Electronic Government: Where Are We Heading?

Abstract

Abstract. In common understanding, Electronic Government focuses upon relatively simple transactions between identifiable customers (citizens, enterprises), on one side, and a multitude of government organisations in charge of particular activities, on the other. Attention is chiefly directed to Electronic Service Delivery. If the promise of e-Government as the principal key to modernising government is to be kept, this concept has to be broadened so as to include the full enabling potential of IT, as well as the complex reality of government and public governance. There is encouraging political support for e-Government, yet implementation problems could inhibit further success.

Local e-Government in the Netherlands: From Ambitious Policy Goals to Harsh Reality

“…The first policy papers were produced in a period when IT costs were dropping, the Internet started to become available to society at large, and IT was seen as the panacea to create a 'government that works better and costs less' (Office of the Vice President 1993). At the very least, IT would enable improved service delivery to citizens (Lenk and Traunmüller 2002). After all, the separation of frontoffice from back-office is only possible through the introduction of ICTs and integrated (online) service delivery very much depends on advanced ICT support of the civil servant in the front-office.…”

“…The development of online service delivery and the extended use of ICTs in the process, could spur the modernization of government (Lenk and Traunmüller 2002). The structures of the state, the way in which and the location where policy is developed and executed and where service delivery takes places may need to be reconsidered in the light of the characteristics of ICT, such as horizontalization, deterritorialization, and virtualization (Frissen 1998).…”

Adoption of e-Government in Pakistan: Demand Perspective

“…The strategy of e-Government is a fundamental in the modernization of the public sector, which not only allowing the demand of information but also optimize the processes commercially and facilitate communication between the different levels of government [30]. E-Government facilitates the development of public administration activities related to citizens and different companies [25].…”

Introducing public sector eIDs: The power of actors’ translations and institutional barriers

“…Further, I argue that these are examples of trying to assess the current status and identity of the eGovernment field very much resembling the described historical path or ISR hence this fields legitimacy is also challenged (e.g. Scholl, 2006) as well as suggestions of how to 'save' the research field by moving into a specific direction (Lenk & Traunmüller, 2002).…”

“…However, at the same time, I argue that efforts like this are also examples of attempts of driving the development of a research field in a particular direction. In addition, more holistic approaches is suggested to balance technology and the often "complex socio-technical work reality" (Lenk & Traunmüller, 1999; cited in Lenk & Traunmüller, 2002) thus I interpret this as a call for research emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the social and organizational contexts as described in a later section. Furthermore, Bannister and Connolly (2015) put forth another challenge when describing the concerns about a lack of theory in the eGovernment field during the last decade.…”