Editorial

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the first issue of the tenth volume of Transforming Government: People, Process, and Policy (TGPPP). Over the years, the constant update of the journal’s scope to advocate theoretical as well as empirical research has led to an increase in the quality of submissions and citations. The papers in this issue of TGPPP provide a rich contextual background in the area of electronic identification (eID), open government, e-Governments service disruptions, evaluating e-Government services and transformational government. The first four papers within the issue comprise a special section guest edited by Ulf Melin, Karin Axelsson, Elin Wihlborg and Marijn Janssen on the topic of “Identity, identification and eID in a public e-service context”.

The first paper is by Peter Parycek and Gabrie Lentner, entitled “Electronic Identity (eID) and Electronic Signature (eSig) for Government Services – A Comparative Legal Study”. This paper provides an overview of approaches towards identity management pertaining to Citizen to Government e-Government applications. The overview is based on elaborating on and comparing different approaches towards electronic identities and e-Government taken by Austria and Liechtenstein, Germany and the Swiss Canton Zug. The authors assert that such an analysis will also help shed light on the regulatory framework provided for by the European Union. Here, an important distinction is made to understand the differences and possible solutions faced by e-Government systems regarding an electronic identity management system. The paper adopts a comparative law methodology that is considered similar to the case study research that is a common qualitative research method in information systems (Yin, 2002). The comparative law methodology was adopted specifically under the premise that the legal framework is essential for the design of eIDM, based on the reasoning that law provides the foundation for any technological solution and also the framework within which it operates. Thus, this study also provides insights for legal informatics research that combines technology and law. The findings indicate that the four countries compared adopted four different technical and legal solutions. The reason lies in the different legal cultures and the existing legal frameworks in which the legislator in most cases seeks to fit the respective e-Government solution, rather than adopting a completely new solution.

Following the above research paper, we have a research paper by Karin Hedström, Fredrik Karlsson and Fredrik Söderström, entitled “Challenges of introducing a professional eID card within health care”. The idea of transforming the health-care sector through the use of information technology has grown to the extent that it has resulted in significant investments being made (Angst and Agarwal, 2009). In line with the latter argument, the authors assert that the introduction of eID cards within health care is one definitive example. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to examine challenges that arise when introducing an eID card for professional use in a health-care setting. For this purpose, the research used the theoretical lens of Gil-García’s and Pardo’s (2005) framework for classifying the challenges that arise from electronic government initiatives. It combined this approach with boundary object theory (Star and Griesemer, 1989). Thus, viewing eID as a boundary object allows the researchers to study how the socio-technical challenges of eID are translated across different social worlds (Star and Griesemer, 1989). In turn, it also provides a better understanding of the different interpretations of eID and, subsequently, the role of eID within healthcare. A case study from health care in a Swedish county council is used to demonstrate that although it is possible to identify a set of main challenges for an organisation, the degree of coherence across different social worlds can vary. This research advances existing research into the professional use of eID in healthcare (Campos et al., 2011) and how to use a multi-actor perspective when studying the challenges associated with implementing electronic government initiatives.

We then have Tharindu Rajapaksha and Lalitha Fernando presenting their research, entitled “An Analysis of the Standards of the Government Websites of Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study on selected Asian Countries”. This paper intends to identify the reasons for the lower ranking of the Online Service Index of Sri Lanka under the United Nations e-Government Readiness Index. The study is conducted as a comparative study on selected Asian countries and suggests remedial measures for the improvement of the status of e-Government of Sri Lanka. Identification, authentication and signing technologies are important elements of online services. Through the eID technology, the government services could be provided more efficiently and effectively. Citizens are increasingly obtaining more secured, convenient and trustworthy services from government organisations while saving time and cost. Thus, through this paper, the authors attempt to encourage government organisations to use e-services to public via providing e-solutions. In this regard, as the sample of websites ranked according to the Online Service Index of the United Nations, four government websites of Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Singapore were selected. They are the National Portal and the websites of the five Ministries: The Ministry of Education, Finance, Health, Labour and Social Services. Asian countries selected are India, Bangladesh and Singapore, including Sri Lanka. Observation method was the mainly used method for the data collection. The websites were evaluated in contrast with the help of the “Main features reviewed by the United Nations e-Government Survey” as the checklist. Several weaknesses of the online services of the government websites of Sri Lanka were identified. These weaknesses have been the key/root causes for the decline of the rank of the Online Service Index of Sri Lanka.

Then, we have Melin Ulf, Karin Axelsson and Fredrik Söderström presenting their research, entitled “Managing the Development of e-ID in a Public eservice Context – Challenges and Path Dependencies from a Life-cycle Perspective”. This research reports that e-Government development initiatives, and especially inter-organisational projects, face a number of challenges; as a result, there is a need for a more thorough understanding of e-ID development within a public e-service context. This paper, therefore, analyses the contemporary management of e-ID development to:

• identify and formulate challenges; and

• reflect upon the use of a combination of perspectives.

To generate knowledge, the authors investigate eID development in Sweden from an e-Government systems development life cycle perspective and a project challenge and critical success factor perspective. Learning from the past and from the experiences of different development initiatives is essential for the development of public e-services (Irani et al., 2007). The e-ID development is regarded as a process and a special case of an IS development initiative, performed under a certain set of laws and regulations and, therefore, interesting to learn from. The research questions are:

This is a qualitative case study covering an analysis of the three years in a larger project focusing e-ID in a public e-service setting. Empirical sources have been face-to-face interviews, official documents and different kind of forums for presentations and discussions in, for example, hearings arranged by authorities, meetings with the coordinating agency and practitioners’ networks events. This study concludes that there are significant challenges involved in managing e-ID development due to its contextual and integrated character.

