What is the point of benchmarking e-government? An integrative and critical literature review on the phenomenon of benchmarking e-government

Abstract

This literature review looks at research conducted on the phenomenon of benchmarking e-government during the years 2003 to 2016 and entails 27 articles. The review shows how this field has changed over time, its main findings and what the potential benefits are for the public sector in using the results from benchmarks. The findings reveal how initial research created taxonomies of benchmarks and criticised them for being too focused on measuring online services. This research was followed by even more criticism on how benchmarks can have a negative impact on e-government policy and development. During the same time-period there is research giving methodological support on how to improve ways of benchmarking. Later research offer theoretically and conceptually informed critique of benchmark-studies. The review finds that there are mainly implicit assumptions about the potential benefits in using benchmarks for improving e-government. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the findings in terms of the lack of context and relevance in benchmarks for e-government in relationship to the nature of public administration and makes suggestions for ways forward.

The practitioners guide to a digital index: Unearthing design-principles of an abstract artefact

“…Bannister, 2007;Heeks, 2008). Attempts at measuring and evaluating the potential and progress of digital technologies in the public sector has been done in many forms and shapes since at least the late 1990's; not least via the method of benchmarking e-government (Skargren, 2020). One prominent example of describing the process of developing e-government towards being "fully functional" is the four stage maturity model offered by Layne and Lee (2001) and indeed these maturity models have come in many different shapes and sizes (see Fath-Allah et al, 2014).…”

“…Bannister, 2007;Jansen, 2005;Layne & Lee, 2001;Lee, 2010). Yet benchmarks for e-government are of limited use since they have a tendency to disregard the context of public administration, and focus on technology and e-services (see Skargren, 2020). The problem of how to understand the purpose of technology in the public sector is also an issue for e-government research, as Bannister and Connolly (2012) show by identifying how dominant research has been on "front end services" at the expense of other key areas such as internal-processes and informatisation (see also Bannister & Connolly, 2015;Gil-Garcia et al, 2018;Lips, 2020;Lips & Schuppan, 2009;Yıldız, 2012).…”

Development of e-government in the field of social services and benefits: Evidence from Romania

“…The Online Service Index (OSI) is based on several indicators assessing each country's national website in the native language, including the national portal, e-services and e-participation portal, as well as the websites of the related ministries of education, labour, social services, health, finance and environment as applicable (UN, 2016, p. 138). However, it is important to contextualize scores obtained from benchmarking egovernment development based on the general background and advancements in public administration (Skargren, 2020) or a better understanding of the factors influencing the use of e-government in Europe and the different adoption levels (Yera et al, 2020).…”

Public-Private ICT-Based Collaboration Initiative During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program in Pakistan

“…Technological advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) within the public sector have morphed governments' relationship with their citizens, private sectors, and other societal actors [1]. The rapid increase in urbanization [2] and private sectors' shift towards e-commerce, both of which necessitates quick and reliable information share among various players in an economy, work as a catalyst in this HIGHLIGHTS  Case study approach is used to explore ICT-based collaboration initiative in Pakistan.…”

“…Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology. Vol.64: e21200616, 2021 www.scielo.br/babt transformation and further motivate the e-revolution in the various layers of governments [1][2]. The pressing need of this transformation, both in developed and developing countries, have escalated governments' effort to convert their manual processes to digital ones through leveraging these technologies [3].…”