Hybrid organizational forms in public sector’s digital transformation: a technology enactment approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how public sector organizations become nimbler while retaining their resilience during digital transformation.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a hermeneutic approach in conducting deep expert interviews with 22 senior executives and managers of multiple organizations. The method blends theory and expert views to study digital transformation in the context of enterprise information management.FindingsDrawing on technology enactment framework (TEF), this research poses that organizational form is critical in the enactment of technologies in digital transformation. By extending the TEF, the authors claim that organizations are not in pure bureaucratic or network organizational form during digital transformation; instead, they need a hybrid combination in order to support competing strategic needs for nimbleness and resilience simultaneously. The four hybrid organizational forms presented in this model (4R) allow for networks and bureaucracy to coexist, though at different levels depending on the level of resiliency and nimbleness required at each point in the continuous digital transformation journey.Research limitations/implicationsThe main theoretical contribution of this research is to extend the TEF to illustrate that the need for coexistence of nimbleness with stability in a digital transformation results in a hybrid of networks and bureaucratic organization forms. This research aims to guide public sector organizations' digital transformation with extended the TEF as a tool for building the required organizational forms to influence the technology enactment to best meet their strategic needs in the digital era.Practical implicationsThe results from expert interviews point to the fact that the hybrid organizational forms create a multi-modal organization, extending the understanding of enterprise information management. Depending on the department or business needs, a hybrid organizational form mode would be dominant. This dominance creates a paradox in organizations to handle both resilience and nimbleness. Therefore, the 4R model is provided as a guide to public sector managers and consultants to guide strutting their organization for digital transformation.Originality/valueThe model (4R), the extended TEF, shows that organizations still work towards networks and bureaucracy; however, they are not two distinct concepts anymore; they coexist at different levels in hybrid forms depending on the needs of the organization.

Cracking the Political Code: The Case of E-participation in Colombia

Theory says that, in normal circumstances, politicians do not have many incentives to make the policy process more democratic, and that these political dynamics may be embedded into the enactment of technology. This work will try to determine if this holds true in the case of Urna de Cristal, a Colombian e-participation scheme. The nation-wide projects implemented by this programme in 2017 are analysed using three sets of political criteria—inclusion, participation, and deliberation—drawn from an evaluation framework of centralized cross-platform approaches to social media exploitation by government agencies (Ferro et al. 2013). The evidence suggests that the enactment of Urna de Cristal’s projects reflected the Colombian government’s intention of preventing the policy process from becoming more participatory and deliberative. Some data suggests the government tried to render this process more inclusive. Further research on e-participation should consider the political complexity of technology enactment in the public sector.

An empirical investigation of the relationship between e-government development and the digital economy: the case of Asian countries

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate and comprehend the nature of the relationship between e-government development and the digital economy.Design/methodology/approachA multidimensional research paradigm is developed on the basis of the technology adoption model and Fountain’s technology enactment theory. The model is empirically examined using a regional study of 20 Asian countries.FindingsA positive two-way relationship between e-government development and the digital economy has been indicated by the findings. Moreover, along with social, economic, political, technological and demographic factors, certain national cultural characteristics have significant effects on the digital economy and e-government development.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the key limitations of the study is that it is based on publicly available secondary data. Therefore, some degree of caution should be kept in mind when making generalisations about the findings of this study.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study is that it provides a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the dynamic association between e-government development and the digital economy by providing aid to policymakers in understanding the nature of dynamic relationships between the digital economy, government organisations and citizens’ adoption of technologies.

Improving school administration through information technology? How digitalisation changes the bureaucratic features of public school administration

Digital media and digital data processing have substantially influenced public institutions in recent years and changed their efficiency, effectiveness and organisational set-up (nature of organisations). Based on Fountain’s Technology Enactment Framework (TEF), this paper argues that, firstly, in a circular process, digital requirements transform the bureaucratic features of school organisation, and that the effects of digital technologies on the performance and efficiency of schools as bureaucratic organisations are ambivalent. We use interview data from a sample of 51% of the head teachers of vocational school centres in the jurisdiction of Bavaria in order to substantiate these assumptions by means of structured qualitative analysis. Email technology seems particularly significant from a quantitative perspective. Indications for the transformative nature of objective digital technologies with regard to the school bureaucracies can be found for all bureaucratic categories under consideration in this analysis, particularly for the feature ‘standardisation’. The examples presented here seem to highlight that gains in efficiency or reductions of losses in efficiency caused by digitalisation are mostly caused by the concrete use of digital technology within the respective school organisation.

More than meets the eye: working around technology in cross-boundary work contexts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational actors interpret and enact technology in cross-boundary work contexts during e-government implementation in a public organization in East Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – Case study methodology involving semi-structured interviews, unobtrusive observations, and archival records was utilized in the study. Interview subjects include management staff, general employees, and information technology (IT) specialists to provide rich descriptions of their work practice. Findings – Three distinct contexts contribute to cross-boundary work practice in relation to IT use and non-use, namely, standardization (complete IT use), hybridization (partial IT use), and conventionalization (zero IT use). Technology enactment strategies such as acceptance, avoidance, adaptation, and configuration are employed depending on actors’ interpretation of technology complexity and task interdependency. Practical implications – Early interventions could involve examining how and why employees accept or avoid technology as part of their work practice and how they switch between enactment strategies. Organizations could ensure better team support to capitalize on the robust social interaction in cross-boundary work contexts to develop greater synergy in technology improvisations. Originality/value – The study extends the technology enactment perspective as it offers new meanings to structures of action by understanding the temporal agentic orientations and how these are constructed by cross-boundary work contexts. It also offers insight into how enactment strategies are developed according to the productive tensions that arise from the interplay of cognitive orientations.

IT outsourcing in the public sector: a conceptual model

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical model explaining information technology outsourcing performance in the public sector as well as a set of empirically testable propositions to improve the understanding of key determinants of success. Design/methodology/approach – Based on Fountain ' s technology enactment framework, the authors integrated inter-organizational factors, such as trust, knowledge sharing, and quality of outsourcing interfaces, in the model and added organizational culture alignment between service providers and public administration to enhance Fountain ' s original framework. Findings – The authors proposed 17 empirically testable propositions to establish the relationships between key variables in IT outsourcing projects in the public sector. Research limitations/implications – The proposed model provides guidance for future research aimed at advancing knowledge of IT outsourcing. Originality/value – The contribution lies in the development of specific variables, such as trust, knowledge, and organizational culture, which are related to building an outsourcing relationship and are used as determinants of the quality of organizational interfaces between public bureaucracies and IT outsourcing providers.

Accountability and Information Technology Enactment

This chapter focuses on the use of information technology (IT) in government and its possible impacton governance, particularly in terms of addressing the equity concerns of meeting the basic needs of regional subpopulations. In Building the Virtual State, Jane Fountain develops her theory of technology enactment (in essence, a variety of bureaucratic behaviors reacting to IT) and then applies that framework in three case studies in the book. This inquiry examines government IT enactment in various global settings to assess (1) where and how enactment occurs and (2) what, if any, effect enactment has upon governance in particular settings. The first section traces relationships between a nation’s IT development policy and that technology’s potential to promote equity in that society. The next two sections report (respectively) on the study and observations that emerge. A brief case study about the Gyandoot, an intranet system in rural India, examines the reality of e-government as a means to promote social equality. A concluding discussion reviews those observations as they relate to the human initiative in efforts to harness information technology to achieve public goals, especially those intended to improve social wellbeing in poor societies.