Editorial

Citation

Irani, Z. and Kamal, M. (2015), "Editorial", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 9 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-08-2015-0036

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Volume 9, Issue 4

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the fourth issue of the ninth 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 telemedicine, organisational cynicism in the public sector, roadmap for planning and implementation of interoperability capability in e-Government, applications in the labour and social security regulatory area in the e-Government context, digital communication challenges within local governments in the rural regions, barriers to transforming government, readiness of e-Government, operational environment in government front offices and, finally, mergers of cadastral agencies and public land registers.

This issue commences with a viewpoint by Yogesh Dwivedi and Rajesh Chandwani entitled “Telemedicine in India: current state, challenges and opportunities”. This viewpoint highlights the scope of telemedicine as a research discipline, presents the current state of telemedicine in India, discusses the challenges in its diffusion and, finally, suggests the way forward for implementing similar initiatives in the future. This paper is immensely important, given the size of India and its disparate population that need growing access to healthcare. From a research perspective, telemedicine can enable the enhancement of healthcare delivery in several ways, e.g. including among others:

• Technical requirements of a particular intervention could be uniquely based on several dimensions: real-time versus non-real-time, acute disease versus chronic disease, specialist versus primary consultation and hospice/telecentre based versus home based (Craig and Patterson, 2005).

• Telemedicine has also been used for continuing medical education for enhancing the knowledge and skills of medical practitioners as well as for training of paramedical personnel (Mishra et al., 2009).

The challenges in optimal adoption of telemedicine for enhancing healthcare delivery in the Indian region can be discussed in the context of policy level, societal or the institutional level and medical infrastructural level. Given the significant bureaucratic Indian system, this viewpoint raises the profile of telemedicine in this challenging domain. While such categorisation is not compartmental, it enables a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and highlights the steps needed to overcome them. The authors suggest that a number of telemedicine initiatives that have been launched in India largely remain confined to a “pilot project” level, whereas the adoption of telemedicine into mainstream healthcare delivery system remains elusive. The result of such pilot projects should be demonstrated to wider population to illustrate benefits of such initiatives.

Following the above viewpoint, we have a research paper by Usman Aslam, Muhammad Arfeen, Wahbeeah Mohti and Ubaid Rahman, presenting his research entitled Organizational Cynicism and its Consequences for Privatization (Evidence from Federal Government Agency of Pakistan). In this study, the authors explore the causes of organisational cynicism against the change initiative in a federal government agency context, i.e. State Life Insurance Corporation. The rationale is to examine and understand the impact of cynicism on the relationship among personality traits, organisational contextual factors and job outcomes, i.e. how to capture cynicism through the latter, which can increase employee’s intention to quit and decrease the continuance commitment. As a result, this research proposes an initial conceptual model on organisational cynicism. To validate the model, the following questions are addressed:

Q1. Whether any connection exists between personality traits and employee’s turnover intention in public sector organisation?

Q2. Whether any association exists between organisational contextual variables and job outcomes?

Q3. To what extent organisational cynicism moderates the relationship between personality traits and employee’s intention to quit?

Q4. Whether organisational cynicism moderates the relationship between organisational contextual variables and job outcomes?

A case study research design is used, and data are collected from 335 employees by using purposive sampling technique and structured questionnaire, while linear regression and Baron and Kenny’s (1986) test is used to evaluate the direct and indirect models. The empirical findings highlighted that there is a considerable positive relationship between dispositional resistance and employee’s turnover intention. Additionally, a significant link was also investigated between organisational contextual factors and job outcomes, whereas interactive impact of behavioural resistance was found in the relation among dispositional resistance, organisational contextual factors and employee’s intent to quit. Nevertheless, the organisational cynicism dimension, i.e. cognitive resistance, did not influence the direct linear relationship between organisational context and continuance commitment.

We then have Rajesh Sharma and Prabin Panigrahi presenting their research entitled Developing a Roadmap for Planning and Implementation of Interoperability Capability in E-Government. In this research, the authors argue that there is an urgent need for developing a tool to facilitate rollout of e-Government projects with interoperability capabilities. This research further asserts that while prior research has looked at individual dimensions of interoperability capability (Scholl and Klischewski, 2007; Pardo et al., 2012), there is still a scarcity of applied research which can be of use for the practitioners by providing a holistic view of essential activities for planning and implementation of interoperability capability. This paper, therefore, aims to propose a tool in the form of a roadmap for planning and implementation of interoperability capabilities. The proposed roadmap can enable knowledge sharing among key stakeholders to building a common vision and contribute to planning and the implementation of interoperability features of e-Government. Based on the objective of the study, the authors define the following two research questions:

RQ1. What are the major issues that need to be addressed for planning and implementation of interoperability capabilities?

