Abstract

This study examines the impact of administrative management and information technology on e-government success with the mediation role of knowledge management practices. For this purpose, data was gathered from 163 public sector participants in the Al-Jouf region of Saudi Arabia. This study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test and validate the research model and proposed hypotheses. The findings show that information technology and administrative management significantly increase e-government success and knowledge management practices. Moreover, the findings revealed that knowledge management practices play a vital mediating role between information technology and administrative management to make e-government success more successful and to reduce risk. Furthermore, this study strengthens the theoretical and practical implications of e-government by developing a link with socio-technical systems theory as well as with Fayol’s administrative management theory. In the end, the study recommends that policymakers and managers take serious steps to attain advantages in the application of technologies in e-government to fulfill the renewable and changing needs of beneficiaries.

Introduction

Technology has invaded all fields of life, and the importance of e-government has been increasing worldwide, not only for citizens’ ease of use but also for transparency and to eliminate corruption (Máchová et al., Citation2018; Sadik-Zada et al., Citation2022). E-government electronically provides enhancements to different stakeholders such as employees, citizens, local governments, and businesses (Chohan & Hu, Citation2022; Ciesielska et al., Citation2022). However, the actual implementation of e-governance is an extraordinary task. The administration faces multiple challenges, such as psychological resistance from citizens, the country’s digital infrastructure (websites, apps, etc.), and the legal substructure. As such, governments cannot resort to e-governance without giving due regard to challenges and objections from specific stakeholders (Bamufleh et al., Citation2021; Turban et al., Citation2021).

Successful implementation of e-governments in different countries has necessitated that administrations become online savvy. Policymakers, society, and researchers are analyzing this dramatic change (traditional to digital) in government service more closely, trying to find more appropriate implementation within the limitations of the country’s resources. Therefore, successful implementation depends on aspects such as administrative management, the use of information technology, and knowledge management practices (Abu-Shanab & Shehabat, Citation2018; Sulistiawaty et al., Citation2021).

Conclusion

In Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030 brought novelty to the production sector and also compelled the service sectors to convert from traditional to digital. Hence, e-government implications have become a strategic enabler for public management restructuring and expansion of the local economy. Many researchers agree that the e-government implementation projects have failed to attain their aims and deliver anticipated benefits. However, some factors can make e-government successful. Therefore, this study focuses on the influence of administrative management and information technology on e-government success with the mediation role of knowledge management practices in the public sectors of the Al-Jouf region of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, this research aimed to analyze the elements that influence e-government success in terms of knowledge management practices. Seven hypotheses were supported by the data. The findings disclosed that information technology and administrative management benefit e-government success and knowledge management practices. Furthermore, the findings of this study revealed that knowledge management practices play a vital mediating role between information technology and administrative management and e-government success to make it more successful and reduce the rate of risk. Therefore, this study strengthens the theoretical and practical implications of e-government by developing a link between socio-technical systems theory and Fayol’s administrative management theory. E-government can be utilized as a tool for implementing Fayol’s principles in practice, for example, by providing citizens with easy access to government services, increasing transparency and accountability, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations.

1- Introduction

2- Adoption of e-government innovations: a review of the historical development of e-government

3- Conceptual framework of a knowledge vacuum in e-government innovation

4- A case of attempted e-government system innovation

5- Discussion

6- Conclusion

References

Abstract

In spite of attempting to implement e-government innovations to enhance efficiency in public organizations for several decades, e-government innovation has often not met the expectations of citizens, legislatures, or the organizations. Although a wide range of causes from poor planning to improper implementation have been suggested for explanation of failures, it is still challenging to theoretically construct an explanation of what the overarching dynamic is behind those causes. To further develop the understanding of the conditions of unrealized benefits of e-government innovation, we propose a conceptual framework of a knowledge vacuum, which is an organizational condition in which excessive exploration and organizational inertia interact to create a vicious cycle of low performance. We first review the history of e-government and factors that affect the success and failure of e-government innovation. Next, we develop the conceptual framework, and apply the concept to review an e-government innovation failure case for an illustrative purpose. We conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications of the conceptual framework and its limitations in understanding the current state of e-government innovations.

