fficient and available in order to gain citizens’ trust,
which has often eluded many governments and political leaders in modern
society. Such eff or
ff ts are now seen by governments as a necessity rather
than an option, whereas citizens consider it as their right to have access to
government services at anytime from anywhere. In this backdrop, Public
Sector Transformation through E-Government e
t xplores the influenc
fl
e that
e-government has on transforming public sector institutions and the result-
ing organizational complexities that need to be tackled as well as its impact
on citizens and democratic society. This book does this in the context of
experiences in governments in Europe and North America.
E-government can be broadly viewed as the adoption of information and
communications technologies (ICTs) in government institutions to improve
public services. For many countries, e-government implementation efforts
began in the late 1990s. Since then, the e-government infl uenc
fl
ed imple-
mentation of ICT in public administration has enabled governments to
off
ffer better, faster, and a more transparent way of delivering services to
citizens and other stakeholders. Equally, it has also created a platform for
better collaboration and information sharing between various government
institutions. In the last few years in particular e-government implementa-
tion eff
fforts in most countries have evolved from basic information provi-
sioning online to more integrated service off
fferings. The implementation
of such integrated online services has enabled public institutions to offer
more joined-up and citizen-centric service facilitated primarily through
cross-agency process and information systems transformation. However,
public sector service transformation is a complex undertaking involving
distributed decision-making that requires a good understanding of the
political context, business processes and technology as well as design and
2 Vishanth Weerakkody and Christopher G. Reddick
engineering methods capable of transcending the traditional boundaries
that exist between departmental silos in public institutions. Conversely,
from a demand perspective extensive eff
fforts are required to increase citi-
zens’ awareness about the transformation of the delivery of government
services and their online availability.
Transformation through e-government involves fundamentally changing
the relationship between how governments interact with citizens as well as
other stakeholders such as businesses and non-governmental organizations.
In the context of highly strained economic resources and related social
consequences, governments have been devoting significant eff
ffort on reor-
ganising public institutions through examining strategies for eliminating
non-essential back offi
ffice operations and management activities and provid-
ing platforms for diff
fferent stakeholders to collaborate, participate, share
resources to undertake work traditionally seen as the sole preserve of the
public sector. In this respect, many governments have embraced new tech-
nologies such as Web 2.0 based social media applications to engage citizens
in policy modelling through e-participation and worked towards enhancing
transparency of their governance processes.
Yet, sceptics have argued whether these new ICT tools save the pub-
lic sector money and make it more productive, as well as provide more
trustful, engaging and useful services for citizens. Further, the continued
debate about adoption looms large particularly in Europe as the take up of
e-government services have been disappointing due to issues such as digital
divide and social exclusion. In fact, the European Commission has repeat-
edly called for research into social inclusion in the realm of public service
transformation and digital era government. In order to prevent digital divide
and social exclusion in terms of using e-government services, it is neces-
sary that citizens from all facets of society are equipped with basic ICT
skills as well as access to high-speed Internet connections. Yet, despite the
availability of innovative technologies, governments are faced with many
technical, organizational, and socio-economic challenges that need to be
addressed when developing, adopting, and diff
ffusing e-government systems
and services. Furthermore, from an organizational perspective e-govern-
ment has introduced an environment where most public institutions such
as healthcare, social services, education, employment and law enforcement
have struggled with the need to balance issues such as transparency and
opaqueness, or social inclusion and professionalism.
Consequently, there has been increasing pressure on the academic and
practitioner communities for research that focuses on bridging the gap
between e-government theory and practice as well as availability versus
demand for services. In such as backdrop, various researchers and practi-
tioners have attempted to off
ffer insights into the implementation (Irani et
al., 2007; 2008; Weerakkody & Dhillon, 2008; Weerakkody et al., 2007a;
Janssen et al., 2007; Weerakkody & Choudrie, 2005; Kamal et al., 2009;
Beynon-Davies & Martin, 2004), acceptance (Carter & Belanger, 2005),
Public Sector Transformation through E-Government 3
and diff u
ff sion (Alshafi
fi & Weerakkody, 2008; Warkentin et al., 2002) of
e-government services. The last few years have seen e-government being
regarded with the same level of importance that electronic business (e-busi-
ness) was treated with in the mid-1990s.
When examining e-government literature, it can be concluded that
principally three key themes have emerged in published research on e-gov-
ernment. These include (a) research that examine the implementation of
e-government from a policy-oriented perspective that includes strategic,
organizational, technical, and wider socio-political dimensions (Irani et
al., 2007; 2008; Weerakkody & Dhillon, 2008; Beynon-Davies & Martin,
2004; Ramaswamy &Selian, 2007; Janssen et al., 2005; 2007); (b) studies
that take a citizen-centric perspective on e-government through adoption
and diff
ffusion or in other words e-participation research (Niehaves et al.,
2009; Niehaves & Becker, 2008; Al-Shafi & W
fi
eerakkody, 2008; Carter &
Belanger, 2005; Warkentin et al., 2002; Welch et al., 2005; Huang, 2007);
and (c) research that explore the complexities of transforming governance
practices in an e-government context (O’Donnel et al., 2003; Ramaswamy
& Selian, 2007; Irani et al., 2007; Weerakkody at al., 2007b). Therefore,
the themes of policy modelling, participation and governance emerge as
key areas for research in the area of e-government infl
fluenced public sector
transformation as this book explores.