RQ2. How these issues can be addressed while planning and implementing interoperability capabilities?

The paper falls within the category of applied research, as it primarily seeks to develop a tool that can be used by practitioners for the effective planning and implementation of interoperability capabilities in e-Government projects. The status of interoperability in some developed countries is reviewed where e-Government is in a mature stage of development. Based on the reviews conducted, the authors identified an initial set of issues that can guide semi-structured interviews with policymakers, partners and the government agencies implementing e-Government projects. The views of these key stakeholders are then be analysed and used for developing a roadmap for implementation of interoperability of e-Government services. From the findings perspective, the paper provides insights into various planning and implementation issues that have to be addressed for building interoperability capability. A roadmap is proposed encompassing the essential legal, regulatory, organisational and technical aspects that are deemed essential for successful planning and implementation of interoperability capability.

Then we have Constantinos Stefanou and Anastasios Skouras with their paper entitled “E-Government: Applications in the Labor and Social Security Regulatory Area”. This research analyses e-Government initiatives in the context of labour and social security legislation areas and identifies whether private sector companies in Greece are willing to utilise them. E-Government is predominantly seen as a technological achievement rather than a re-organisational and transformation tool (Nograsek, 2011), whereas this research approaches e-Government use through the determination of how it can lead to the re-organisation of governmental functions and procedures to achieve the desired objectives of all interested parties. A questionnaire instrument was used to collect the data – the questionnaire focused on enquiring whether companies prefer to use the integrated information system (IIS) introduced by the Ministry of Labour or the Payroll Information System (PIS) provided via a cloud computing platform by the public sector. The Delphi technique is used and a panel of experts consisting of inspectors at the Ministry of Labour in an attempt to identify which of these two systems would help make efficient and effective contributions to existing systems. The empirical findings indicate that the companies surveyed acknowledge the need for e-Government, and about 50 per cent of them would feel positive about using the proposed by the government application (PIS). Small companies are more willing to accept PIS, and large companies feel more positive about using the IIS. The authors assert that this study is a first attempt to analyse e-Government initiatives in labour and social security legislation areas in Greece. The main idea is not simply to make procedures electronic as the IIS probably aims to but to re-organise and re-define these procedures.

Following the above e-Government-based research paper, we have a paper by Julie Freeman and Sora Park entitled Rural Realities: Digital Communication Challenges for Rural Australian Local Governments. In this paper, Julie and Sora explore the challenges for rural Australian local government organisations during the transition to high-speed broadband infrastructure. Despite the National Broadband Network promising global connectivity, significant access discrepancies still remain between rural and urban areas. The authors argue that the length of time required for such a complex, large-scale project presents challenges for digital practices during the transition to high-speed access. As a result, this research further investigates the impact of this interim phase of connectivity on rural Australia and local digital government. It draws from the views of representatives from seven rural councils in the state of New South Wales to highlight the significant divides that exist in terms of the access and resources required for digital interaction with citizens. To identify persistent rural connectivity issues, the multi-layers of digital exclusion must be considered. In doing so, a full-day workshop was conducted on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion. The findings highlight the complexities of rural connectivity and digital initiatives during the current phase of broadband development in Australia. Despite significant federal plans and investments, the workshop outcomes demonstrate that considerable rural areas still have no or poor Internet access, which suggests infrastructure advancements should be prioritised in underserved areas.

Lloyd Waller and Aldrane Genius then present their research entitled Barriers to Transforming Government in Jamaica: Challenges to Implementing Initiatives to Enhance the Efficiency, Effectiveness and Service Delivery of Government through ICTs (e-Government). In this qualitative-based research, Lloyd and Aldrane present barriers inhibiting the implementation of initiatives that seek to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and service-delivery of government through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and e-Government in Jamaica. The barriers influencing the implementation of e-Government services are related to technological, organisational, social and financial. The data were collected through interviewing twenty-three experts working at various levels of e-Government implementation in Jamaica. Data collected was then analysed utilising the constant comparative analysis technique, coding and recursive abstraction. Based on the empirical findings, factors that undermine the use of ICTs to improve government efficiency, effectiveness and public service delivery in Jamaica include:

• technical issues (e.g. ICT infrastructure, privacy and security);

• social issues (e.g. culture and the digital divide); and

• financial issues (e.g. high cost of implementation).

