Theorizing EGovernment: A ResourceBased View

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Theorizing E-Government A Resource-Based View

• Calvin M.L. Chan

19 July 2004 University of Nottingham
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Agenda

• E-Government
• Research Question
• Resource-Based View
• Resource Complementarity
• Resource Complementarity in IS
• Case Background
• Methodology
• Case Analysis
• Discussion
• Conclusion

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E-Government

• Broadly defined as the use of IT facilitate the
  business of government (Moon 2002 UN ASPA
  2001)
• Business of government is extremely diverse
  (Jaeger 2003 Lenk Traunmuller, 2002
  Pratchett, 1999)
• e-Governance (Allen et al. 2001 Carlitz Gunn
  2002 Tan Pan 2003)
• e-Democracy (Anttiroiko 2003 Gronlund 2003
  Watson Mundy 2001)
• e-Consulation (Whyte Macintosh 2003)
• e-Voting (Ohlin Hallgren 2003)
• e-Rulemaking (Fountain 2003)
• e-Services (Gant Gant 2002)

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E-Government

• Significance of e-Government
• Billions of dollars investment (AFP 2003
  BUSINESSWIRE 2002 Layne Lee 2001 Moon 2002)
• Affect both citizens businesses (Jaeger 2003
  Lenk Traunmuller 2002 Wimmer 2002)
• Influence national development (APO 1996 Heeks
  2003)
• Widespread across both developed developing
  countries (UN ASPA 2001)
• New capabilities through e-Government
• Greater efficiency (Al-Kibsi et al. 2001 Chan et
  al. 2003 Gant Gant 2002 OECD 2003)
• Greater customer orientation (Al-Kibsi et al.
  2001 Elgarah Courtney 2002 Tan et al. 2003
  Wimmer 2002)
• Improved process of democracy (Anttiroiko 2003
  Jensen 2003 Snellen 2001)

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E-Government

• Challenges of e-Government are mostly
  organisational social (Al-Kibsi et al. 2001
  Jorgensen Cable 2002)
• Process streamlining (Banister 2001 Heeks 1999
  Scholl 2003 Wastell et al . 2001)
• Stakeholders cooperation (Aichholzer Schmutzer
  2000 Chan et al. 2003 Jorgensen Cable 2002
  Murray et al. 2004)
• Sustained funding (Al-Kibsi et al.2001 Banister
  Walsh 2002 OECD 2003)
• Measurement of success (Aichholzer Schmutzer
  2000 OECD 2003)
• In line with the corpus of knowledge in IS
  literature
• IT alone is insufficient to deliver the
  organisational values (Bharadwaj 2000 Clemons
  Row 1991 Mata et al. 1995 Melville et al. 2004
  Sambamurthy et al. 2003 Teo Ranganathan 2003
  Zhu 2004)

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E-Government

• Little research on how government organisations
  actually achieves the promised capabilities
  through e-government initiatives
• Fewer empirical studies on e-government at the
  organisational level
• Objective
• Understand the process of how the promised
  capabilities can be achieved
• Research Question
• Has the promised capabilities been achieved?
• Why is it that government organisations (did not)
  managed to achieve the promised capabilities of
  e-Government?

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Resource-Based View

• Stresses the management of the heterogeneous set
  of resources in firms as source of competitive
  advantage (Amit Schoemaker 1993 Barney 1991
  Grant 1991 Penrose 1959 Wernerfelt 1984)
• Firm Resources define as all assets,
  capabilities, processes, firms attributes,
  information, knowledge, etc. (Barney 1991)
• New capabilities are developed through the
  ability to manipulate existing resources in firms
  (Eisenhardt Martin 2000 Grant 1996
  Montealegre 2002 Nelson Winter 1982 Sanchez
  2001 Tan et al. 2004 Teece et al. 1997 Zollo
  Winter 2002)