Introduction

The public sector has been attempting for several decades to implement e-government innovations in order to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness and creativity in public organizations (Chen & Perry, 2003; Coursey & Norris, 2008; Moon, 2002; Wood, Bernt, & Ting, 2009). However, there are many cases of low performance and failures, and many examples of e-government implementation that have not met the expectations of citizens, legislatures, or the organizations (Anthopoulos, Reddick, Giannakidou, & Mavridis, 2016; Askim, Christensen, Fimreite, & Laegreid, 2010; Holmes, 2005; Morgeson III & Mithas, 2009; Moynihan & Lavertu, 2012). When looking at the history of e-government innovations, scholars find that they have not been a well-planned, coherent movement; instead, they are rather fragmented attempts (Dawes, 2008) driven by different factors such as technological innovations, political pressure, or even precedent failures. New technologies as well as innovative information, management and communication approaches seem to provide optimism, but until recently scholars still remain cautious. Causes of these broken promises have been investigated by scholars, from the planning to the implementation stage across the domains of technology, management, regulation, and environment (Gil-Garcia & Pardo, 2005). Although the literature suggests which factors may help explain e-government success and failure, it is still necessary to design a comprehensive theoretical framework through which we can more systematically understand the relationship among causes of e-government success and failure. One venue to develop a theoretical framework is to elucidate the dynamic nature of e-government innovations through the learning perspective. Innovation research has been closely related to the organizational learning literature (Borins, 2001; Brown & Brudney, 2003; Cohen & Levinthal, 1990; Moynihan & Lavertu, 2012; Salge, 2010). Recent policy implementation research has also paid increasing attention to the role of organizational and social policy learning to better understand the dynamic of policy decisions, implementation and evaluation (Bennett & Howlett, 1992; Dunlop, 2017; Hall, 1993; Howlett, Ramesh, & Perl, 2009; May, 1992; Moyson, Scholten, & Weible, 2017). Both literatures emphasize that learning lies at the center of the dynamic aspect of the causes of innovation success and failure.

Despite the significant amounts of public investment devoted to enhancing e-government over the last ten years, citizens’ use of this service is still limited, posing a challenge to national governments. By analysing panel data derived from 27 European countries for the period 2010 to 2018, our work confirms that citizens’ use of egovernment services is influenced by supply-side e-government evaluations, citizens’ trust in governments and the digital divide associated to income and education. Moreover, a longitudinal cluster analysis allows us to identify patterns of behaviour between the countries as regards the way those variables interact with the use of egovernment services over time. Relevant practical implications derive from the research that can guide public policy in the area of e-government.

Introduction

Electronic government aims to make public institutions more transparent and accountable. The European Commission recognised the importance of digital transformation of the state as early as 2006 and is currently implementing the EU e-Government Action Plan 2016–2020 (EC, 2016). Since 2012 and on a yearly basis, it publishes the e-government benchmark reports which compare the penetration, and digitisation of e-Government services in 34 European countries (EC, 2018a). According to Eurostat Statistics (EC, 2018b), only 57% of individuals aged 16 to 74 reported using the Internet for interaction with public authorities in 2018. Furthermore, since 2009, this share has risen by only 15% on average (EC, 2019). In this context, it is necessary to question the reasons for this low level of adoption of e-government. The present work aims to answer two research objectives. The first aim is to verify whether certain characteristics of European countries can explain the use of e-government by citizens, in particular: supplyside e-government performance evaluations, citizen trust in their government, per capita income, education, age and rurality. The second aim is to identify patterns of behaviour across European countries as regards the way these characteristics interact with the level of e-government use over time. On the one hand, it seems logical to expect supply-side aspects of egovernment to be an instrument in enhancing citizen’s perception of egovernment and therefore affect usage levels. Recent decades have seen a growth in evaluations of e-government maturity, examples being West’s assessment of e-government performance (2005, 2008), the United Nations E-government Development Index and E-Participation Index (UN, 2010,2012,2014,2016,2018) or the Digital Governance Index by Holzer and Manoharan (2016).

