Indicators and Measures of E-Government

2011 ◽  
pp. 1923-1929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Amoretti ◽  
Fortunato Musella
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Public ◽  
Analytical Point ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

Although the question of measurement is crucial when defining any concept, little attention has been devoted to a comprehensive view of information and communication technologies (ICTs) applications, spanning qualitative and quantitative assessments. Due to the lack of a clear definition of e-government, many differences can be noted in the way in which digital policies have been interpreted by academics and practitioners. Coined by the U.S. programme for reinventing government under the Clinton administration (National Performance Review), the term e-government refers to a public sector reorganisation which aims at increasing the efficiency of the public administration and reducing its budget through the use of new technologies. In the words of Douglas Holmes (2001), e-government is “the use of information technology, in particular the Internet, to deliver public services in a much more convenient, customer oriented, cost effective and altogether different and better way. It affects an agency’s dealing with citizens, business and other public agencies as well as its internal business processes and employees” (p. 2). Yet many definitions go beyond the role of e-government in improving the provision of public services. Indeed, the label e-government supports other definitions, not necessarily limited to the computerisation of the public administration (Osborne & Gaebler, 1992). The concept of e-government seems to contain both the redesigning of public services system and a wider transformation of the relationship between private and public actors, so that the restructuring of public administration–influenced by the ideal of a new public management–is combined with the renewal of the democratic decision-making process. Digital policies are presumed to be a key element in improving online service quality and other factors, casting a new role for the citizen-costumer. At the same time, although e-government is becoming a catch-all concept, from an analytical point of view, official reports produced by international actors show a significant convergence in the way in which this is evaluated and measured. Diffusion of e-government practices are often closely related, and limited, to features of public administration Web sites, with reference to dimensions of openness and interactivity (La Porte, Demchak, & De Jong, 2002). Other studies focus exclusively on how citizens and businesses perceive the quality of public e-service, with reference to customer satisfaction, benefits conceived in terms of value and utility of services offered and opportunity of use as strategic factors for performance efficacy and efficiency (Graafland-Essers & Ettedgui, 2003; Stowers, 2004). Only recently a new approach has taken shape, which concentrates more attention on socio-political aspects of the intensive use of new technologies.

Perceptions towards the quality of public services in Romania. Poor outcomes of public administration reforms?

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Claudia Petrescu ◽  
Flavis Mihalache
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Administration Reform

Public services represent an important dimension of quality of society, as they create the contextual conditions for people to further their quality of life. Romanian public administration reform has brought about a constant institutional transformation, which has influenced both the specific features and the quality of the services. This article aims to analyse trends regarding the perceived quality of public services in Romania, in European comparative perspective, using the data of the European Quality of Life Survey (2003–2016). The article aims to understand the low satisfaction with public services in Romania against the background of the public service reform measures taken by government in this period. The article describes the context of Romanian public administration and public service reform, the most important public policy measures adopted and the most important challenges. The lack of vision in the public service reform, the partial introduction of reform elements, the permanent and, sometimes, conflicting changes are issues that may have influenced the way in which the population perceives the quality of public services. The decentralisation process of public services and the insufficient allocation of public funds for delivering such services at local level might have an impact on their quality and quantity perceived by the population. Keywords: public services; public administration reform; citizens’ satisfaction; New Public Management; New Weberianism.

Measurement, incorporation and use of performance information in the budget

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-355
Author(s):  
Pieter Bleyen ◽  
Stijn Lombaert ◽  
Geert Bouckaert
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Fiscal Sustainability ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Budgeting ◽  
Logical Sequence ◽  
Analytical Point ◽  
The Way

In search for efficiency, effectiveness and fiscal sustainability, governments gather more performance information than ever before. As many of them have sought to incorporate and use this kind of information in budgeting and planning documents, the main goal of this article is to discover how local government performance budgeting practices can be mapped by a survey in a way that enables international comparison. Three previous mapping endeavors served as preliminary guidelines to develop a refined index based on the dimensions measurement, incorporation and use of performance information which form a generally accepted logical sequence in the public management literature. Results for the case of 304 Flemish local governments show a huge variation in the way performance budgeting is practiced, as index scores vary from nearly zero to more than 76 percent. Although it seems that available performance information is incorporated fairly well, measurement and use are lacking. It can be concluded that measuring performance budgeting offers interesting insights in the way this kind of budgeting is practiced in local governments. Although, from an analytical point of view, it is not sufficient to fully grasp performance budgeting and this for several reasons discussed in the article.

