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Implementation Plan’s outcomes and the quality 2 of
eGovernment products and services, in the most transparent and
participatory way as possible [11]; [24]; [86], presents the still
unresolved problem of measuring these values in each step of the
Policy Planning Cycle, maintaining the coherence of each
measure and preserving the characteristics of transparency and
reproducibility of the measurement. In this regard, scientific
literature provides several examples of metrics which can be
utilized for quantifying public value to a given eGovernment
Project [81 - 82]. Some of them have been defined also by the
authors of this article in the EU funded eGovernment Economics
Project (eGEP) [83 – 85]. However the majority of them have
been developed to benchmark eGovernment initiatives once they
are already in place and none of them has the capability to
evaluate a Policy Implementation Plan and, at the same time, the
eGovernment projects it underlines. Finally in Figure 5 we have
defined the key drivers for eGovernment adoption that in our
opinion have to be considered to overcome the barriers identified
in our analysis.
Figure 4 – Circular nature of the Evaluation Process and its
relationship with Policy Planning Circle
Figure 5 defines the relationships among key drivers of
eGovernment adoption, starting from the Parasuraman & Grewal
model [87]: eGovernment adoption depends on both high service
and product quality, together with a meaningful Public Value of a
given service [17]; [44]; [61]; [73]; [85]. However, these drivers
are filtered by public opinion’s perceptions on both the value of
service/product deployed and the level of transparency of the
related decision making process [65]; [66]; [76]. Positive
perception of value of both the eGovernment initiatives and
transparency of the decision making process, increases the
citizen’s trust in policy makers and public administration and it
stimulates eGovernment adoption.
2 Measure of the quality of the outputs of eGovernment projects can be
addressed under different perspectives [78-79]. However in our opinion,
the quality of eGovernment Projects should be mainly measured in respect
to the contribution of eGovernment services to increase participation and
co-production (see Figure 1 - eGovernment adoption Maturity Model),
thus the quality dimension should help to understand which is the
capability of a given project to prevent lock in situations and to promote
open technologies/services [80].
293
A higher level of public participation in the decision making
process can improve the quality of the product and services and
their public values and thus it can increase both citizen’s positive
perception and trust of policy makers and public administration
[20]; [26]. The scientific community has already proposed several
approaches to assess citizens perceptions on a given policy
making process [13]; [43]; [65]; [87]; and many have attempted to
explore how to stimulate public participation for a better quality
of eGovernment services and their adoption [39]; [22]; [26]; [27];
[57]; [66]. There are also some examples of practical usage of
citizens satisfaction surveys for create better eGovernment Policy
Programmes, like the “Common Measurement Tool” developed
by the Canadian Government that defined specific guidelines for
assessing the citizens’ satisfactions on eGovernment services
performances [88]. However several authors agree that still exist a
lack of measurement systems in eGovernment process
performance and outcomes [7]; [29]; [51]; [64]; [65]; [87].
Figure 5 – Key drivers of eGovernment adoption: authors'
adaptation from Parasuraman&Grewal [87].
This is particularly true at local level where there is little evidence
of Policy Evaluation Frameworks suitable for supporting Policy
Making Processes [14]; [29]; [55]; [56]; [88]. The scope of this
paper was therefore to contribute closing this gap and identifying
the key barriers and drivers aimed at supporting the full adoption
of eGovernment services towards the realisation of a well
established Digital Society. In future research we aim at further
enhancing the findings of this analysis contributing to the
development of policy evaluation methodologies, frameworks and
related models that can effectively assess the policy planning
process and the impact of eGovernment, including in particular
the ''openness dimension'' that underlines a transparent and
trustworthy participatory policy-planning process.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this paper are purely those of the authors
and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an
official position of the European Commission.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Osborne, D., Gablear, T. (1992). Reinventing
Government: how the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming
the public sector. Published by Addison-Wesley.
[2] Osborne, D., (1993). “Reinventing
Government”. In Public Productivity & Management
Review, 16(4), pp:349-356.