Following the above eID-based research paper, we have a paper by Liliane Corrêa de Oliveira Klaus, entitled “Transforming Armed Forces through Military Transparency: Open Government Challenges in a World of Secrecy”. Given the cases of military corruption and moral failure which are becoming more and more public, the traditional excuse of all permissibility based on a supposed moral superiority used by the military institutions is starting to fall. The notion of Open Government helped to push for governmental action in giving citizens what they have right to know. To further explore the matter, the authors define military transparency as differentiating from military secrecy in countries pleading to have open government policies. The study also illustrates that countries allegedly committed to democracy, open governance and open data should coherently fight for military transparency, so that secrecy policy should rule no more. For the proposed endeavour, and within the open government context, a discussion on when military secrecy could be justifiable and on what it means for military information to be unjustifiably kept secret was provided. The result is by no means a world of Lessig’s “naked transparency”, but one where secrecy should be an exceptional rule whose democracy-endangering products must be carefully voted, publicly discussed and thoroughly justifiable. This paper proposes notions of military secrecy and military transparency and suggests that the second term as a broader notion which includes the first. This paper indirectly identifies the conditions for the inadmissibility of military secrecy and calls attention to the bad externalities of unjustifiably holding public information back.

Nurul Aisyah Sim Abdullah, Noor Laila Mohd Noor and Emma Nuraihan Mior Ibrahim, then, present their research, entitled “Contributing Factors to e-Governments Service Disruptions”. This study aims to explore the current state of disruption of e-Government services in Malaysia, the key components of IT services that contribute to the disruption and the attention being given to each component in ensuring the availability of e-Government. The study is divided into two parts:

1. The first part focuses on the investigation of the contribution of each component of IT services, namely people, process and technology toward e-Government service disruption; and

2. The second part looks into the identification of the key components of IT services that contribute more to the service disruption.

The research was conducted based on the hypothetical-deductive approach. Based on the synthesised literature review, a conceptual model is proposed and several hypotheses are developed. The study was undertaken using questionnaires via convenience sampling, whereby eight frontline agencies, six departments and four ministries in Malaysian public service were selected. The selected agencies are frontline agencies (agencies that deal directly with citizens) and have implemented e-Government. The respondents consist of IT department employees of those agencies. The data for this research were analysed using the descriptive and inferential statistics analysis. Statistically, both human error and process failure are significantly correlated with e-Government service disruptions in the Malaysian Public Sector. This study identifies the factors that contribute to the service disruption of e-Government and, thus, gives the priority of each factor based on its contribution to the e-Government service disruption.

Then, we have another qualitative research study by Mariam Rehman, Mohammad Anwer, Vatcharaporn Esichaikul and Maria Anjum, entitled “E-Government Services Evaluation from Citizen Satisfaction Perspective: A Case of Afghanistan”. In the context of e-Government services’ evaluation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has made a great stride in the implementation of e-Government, which has increased the efficiency of delivery of services. This paper analyses and evaluates the current status of e-Government services in Afghanistan. To identify the evaluation criteria based on citizen satisfaction from e-Government services, the proposed Government to Citizen (G2C) evaluation model is considered in the context of Afghanistan. The model consists of critical aspects of e-Government that includes back office process, front side (supply side, demand side) and soft measures with citizen satisfaction from e-Government services. The mixed research method (quantitative and qualitative) is used, and quantitative data analysis results are supported through qualitative data analysis. The study was conducted in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, Paktia (Gardiz city), and Khost city. These cities were selected for the study because of their geographical location, populations and access to resources, such as universities, government organisations and schools. The findings reveal that citizen satisfaction from e-Government services in Afghanistan are affected by services availability on multiple channels, citizen-centric features, para-lingual support, process performance, skills divide, awareness, information security and transaction security.

Finally, we have a paper by Tendani Mawela, Nixon Ochara, and Hossana Twinomurinzim, entitled “Missed opportunities for introducing Transformational Government: Assessing the contentious e-toll project in South Africa”. Researchers argue that it is becoming more accepted that “a non-consulted public is often an angry one” (Rowe and Frewer, 2004, p. 514); thus, steps need to be taken to involve citizens to enhance the success of transformational government projects. Thus, this paper answers the question:

This paper investigates how the roles and interests of various stakeholders can be used to influence the trajectory of an e-Government project and can affect the sustainability of other government projects. The authors address the research question by focusing on a specific transformational government project: the South African Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) typically linked to an electronic road tolling initiative conceived in 2006 by the South African Government. The initiation of the GFIP was partly based on the need to evolve a funding mechanism that would ensure that road maintenance and improvement is sustainable. The research uses an interpretive perspective and actor–network theory to identify the roles and interests of the various stakeholders within the project and assess how each stakeholder could have better influenced the project’s sustainability using a t-Government approach. This paper contributes to the research on the emerging discourse on t-Government. The paper also highlights the utility of ANT as a tool for understanding dynamic public sector ICT programmes, their associated complexities and unintended consequences.

We hope you will find this issue interesting and though provoking and hope to receive your valuable contributions for the forthcoming issue.