scholarly journals When a Market Runs a Hierarchy: Retrenchment of Bureaucratic Practices in Lithuanian Uniformed Services

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-24
Author(s):  
Svajūnė Ungurytė-Ragauskienė ◽  
Mantas Bileišis
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
New Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Public Administration Reform

Some public administration literature that focuses on public administration reform indulges in constructing grand narrative theories such as New Public Management (NPM), or New Governance (NG). The most recent such theory that has been gaining attention over the past decade is the Neo Weberian State (NWS). The content of the theory with regard to its practical implication when it comes to reform is still unsettled. However, one key assumption behind the NWS is that reforms should be handled with care, as they may undermine the very institutions that have brought Western societies to the levels of their development they are in now. NPM’s drive to increase efficiency, and NG’s – democracy from the point of view of NWS is impossible if reforms deconstruct institutions that ensure the protection of the public interest and rule of law. NWS’s critique of post-communist reform efforts in the new eastern EU member-states is a case in point suggesting that leapfrogging the construction of a professional bureaucracy is ill-advised and does not lead to politically desired outcomes. In this paper we aim to evaluate which path of reform may lead to the best outcomes in a particular area of the public service – two non-military uniformed services of Lithuania – customs and penitentiary. These services have to a large degree avoided sweeping reforms throughout the independence period, in both cases – a soviet institutional legacy is also a factor. Both Customs and the Penitentiary service are suffering from multiple corruption scandals and very low public trust levels. These services are continuously in the crosshairs of reform, but few have been clearly articulated, even less so – implemented. Applying NPM to uniformed services, due to the nature of their functions was complicated, so as reforms in the 1990s and 2000s went along in the other sectors, policy-makers have largely left uniformed to their own devices, and this has led to retrenchment of the bureaucratic principles as would historical institutionalisms theory predict. We suggest that NPM-oriented governance avoids intervention in areas where NPM principles are hard to apply, leaving such areas without proper attention to continue down undesirable development paths. When the deconstruction of a hierarchy appears impossible, higher order governance needs to remain modelled as hierarchy as well. NWS in this case does offer a management modernization agenda, which could keep state institutions in step with social, technological, and economic developments.

Information in Electronic Government

2011 ◽  
pp. 1035-1040
Author(s):  
M. Corsi
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
Information Costs ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Public

Information and communications technology (ICT) is radically changing productive processes in both the private and public sectors. Institutions that are more efficient eliminate production diseconomies and enable a more functional market. Specifically, institutions can multiply the incentives for human capital accumulation both by reducing the endogenous uncertainty in social-economic relations and by providing additional input to human capital generation itself (think of schools, universities, and research institutes). Mainstream economic thinking generally accepts the argument according to which the transaction and information costs that are inherent to policy-making are largely greater than those incurred by the private sector (Dixit, 1996). If this is true, then public sector intervention is denied the possibility of achieving more efficient results than those obtained by the private sector (Holstrom & Milgrom,1991). Yet, ICT is radically transforming the way government entities perform their activities, which makes a timely debate on public sector information, in all its forms, all the more crucial. Public administrations are following the example of the private sector by harnessing the efficiency-boosting potential of these new technologies. This development goes under the name of “electronic government” (e-government) and it encompasses both the internal and external applications of ICT in the public sector. The importance of this development is increasingly evident in many countries of the world. Experiments are underway in Europe, at all levels of public administration (local, regional, national, and supranational), to improve the efficiency of public services and to increase interactions with the external world. ICT not only facilitates the inner workings of administrative machinery, it also eases communication between different branches of the administration and its interaction with citizens and businesses. This latter aspect is one of the main advantages of e-government, as it brings public sector entities, businesses, and citizens closer together, as well as improving the standard of public services. In September 2003, the European Commission issued a Communication on “The Role of E-government for Europe’s Future”: it stated that e-government “is an enabler to realise a better and more efficient public administration. It improves the development and implementation of public policies and helps the public sector to cope with the conflicting demands of delivering more and better services with fewer resources” (p. 7).

scholarly journals Customer as the recipient of the public administration services

2018 ◽  
Vol 189 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-282
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Stronska-Rembisz ◽  
Mariusz Sikora
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Way

The article discusses the way of perceiving the public administration recipient in the context of services provided by this administration. The authors pay special attention to changes taking place in public institutions, resulting in a change in the perception of a recipient of public services. The work also presents the specifics of the public administration customer, applying a comparison to the company's customer.