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Resource Complementarity

• One noted way of resource manipulation in
  developing new capabilities is through achieving
  resource complementarity (Amit Schoemaker 1993
  Black Boal 1994 Melville et al. 2004 Teo
  Ranganathan 2003 Wade Hulland 2004 Zhu 2004)
• Resource complementarity refers to the influence
  of one resource over another and their
  synergistic effect on overall performance (Teece
  1986 Wade Hulland 2004)
• Example
• In the study of organisational acquisitions
  alliances, resource complementarity among firms
  lead to better long-term performance (Harrison et
  al. 1991, 2001 Inkpen 2001 Khanna et al. 1998)

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Resource Complementarity in IS

• The use of IT resources are complemented by other
  organisational resources in delivering
  organisational value (Benjamin Levinson 1993
  Jarvenpaa Leidner 1998 Mata et al. 1995
  Powell Dent-Micallef 1997 Ravichandran
  Lertwongsatien 2002)
• Poor understanding of this process how it might
  be achieved (Wade Hulland 2004)
• IT resources are known to play an interdependent
  role with other organisational resources (Keen
  1993 Walton 1989)
• Nature of this role is largely unknown (Wade
  Hulland 2004)

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Resource Complementarity in IS

• IT Resources
• IT infrastructure of a firm (Bharadwaj 2000
  Melville et al. 2004 Peppard Ward 2004 Zhu
  2004)
• Includes IT application, hardware software (Teo
  Raganathan 2003 Tippin Sohi 2003 Wade
  Hulland 2004)

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Resource Complementarity in IS

• Non-IT Organisational Resources
• Financial (Gant 1991 Mata et al. 1995)
• Human, Skills Knowledge (Beard Summer 2004
  Bharadwaj 2000 Melville et al. 2004 Teo
  Ranganathan 2003 Tippins Sohi 2003 Wade
  Hulland 2004)
• Relationship with External Stakeholders (Beard
  Summer 2004 Powell Dent-Micallef 1997 Wade
  Hulland 2004)
• Leadership (Beard Summer 2004 Teo
  Ranganathan 2003)
• Organisational Culture (Bharadwaj 2000 Powell
  Dent-Micallef 1997)
• Organisational Structure (Peppard Ward 2004
  Teo Ranganathan 2003)
• Organisational Business Process (Beard Summer
  2004 Melville et al. 2004 Powell
  Dent-Micallef 1997 Tippins Sohi 2003)
• Organisation Reputation (Bharadwaj 2000 Vergin
  Qoronfleh 1998)

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Applying Resource Complementarity to E-Government
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Case Background

• Feedback Unit set up in 1985
• Towards a more consultative Government
• To be a forum to understand major policies, ask
  questions, make suggestions, generally
  participate in working out a solution - PM Goh
  Chok Tong
• Solicit citizens feedback to fine-tune shape
  national policies
• Enhance citizens understanding of the rationale
  behind policies

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Case Background

• Stated Aims
• Receive process suggestions from the public on
  national policies problems
• Ensure swift effective response by government
  departments to public suggestions complaints
• Initiate co-ordinate programmes to inform
  educate the public about national issues
• Gather feedback on existing or impending
  government policies their implementation with a
  view to improving them

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Case Background

• Established means of achieving its aims

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Case Background

• Established means of achieving its aims

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Case Background

• Established means of achieving its aims

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Case Background

• The e-Consultation Portal
• Initially conceptualised when reviewing the
  adequacy of existing means explore other means
  to be more effective
• Visited Canada, UK USA to get ideas realised
  that ICT was leveraged for online consultation
• Explored KM Portals for online consultation
• Approached by MOF on assuming ownership of a
  Government Consultation Portal
• Capital funding provided by MOF
• Limited technical support provided through MOF
• Development was outsourced
• Started Work in October 2002
• Launched in April 2003
• Considered a success with 2 millions hits within
  first month of launch

