspectives, as reflected in extensive bibliographical reviews and meta-analyses covering definitions, scope, methods and recommendations (e.g., [8]), citizen orientation and adoption [9,10], stage models [11], diffusion [12,13], and the quality of these services [14]. The literature is flourishing, but [15] point out in their meta-analysis of empirical e-government research that in the literature there is still a shortage of authoritative quantitative empirical approaches and the topic is still perceived as a young field of research.…”

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IMPLEMENTING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ON STUDENT ACADEMIC SERVICES (A Case Study in Bandung Institute of Technology for the 2015-2016 Period)

“…This research is a follow-up of the research done by Wirtz and Daizer (2016), which revealed that e-governance has become the main topic in both academic and practical research, which is expected to produce a body of knowledge in e-governance. They recommended quantitative research.…”

Index of information and communication technology use in labour administration: its need, its pertinence and its potential use

“…This might be why politicians and public administrators find it difficult to design and implement high-level ICT policies (Meijer, 2007). Although much focus in studies on technology-supported public services has been on qualitative explorations of the benefits and shortcomings of ICT use, Wirtz and Daiser (2018) note that there is still demand for rigorous quantitative empirical e-government research.…”

“…Governments are under pressure to increasingly render their services through competent application of ICT (Van Jaarsveldt and Wessels, 2015;Šiugždinienė et al, 2017). Despite growth in the number of studies evaluating the adoption, acceptance, performance, or success of national public administrations in general (see Wirtz and Daiser, 2016), the specific area of labour administration remains poorly understood (Hastings, 2016). As defined by Convention 150 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) -a United Nations agency developing labour standards, policies and programmes to promote decent work -labour administration refers to 'public administration activities in the field of national labour policies' (ILO, 1978).…”