Introduction

E-government research in developing countries

E-government in Kazakhstan

Methods

“Freeze all but the technology”

Transaction rather than transformation

Isomorphic mimicry

Impact on corruption

(Half )-open government

Discussion

Conclusions

References

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the emergence of e-government in post-Soviet countries using Kazakhstan as a case study. Extant research on e-government in developing countries highlights significant benefits including improved public services, reduced corruption, and more open and inclusive government. The paper asserts the presence of an e-government paradox which limits its potential to improve public services.
Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were collected from a number of sources: 6 focus groups with central government agencies, local authorities and civil society organisations; 25 structured and semistructured interviews; and participant observation.
Findings – The research finds evidence of an e-government paradox in five forms: an emphasis on technological development; transactional services are faster but have displaced attention from core public services; petty corruption has been reduced but grand corruption remains; isomorphic mimicry; and greater participation by citizens has been limited. Research limitations/implications – The focus of the research is Kazakhstan. Applying the lessons learned to other post-Soviet countries has limitations given their different stages of development since independence.
Practical implications – The key practical implication of this research is that countries can become absorbed by e-government technology without questioning the fundamental business model which underpins how public services are delivered. Ultimately, this impacts on the social value of e-government.
Originality/value – While existing research has examined how e-government has been implemented in developing countries, this paper focusses on Kazakhstan as an authoritarian state with wider implications for post-Soviet countries.

Introduction

Public services improvement is a significant component in the agenda of developing countries, not least because citizens judge the progress of development through the lens of better education, healthcare, social welfare, public housing and so on (Knox, 2019). Improvements in key public services often give citizens a greater sense of well-being and awareness of a better quality of life. One important aspect of the public services improvement agenda is the use of electronic government, about which many advantages are offered (Weerakkody et al., 2012). For developing countries, the persistent issue of corruption can be reduced, at least in part, through removing personal transactions between officials and service users. Citizens witness faster, more efficient, services that avoid several exchanges of documents with multiple state agencies that may have different and complex bureaucratic requirements. Technical developments in electronic government are opening up new linked services using personal data gathered from service users. Children registered at birth, for example, can be allocated kinder garden and school places, allowing better strategic planning by state agencies. Using a case study of Kazakhstan, this paper examines what we describe as the “e-government paradox”.

The application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been radically transforming many social and economic activities, including those of the public sector. Over the last three decades, many governments worldwide have implemented e-Government with the belief that it can improve efficiency, cost effectiveness, and transparency between citizens and public agencies and authorities [1–4]. Such e-Government initiatives are usually undertaken at the national policy-making level. They necessarily require many technological and innovation decisions and capabilities to support their planning, design and implementation. Multiple stakeholders must contribute time, effort, and financial cost; coordination is critical [5, 6]. Despite high hopes, and much promotion by consultancies and ICT companies, it is well-established that many ICT public projects are unsuccessful [7, 8]. Heeks & Stanforth [9] reported that the rate of failure of ICT public projects is close to 60%. This is not just a matter of delays, cost overruns, and the like: systems are quite often rejected by their intended users as not fit for purpose. Researchers have attributed these problems to several factors, including failure to take end-user requirements into sufficient account – and to lack of vision and strategy [7, 10]. Future-oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) is an umbrella concept proposed in 2004 by the Technology Futures Analysis Methods Working Group [11] to represent “any systematic process to produce judgments about emerging technology characteristics, development pathways, and potential impacts of a technology in the future. In this sense, Technology Future Analysis encompasses the broad technology foresight and assessment studies of the public sector and the technology forecasting and intelligence studies in private industry.” We shall adopt this terminology here, so as to avoid debate about whether individual studies do or do not represent one or other type of Foresight, Technology Assessment, Strategic Prospective, or other futures-oriented approach. There is also widespread agreement that FTA can be useful in the design of public policies for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) [12]. In addition to policies for research and development (R&D), technical training, etc., policies often involve STI in public services such as health and environmental management. A focus on government processes themselves is rather less common – indeed, Foresight Programmes that claim to cover the greater part of the economy typically neglect activities like public administration (despite the high levels of employment in such spheres). Since e-Government is a matter of public policy concerning technological innovation, and FTA is employed in the design of STI policies, the question arises of how FTA has been used in e-Government programmes. The present study draws on a bibliographic review that analysed when, how, for what, and with whom e-Government initiatives have used FTA. This paper is structured as follows: the second and third sections outline the context of eGovernment and FTA, respectively. The fourth section outlines the research method and the fifth section presents and discusses the research results. Finally, the sixth section provides some conclusions and offers suggestions for further studies.