scholarly journals “Squandered in Real Time”: How Public Management Theory Underestimated the Public Administration–Politics Dichotomy

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 480-488
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Young ◽  
Kimberly K. Wiley ◽  
Elizabeth A. M. Searing
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
New Public Governance ◽  
Definition Of

The United States places great emphasis on the public administration–politics dichotomy, but what happens to public management when the dichotomy breaks down? The authors critically evaluate the public management frameworks, New Public Management and New Public Governance, in the context of two major public management failures: the U.S. State of Illinois Budget Impasse during 2015–2017 and the COVID-19 Pandemic. A definition of public management failure is proffered, and both public management frameworks are found to have polarized and opposing views on whether process or outcome should have priority in crisis. We question whether the two major seminal theories in our field are still generalizable when their assumptions about the dichotomy and political neutrality are challenged in times of crises. The polarized perspectives were found to contribute to the public management failures. Ultimately, both frameworks were found to minimize the political influences that public administration and public management operate under, leaving a need for a more holistic and realistic framework.

scholarly journals CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE DEFINITION OF «QUALITY» IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC SERVICES DELIVERY

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-158
Author(s):  
M. Zhumashevа ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Administration System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

This article examines the basics of the definition of «quality» in the area of public services delivery, and its role in the public administration system as a whole. The article examines the evolution of the definition of «quality» in relation to the public services delivery and its modern meaning. This topic is relevant, since public services are one of the main indicators of the country's socio-economic development. At the same time, the level of quality of public services directly reflects the standard of living of the population.

scholarly journals Development of the public services system in the context of digitalization of public administration

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1 SI) ◽  
pp. 117-119
Author(s):  
Tetiana Serohina
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Modern System

The study reveals the inseparability of the trends of digitalization of society from the modern system of public services, which is one of the leading elements of e-government. Particular attention is paid to the advantages of its involvement, as well as problematic issues that arise on domestic soil in the introduction of new technologies. It is proposed to consider the concept of "State in a smartphone" through the prism of the stages of formation of e-government. Emphasis is placed on the need to take into account the experience of foreign countries in developing a system of public services in modern conditions.

DIRECTIONS FOR PROVISION OF PUBLIC BODIES’ TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY DEVELOPMENT

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
pp. 144-154
Author(s):  
Olga Mykhailоvna Ivanitskaya
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Main Task ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Legislative Initiative ◽  
The Government ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Transparency And Accountability

The article is devoted to issues of ensuring transparency and ac- countability of authorities in the conditions of participatory democracy (democ- racy of participation). It is argued that the public should be guaranteed not only the right for access to information but also the prerequisites for expanding its par- ticipation in state governance. These prerequisites include: the adoption of clearly measurable macroeconomic and social goals and the provision of control of the processes of their compliance with the government by citizens of the country; ex- tension of the circle of subjects of legislative initiative due to realization of such rights by citizens and their groups; legislative definition of the forms of citizens’ participation in making publicly significant decisions, design of relevant orders and procedures, in particular participation in local referendum; outlining methods and procedures for taking into account social thought when making socially im- portant decisions. The need to disclose information about resources that are used by authorities to realize the goals is proved as well as key performance indicators that can be monitored by every citizen; the efforts made by governments of coun- tries to achieve these goals. It was noted that transparency in the conditions of representative democracy in its worst forms in a society where ignorance of the thought of society and its individual members is ignored does not in fact fulfill its main task — to establish an effective dialogue between the authorities and so- ciety. There is a distortion of the essence of transparency: instead of being heard, society is being asked to be informed — and passively accept the facts presented as due. In fact, transparency and accountability in this case are not instruments for the achievement of democracy in public administration, but by the form of a tacit agreement between the subjects of power and people, where the latter passes the participation of an “informed observer”.

CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. CASE STUDY IN ROMANIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 14(63) (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Maria Popescu ◽  
Lidia Mândru
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
Management Perspective

"The paper addresses to the Public Administration (PA) from the management perspective. The first part of the study defines the conceptual framework of the two management doctrines, generically called the New Public Management and New Public Government. The second part of the paper reviews the transformation movement in PA management and governance in Romania in the last two decades. The methodology of the study consists in the analysis of the recent theoretic studies on PA modern approach, and official documents, national and European reports, and other publications related to the PA reform in Romania. "

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