Joined-up e-Government: an exploratory study of UK local government progress

The introduction of e-commerce activity into an industry’s value chain has the potential to radically transform it. Some participants may become redundant as others use the Internet to sell their products; new digital intermediaries may enter the supply chain to compete with traditional participants. In the UK public sector, the government is driving forward an agenda for modernisation in its e-Government programme. The target has been set for complete availability of electronic service delivery by 2005. Government policy has been to steer local government away from direct service delivery, encouraging an ‘enabling’ role, where they are made responsible for commissioning and monitoring service provision by other partners. The intention of the e-Government programme is for councils to become more customer-focussed in their approach, joining up services in ways that better meet customer needs. This joined-up working may horizontally integrate functional areas across the council or vertically join services across multiple tiers of government. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of the phenomenon of joined-up e-Government. The outcomes of two phases of research are presented. The first phase investigates the extent to which council websites are becoming digital intermediaries in the supply of joined-up e-Government services. This explores joined-up working from the customer’s perspective, using a ‘life episode’ transaction. The second phase evaluates the challenges of joined-up e-Government from the council perspective. Based on qualitative survey work with a sample of council e-champions, it concludes that joined-up e-Government is still more of an aspiration than actuality.

[1]  R. Wigand,et al.  Electronic Markets and Virtual Value Chains on the Information Superhighway , 1995 .

[2]  Frank Webster,et al.  Knowledgeability and democracy in an information age , 1999 .

[3]  C. Steinfield,et al.  Cybermediaries in Electronic Marketspace: Toward Theory Building , 1998 .

[4]  Rachel Silcock What is E-government , 2001 .

[5]  Joe Peppard,et al.  Bridging the gap between the IS organization and the rest of the business: plotting a route , 2001, Inf. Syst. J..

[6]  David Wilson,et al.  Local Government in the United Kingdom , 1994 .

[7]  J. C. Henderson PLUGGING INTO STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS: THE CRITICAL IS CONNECTION , 1990 .

[8]  Simon Lee,et al.  Delivering Public Services—Mechanisms and Consequences: Implementing the Third Way: The Delivery of Public Services under the Blair Government , 2002 .

[9]  Brian S. Butler,et al.  Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Marketplace , 1995, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[10]  Marijn Janssen,et al.  Evaluating the role of intermediaries in the electronic value chain , 2000, Internet Res..

[11]  John P. Robinson,et al.  Internet and Society , 2003 .

[12]  Roger Lovell,et al.  Managing change in the new public sector , 1994 .

[13]  M. Flinders,et al.  Governance in Whitehall , 2002 .

[14]  David J. Skyrme,et al.  Hybrid managers — what do we know about them? , 1992, Inf. Syst. J..

[15]  Charles Oppenheim,et al.  National Information Policy developments worldwide I: electronic government , 2002, J. Inf. Sci..

[16]  Yannis Bakos,et al.  An Exploratory Study of the Emerging Role of Electronic Intermediaries , 1997, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[17]  K. Parry Enhancing adaptability: leadership strategies to accommodate change in local government settings , 1999 .

[18]  Jungwoo Lee,et al.  Developing fully functional E-government: A four stage model , 2001, Gov. Inf. Q..

[19]  C. Bellamy,et al.  Telematics and community governance: Issues for policy and practice , 1997 .

[20]  Petra Schubert,et al.  Measuring the effectiveness of e-commerce Web sites , 2001 .

[21]  Robert J. Kauffman,et al.  Digital intermediation in electronic commerce: The eBay model , 2000 .

[22]  Bing-Sheng Teng,et al.  The Dynamics of Alliance Conditions in the Alliance Development Process , 2002 .

[23]  L. White Changing the “whole system” in the public sector , 2000 .

[24]  Jerry P. Miller,et al.  The global information society , 1997 .

[25]  M. Porter Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[26]  Petter Gottschalk,et al.  Studies of key issues in IS management around the world , 2000, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[27]  Yannis Bakos,et al.  The Emerging Landscape for Retail E-Commerce , 2001 .

[28]  Ivan Horrocks,et al.  The 'Webbing' of British Local Government , 1998 .

[29]  Peter Wilkins,et al.  Accountability and Joined-up Government , 2002 .

[30]  Robert Gellman,et al.  Disintermediation and the internet , 1996 .