There have been many successes in national development in the health sector, but the Indonesian people have not yet achieved the “Healthy Indonesia” as desired in the National Long Term Development Plan [1]. The unfulfilled maternal mortality rate is still high, infant mortality rate is still high, while there are still many short stunting children, and various nutritional problems. In the field of disease control, they are exposed to a double burden, infectious diseases such as AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are still high prevalence, while non-communicable diseases such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Cancer, and Mental Disorders continue to grow. Although the source of funds for the health sector and also human resources of health sector in terms of quantity, type, quality, and even distribution continues to increase, the increase in resources has not been able to fully offset the increased needs. Realizing such problems, to achieve Healthy Indonesia within the period of 2015 – 2019, the health sector efforts, now are directed to focus to:  Reduce Maternal Mortality Rate and Infant Mortality Rate.  Lower prevalence of short toddlers (stunting).  Tackling infectious diseases, HIV-AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.  Tackling non-communicable diseases Hypertension, Diabetes, Obesity, Cancer, and Mental Disorders. In order for existing health sector resources can be utilized effectively and efficiently, those efforts has been conducted in an integrated manner from planning to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The goal was focused on the “Family Approach”. To realize the goal of Family Approach in Healthy Indonesia program above, The Minister of Health, Republic of Indonesia issued a ministerial regulation. Regulation of the Minister of Health, Republic of Indonesia No. 39 Year of 2016 about Guidelines for the Program of Healthy Indonesia Programs with Family Approach, and in Article 5 of the Ministerial Regulation states “the Implementation of Healthy Indonesia Program with Family Approach implemented by Puskesmas (Community Health Center)” [1]. On the other hand, Jembrana Regency has been 10 years implementing Information Systems on its community service. So, to support the achievement of a Healthy Indonesia goal which is mandated to the puskesmas, it is necessary to integrate the health sector initiative into the Blueprint of e-Government Jembrana Regency. Through eGovernment Jembrana Regency implementation, Jembrana’s government services will take place in a transparent and traceable process, so it can be considered as accountable public services. Moreover, elements of irregularities can be avoided and services can be delivered effectively and efficiently. The E-Government Integration in this study called E-Prokesmas, a GIS Web-Based software application and expected to become a family-based health monitoring tool for Community Health Program in Jembrana Regency.

The government utilizes ICT for several purposes. Naturally, ICT helps in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of executing the internal primary processes within a government organization. For that purpose, government organizations develop their own ICT facilities for their primary and supporting processes, or they purchase those facilities externally. In addition, ICT is essential for a government organization’s contact with other government organizations, businesses and citizens. Finally, ICT often connects the interaction of the outside world with the digitalized processes within the government organization. Therefore, ICT is the enabler of e-Government in all three of these previ‐ ously mentioned domains [7, 30]. E-Government is referred to as the technology-enabled transformation of govern‐ ment, and therefore governments’ best hope to reduce costs, whilst promoting economic development, increasing transparency in government, improving service delivery and public administration, and facilitating the advancement of an information society [35]. The purpose of e-Government is thus to work towards a more effective and more efficient government organization by utilizing new technologies and by involving citizens and businesses and, in doing so, listening to their needs [8, 20]. Citizens are therefore ‘agents’, so to speak, who, together with government repre‐ sentatives, and even together with business representatives, shape the services and processes of the government. This is in line with the principles of New Public Gover‐ nance (NPG), in which the government is seen as part of a large and synchronized network of parties within society as a whole. It is essential that the interface between society and the total government system works properly, both for the political and the administrative system [20]. When it comes to e-Government, people often refer to e-Participation and, in partic‐ ular, the various possibilities that this new technology offers [24, 30]. Macintosh [12] argues that e-Participation has several overarching objectives next to these technologies, including engaging a wider audience, and providing relevant information in a format that is both more accessible and more understandable. However, transparency and accountability do not receive as much attention [13]. This article specifically focuses on these issues. In addition to the involvement of citizens in making demands and creating IT facilities for the government, citizens also take on the additional role of monitoring the development process and therefore the quality of the facilities. The question answered in this article is whether citizens are being sufficiently involved in monitoring the quality of the production processes and the implementation of facilities for e-Government. This would mean that citizens are involved during quality tests and especially during evaluations.