; From a conceptual angle, a review of the extant literature also suggests
that despite committed eff
fforts, many countries have struggled to success-
fully achieve transformational change in public institutions due to various
organizational, social, political and technology related challenges (Irani et
al., 2007; 2008; Beynon-Davies & Martin, 2004). Studies have confirmed
that implementing transformational change in the public sector through
e-government involves a radical paradigm shift in comparison to any previ-
ous eff
fforts of organizational change seen in the public sector. Moreover,
to realize transformational change, public institutions will need radical
changes in core processes across organizational boundaries, in a manner
that has not been seen before in the public sector (Andersen & Henriksen,
2006; Kim et al ., 2007; Weerakkody, & Dhillon, 2008).
Consequently, success will require the ability to rethink processes in a
cross-functional way as championed by management approaches such as
business process reengineering (BPR). In this respect, public sector agencies
have indeed tried to replicate concepts such as BPR, Lean Management,
Total Quality Management, and Public Value Management with a view of
improving key public services such as healthcare, social service, education,
transportation and local government. Yet, although large sums of money
have been invested in transforming such key public services in recent years,
research has shown that these initiatives have not met the expectations
of stakeholders and delivered policy outcomes which have resulted in ser-
vices that facilitate social inclusion and democratic processes. Rather, the
application of these management concepts to transform public institutions
4 Vishanth Weerakkody and Christopher G. Reddick
has resulted in the tax payers’ money not being sensibly utilized and in
some cases created social exclusions. A broader example would be that of
e-business ideas being borrowed from the private sector and applied in the
context of e-government resulting in major digital divides and exclusions
among citizens and inequality of service provision. While the implementa-
tion of such approaches and management concepts have proven difficult
in the private sector, research suggests that government entities face even
greater challenges (Fagan, 2006; Tan & Pan, 2003). Indeed, while much
of the early e-government research eff
fforts have focused on identifying
and analysing these challenges that impact implementation, more recent
research has emerged that identifi
fies determinants of adoption and diffu-
sion from a citizen-centric perspective. Nonetheless, very few studies have
attempted to systematically synthesise theory with practice to generate
knowledge about the gaps that exist between implementation and diffu-
sion (service provider or government’s perspective on policy formulation
and governance) and adoption (service recipient or citizens’ perspective on
participation). This book attempts to provide both theory and practice of
transformational change from e-government. This book offers readers the
theoretical context of the potential of e-government to transform public
services, and practical examples are provided from leading public sector
institutions that have attempted to use e-government to bring about trans-
formational change.
2 PLAN OF THE BOOK
The four main objectives of this book are to:
1. Understand the importance of e-government as a force for change in
public sector organizations and how it has changed, or has not changed,
service delivery in European and North American governments.
2. Understand both the benefi
fits of e-government and transformational
change for government and citizens and some of the challenges and
complexities in its implementation in Europe and North America.
3. Explore the major schools of thoughts on e-government and related
transformational change, and provide examples of public sector insti-
tutions through case studies that have used e-government to change
their organization.
4. Understand the relationship between citizens and government and
how they are aff e
ff cted by transformational change through e-govern-
ment policies and programs.
There are three sections to the book that examine these objectives: (I)
Transformation E-Government, (II) Benefits and Barriers to Transforma-
tion, and (III) T-Government and Public Service Delivery. Section I has
Public Sector Transformation through E-Government 5
chapters that deal with the important theories and concepts in transfor-
mational e-government research such as open government, service deliv-
ery reform, economic constraints, internal organizational change, and
performance improvements. The overriding contribution to the research
on transformational e-government is that change can occur as a result of
e-government, but it is a slow process and often incremental process.
Section II discusses some of the benefi
fits and barriers to transformation
change from e-government. Again repeating some of the themes from Sec-
tion I, the benefi
fits are improvements in service delivery and increased par-
ticipation by citizens in the process of governance. However, the barriers
are the digital divide, or those groups that are left out of the development
of e-government for transformation change.
Section III, the fi
final section of the book, focuses on transformation gov-
ernment or T-Government and public service delivery. As we learned from
previous chapters the overriding and notable contribution of T-Govern-
ment is to improve service delivery for public sector organizations. This
chapter as a result provides examples of improvements in service delivery
through increased collaboration, improved technologies, shared services,
and increased channel choice.
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