Organisational issues such as top management support, resistance to change to electronic ways, lack of collaboration, lack of qualified personnel and training courses were not identified as barriers to e-Government in Jamaica. The authors assert that their research addresses the global scholarly and policy gap in the literature, as it relates to Caribbean experiences with barriers to e-Government implementation and therefore provides data for global comparative analysis. The study also contributes to global attempts to holistically understand the e-Government phenomenon by extending the current discourse to the Caribbean.

Then, we have another qualitative research study by Shah Miah and Wahed Waheduzzaman entitled “Readiness Assessment of e-Government: A Developing Country Perspective”. The extant e-Government studies have suggested that limited methodologies result in unsuccessful implementation across government and public strategies (Koh et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2008). Moreover, e-Government readiness is not limited only to assess the readiness of government officials and government systems but also to assess the readiness of all stakeholders including citizens in a holistic integration to transform a traditional government system into an e-Government system (Grindle, 2004; O’Flynn, 2007). Shah and Wahed argue that evaluating the readiness of e-Government implementation should use broader methodologies that accommodate collective functions of government. As a result, this research describes an assessment methodology of e-Government readiness through informing an empirical study that investigates collaborative needs in operating effective governance at root-level public service delivery in a developing country context. From the research methodological perspective, the study is based on interview data collected from a total of 13 government officials, 21 elected representatives and 106 targeted citizens in local government of Bangladesh. The paper introduced a holistic view when assessing e-Government readiness through an empirical study that investigates collaborative needs in operating effective government in a developing country context. Existing research studies on readiness were focused on assessing objective properties – e.g. technology management, whereas this study has focused on soft matters such as citizens and their collaborative aspects in a subjective manner to broaden the targeted horizon of readiness assessment.

The above qualitative research is followed by a design science-based research contribution by Tobias Giesbrecht, Birgit Schenk and Gerhard Schwabe entitled “Empowering Front Office Employees with Counselling Affordances”. The authors build on the concept of educational affordances (Bower, 2008), known from e-learning and educational research and applied in various educational contexts, like e.g. classrooms or self-directed learning. Using educational affordances in such purely educational context turned out to be effective in guiding learners in their learning behaviours towards educational objectives. This research explores whether the concept of educational affordances could successfully be applied in front-office work environments. As a result, this research proposes to offer front-office employees “counselling affordances”, integrated into their workplaces, using suitably designed IT artefacts. In doing so, the research question is addressed:

RQ3. Can appropriately designed educational affordances help initiating effective on-the-job learning in the work environment of government front offices? And what is an appropriate design?

The study follows a design science research methodology, conducted in collaboration with the public administration of a major German city. Data were collected using multiple quantitative and qualitative methods including questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and video analysis. The paper highlights the previously neglected aspects of employee’s skills and qualification for promoting governmental transformation. By highlighting the beneficial relationship between affordances and on-the-job learning, the paper provides novel insights on the role of ICT to promote governmental transformation.

Finally, we have a paper by Walter de Vries, Peter Laarakker and Rik Wouters entitled “Living apart together – A comparative evaluation of mergers of cadastral agencies and public land registers in Europe”. The main aim of this paper is to derive how and why the anticipated gains from increased collaboration and integration between the cadastre and land registers could possibly conflict with anticipated gains or losses of individuals possibly preventing actual merger. The authors argue that if mergers occur after a gradual increase of collaboration and integration, it is appropriate to adopt a co-evolutionary perspective on organisational changes (Lewin and Volberda, 1999). Co-evolution assumes that changes in the internal environment (e.g. people’s perceptions and behaviour and changes in organisational processes) and changes in the external environment (e.g. funding regimes, policies and politics) are interdependent and that all evolve simultaneously. As a result, the following research question is addressed:

RQ4. To which extent do external stimuli leading towards organisational mergers conflict with the individual experiences and behaviour before and during mergers?

The study applies a mixed methods’ approach of data collection and a co-evolutionary perspective on organisational changes. Agencies change alongside perceptions of staff members and external stimuli of policies. These are exposed through narrated personal vignettes and international benchmarking surveys of land agencies. Through the empirical research, the authors report that mergers may not be a next logical step when collaborating and integrating. Instead, mergers need to be rooted in personal long-standing collaboration practices. Furthermore, individual staff members may only be willing to engage in the operational aspects of mergers if it significantly makes their own tasks simpler and the quality of their work better appreciated by external customers.

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

Zahir Irani and Muhammad Kamal - Brunel University, UK

References

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