The technological advances taking place in recent years have allowed organisations to improve their management processes. The emergence of the Internet has led to a revolution in the way that individuals, organisations and the Government carry out their tasks (Alawneh et al., 2013). It can also be seen that in recent years there has been an increase in recommendations from international organisations, encouraging Governments to use the new technologies and leading to the modernisation of the Government and an improvement in transparency and the services it provides to the public (European Commission, 2015). Quality management in electronic services has been extensively studied, with definitions, models and measurement instruments being proposed, above all in the for-profit sector (Ladhari, 2010; Park and Gretzel, 2007; Sylvester et al., 2013; Verma et al., 2016). In this context, researchers are relatively unanimous in arguing that for these technological innovations to be effective and of benefit to both parties it is necessary to provide the best quality in the service. To achieve these improvements, it is very important that “managers of businesses with Web presences must first understand how consumers perceive and evaluate online customer service“ (Parasuraman et al., 2005). However, the studies carried out within the public sector have not examined the issue to the same extent (Alawneh et al., 2013; Papadomichelaki and Mentzas, 2012) and as indicated by Gutiérrez Rodríguez et al. (2009), there is an open debate about whether the concept of the quality of the services provided can be transferred from the private sector to the public sector. Whilst scarce, some studies have been carried out on this issue in the areas of local government (Lee and Levy, 2014; Sá et al., 2016a), postal services (Águila-Obra et al., 2013), healthcare (Büyüközkan and Çifçi, 2012), tax management (Barnes and Vidgen, 2006; Belanche et al., 2014; Connolly et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2011), library services (Hernon and Calvert, 2005; O’Neill et al., 2001), etc. All these studies analyse, from the public’s perspective, their relationship with the Government. However, only Alawneh et al. (2013) study the problem from the perspective of the public employee, measuring the satisfaction of university employees in Jordan. Our work aims to look at this area in more depth, specifically focussing on ensuring that the managers of university websites understand how their employees perceive the quality of these service portals, and in this way to contribute to improving the online services that public organisations provide to their employees. The main objective of this article is to make a proposal on the dimensions or characteristics that a Government website must have if it is to be considered by its employees as high quality. To achieve this objective, a qualitative study was carried out using the Delphi method. To do this, surveys were conducted involving experts in the field of quality management in public services. The article is structured as follows; in Section 2 we define and classify the e-Government concept. Section 3 then contains a clarification of the electronic service concept. Section 4 is dedicated to describing the methodology used in the study. Next there is an explanation of how the participants were selected and how the two rounds with the panel of experts were performed. The article continues with a proposal of dimensions and items for measuring quality in the services provided by the Government to its employees, and it ends with the main conclusions, recommendations and limitations of the study.

An important driver for development is access to information and communication technology (ICT) (Walsham, 2010). Information and communication technology is a primary input to economic processes, and it is crucial for enterprises, communities, and individuals to successfully participate in the global economy (Hollifield & Donnermeyer, 2003). While ICT access is rapidly being provided through mobile phones (Furuholt & Matotay, 2011), people in poor, rural areas are still restricted financially from buying expensive phones with Internet capabilities. Hence, they mainly use their mobile phones for voice calling and person‐to‐person SMS (Hellstrom, 2010). We argue that facilitating public Internet access points (PIAPs) is still important for accessing the Internet in developing countries (Wahid, Furuholt, & Kristiansen, 2006). Public Internet access points, variously referred to as information kiosks, telecentres, cybercafés, community technology learning centres, and the like, experience varying degrees of success with a variety of approaches in service provision to their customers (Bell, 2006), and more work is still needed to understand their role and influences. We address this issue by exploring the role of PIAPs in several case studies across Tanzania, with the focus on their role in providing e‐government services. Good quality e‐government services are a prerequisite for global development, and it is utterly important for governments to provide universal access to public services (United Nations, 2016). While there seems to be a relationship between the lack of access to information, corruption, and bad governance (Kristiansen, 2004), effective e‐government services are instrumental in achieving efficiency, transparency, and responsiveness (Avgerou, 2010). While the adoption of e‐government has increased in most countries, developing countries are still lagging behind, with Tanzania and its East African neighbours at the low‐end of the scale (United Nations, 2016). E‐government services need to be accessed and used by ordinary citizens, which is still to happen in rural areas through PIAPs. Traditionally, PIAPs have had minimal influence on the use of e‐government services (Gomez & Baron‐Porras, 2011). After studying various telecentre projects in India, Gollakota et al. (2012, p. 189) conclude the following: In most cases there is a sense that public access venues in rural locations are underutilized, especially by those considered most disadvantaged or those who could benefit the most. According to Rajalekshmi (2014), Indian telecentre projects have different sets of proposed activities and business models, and almost all of them explicitly portray integrated e‐government services delivery as a key activity of the centres. He further claims, however, that while empirical and theoretical research in the area has been growing over the last years, information on the fundamental aspects of telecentres is scarce in the literature. For example, the links between telecentres, governance, and development do not seem to have undergone substantial scholarly research (Rajalekshmi, 2014, p. 26). The results introduced in this article are based on several case studies in Tanzania, in which we have been involved for more than 15 years. WhileTanzania is an underdeveloped country with huge economic and developmental challenges, it is noteworthy that Tanzania is among the more politically stable countries in its region of Africa (Melchioly & Sæbø, 2010). Studying Internet cafés acrossTanzania 10 years ago, we found very few traces of e‐government use (Furuholt & Kristiansen, 2007). Since then, we have revisited the research field regularly, providing us with the opportunity to explore the role that PIAPs play in providing e‐government services in rural areas. Our findings are based on a longitudinal study of several PIAPs from 2009 to 2015. We aim to improve the understanding of how PIAPs may remain sustainable, and contribute to good governance and development in poor regions. The paper is organised as follows. After this introduction, we present the theoretical foundation in Section 2 and the methodology used in our study in Section 3. Section 4 describes the 5 cases and their contexts, while our findings are presented and discussed in Section 5. Section 6 provides our conclusions and recommendations.

Our lives have considerably transformed with the use of technology, the way we interact, communicate, learn and work. Most of the business is carried out through internet now and one seems to be handicapped today without technology. The internet is evolving so quickly, from a traditional medium of merely providing information to users, to an indispensable requirement for the users who want to perform computing, store data and even run software applications at any given moment of time from any part of the world (Ramachandran N, 2014). Traditional accessing of government services is also being made available through electronic media under the banner ‘e-governance’ (e-gov) giving up the need to go through many procedures and formalities at government setup. Egovernance involves new ways of governance, leadership, debating, delivery, investment, transparency, etc. (Qadri, 2014). With e-governance, citizens have round the clock access to government information and interaction with government setup has become easy. Similarly, education system is benefited by use of technology, the way information is disseminated and knowledge is shared between students, researchers and faculty. Facultystudent interaction is not limited to class room only. Transparency, efficiency and accountability in academic processes particularly for admission and examination system is what students demand in modern times. To achieve these characteristics, e-governance in university system needs to be applied. e-Governance can make universities more efficient and more effective, and bring other benefits too to attain quality in academics. The three main contributions of e-governance: improving governance processes (eadministration); connecting to students (e-students and e-services); and building external interactions (e-society). However, most e-governance initiatives fail. Institutions therefore face two challenges. First, the strategic challenge of e-readiness. Second, the tactical challenge of closing design—reality gaps: adopting best practice in e-governance projects. In order to avoid failure and to achieve success in ensuring smooth and efficient performance of the e-governance system many challenges creep-in like e.g. storing, computing huge databases pertaining to student admission, courses and grades require strong compute power with scalability and putting security feature/s in place. Moreover, keeping the services up round the clock, throughout the year with high reliability and efficiency is a challenging task and is now achieved with the advent of technologies such as “Cloud Computing”.

THE cities’ growth provides a new dimension in the city management.[1] The e-government can help bridge the gap between the government and the citizens, which can reduce the conflict between both parties.[2] The municipal applications of geographic information system (GIS) across the different countries showcase the potential use of GIS in the e-government agencies such as property management, traffic, and transportation, urban planning, waste management, urban design and renewal, financial resource mobilization, etc.[2] The territory plays a decisive role in the allocation of the financial, technological, and human resources. With this, the optimization of the infrastructure planning and health resources and the combination knowledge is important [3]. The GIS uses can provide the urban services and identify the related solutions.[4] GIS, apart from contributing to data integration from the different data sources, enables data visualization using the maps, which enhances the system usability and assists in the decision-making process [5]. In GIS tool presentation, it involves a new spatial visibility into the transparency of state activities, makes the activities of the public administration transparent to all citizens, and contributes the e-democracy evolution.[7] The web and GIS technologies-based e-government system can promote the dissemination of urban information and enable the citizens to register objections to the land use plan during the different phases of the planning process, along with responding to those objections.[6] Public Participation GIS (PPGIS), which broadly refers to the citizen participation in enhancing the public services and decision-making using the GIS, is a main theme of GIS research [7]. Although e-government scholars are centrally interested in enabling e-democracy, there is a dearth of public administration literature on allowing public participation using GIS technology [8]. The advancements have widened GIS’ accessibility from the domain of the expert users to the lay citizens [9]. Some cases that employ GIS for urban planning have been shown, e.g. Sweden [10], Italy [11], UK [12], Canada [13], USA [14], and so on [15]. The 3D GIS provides a visual presentation and is used as a real 3D tool -for both queries by using a 3D model and visualizing geoinformation in 3D [16].

به عنوان پیشرفت سریع علم اطلاعات و تکنولوژی، به ویژه تکنیک شبکه، دولت الکترونیک برنامه های پیش-زمینه ای بسیار امیدوارکننده ای دارد. دولت الکترونیک به عنوان شکل کاملاً جدیدی از تلاش های دولت عمل می-کند و همچنین به عنوان یک بررسی کارامد از نوآوری دولت عمل می کند. پیشرفت و محبوبیت شبکه تقابل و چالشی جدید را برای دولت فراهم می کند. این مقاله عملکرد دولت الکترونیک 31 وب سایت استانداری را در چین با استفاده از روش DEA ارزیابی می کند. نتایج پژوهش نشان می دهد که اکثر این وب سایت های استانداری در یک سطح ناکارآمد و به شیوه ای بد عمل می کنند. علاوه بر این، تفاوت های کارامدی دولت الکترونیک بر استان های جداگانه و مناطق مختلف تکیه دارد. تأیید شده است که استان های غربی کم تر توسعه یافته به میانگین عملکرد بالاتری نسبت به استان های شرقی و میانه دست می یابند.

1- مقدمه
با پیشرفتی بزرگ در صنعت و اقتصاد، تغییرات بزرگی از زمان آغاز و اصلاح دنیای خارج در طول سه دهۀ گذشته در چین رخ داده است. به ویژه، تکنولوژی اطلاعات سریع توسعه یافته اصلاح انقلابی بهره وری را ارتقا می-دهد و در محیط راه اندازی کسب وکار مدرن و در مدل مدیریت معاصر و ابزار مدیریت اصلاحاتی عمیق را به ارمغان می آورد. این موقعیت به چالشی معمول برای بخش های دولتی منجر می شود. برای مثال، با افزایش سریع تعداد کاربران اینترنت، نحوه مدیریت اینترنت، اطلاعات غلط در چت روم ها و افشای به موقع اطلاعات در وقایع غیرمنتظره به چند مسئلۀ داغ تبدیل می شوند. در کنار پیشرفت انفجاری تجارت الکترونیک، مؤسسات دولتی چینی تأکید بیشتری روی کاربرد دولت الکترونیک و استفاده از کامپیوتر و روش های ارتباطی دارند.