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Case Background

• The e-Consultation Portal

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Case Background

• New Means through e-Consultation Portal

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Case Background

• New Means through e-Consultation Portal

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Case Background

• New Means through e-Consultation Portal

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Case Background

• New Means through e-Consultation Portal

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Case Background

• New Means through e-Consultation Portal

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Methodology

• Case Study
• In-depth exploratory investigation of
  contemporary events (Yin 1994)
• Rich description of social context (Strauss
  Corbin 1990)
• Primary Data Source Interviews
• 15 Interviewers (1-3 sessions 45 min 2.5 hrs
  each session)
• Director
• Deputy Director
• 2 X Managers
• 7 X Executives
• 1 X IT Executive
• 1 X Clerical
• 2 X External Agency Users

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Methodology

• Secondary Data Sources
• Survey forms results
• Comments from Public Users (Requested to meet
  Public Users but wasnt possible to arrange)
• Corporate official publications (e.g. Feedback
  News FCM Book)
• Publicity informational leaflets brochures
• Transcripts of official speeches
• Press Clippings
• Observations (Attendance of Dialogue/Tea Sessions
  Annual Conference Surfing the Portal)

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Methodology

• Interpretive Data Analysis (Walsham 1995)
• Support extension of theory to additional context
  (Lee Baskerville 2003)
• Help sense making of understudied phenomenon (Lee
  Baskerville 2003)
• Data interpretation supplemented by researchers
  contextual knowledge experience (Lacity
  Janson 1994)
• Resource Complementarity as theoretical guide
  (Walsham 1995 Yin 1994)

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Preliminary Analysis

• Evidence of New Capabilities Customer
  Orientation
• More Choices for Customers
• When the Unit started out, consultation was
  largely restricted to Dialogue Sessions. Over
  the years, it has built up an array of channels
  for Singaporeans to give their views. Today, I
  am pleased to say that you are spoilt for
  choices. - Chairman
• Greater Convenience/ Increase Accessibility
• the portal will be an additional platform to
  enhance our capability to reach out to more
  sectors of the population. And its quite
  convenient for Singaporeans to just give their
  views through the portal because its Internet
  and everywhere they go, anytime, they can just
  give their views. - Executive
• I was invited to attend one of the sessions,
  but because of work-related travel which used to
  take up 70 of my time, was unable to attend.
  With this in place, people like me will have the
  flexibility of providing feedback at their
  convenience. - Citizen

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Preliminary Analysis

• Evidence of New Capabilities Efficiency
  Effectiveness
• Reaching New Customer Base
• Because this portal will reach out to overseas
  Singaporeans to get their views as well. So by
  having them to be involved and participate in the
  process of giving feedback, were actually
  delighting the overseas citizens and make them
  feel involved Even though theyre geographically
  outside Singapore. - Executive
• Feedback from the conventional would be usually
  not computer-savvy, middle-aged. Those that are
  from the Portal would be those young, Net-savvy.
  And these two groups of people give different
  views. - Executive

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Preliminary Analysis

• Evidence of New Capabilities Efficiency
  Effectiveness
• Increase in Number of Feedback Received
• Since the launch of the portal, we noticed that
  theres an increase in the number of feedback
  cases or feedback submitted through the portal. I
  think on average, through the portal itself,
  weve received about between 200-400 inputs per
  month and that is on top of the regular feedback
  email that came in through our generic email
  account. Executive
• Average Monthly Before Portal 534
• Average Monthly After Portal 631

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Preliminary Analysis

• Evidence of New Capabilities Enhanced Process
  of Democracy
• Increased Consultation
• The consultation channels serve more than just a
  feedback conduit for the people. The opening up
  of more channels has led to greater consultation
  by the Government, as government agencies turn to
  the Feedback Unit to organise or facilitate their
  dialogue sessions. Last year, the Unit
  facilitated 39 dialogue sessions requested by six
  agencies. More are also conducting online
  consultation via the Portal. Since its launch, 15
  ministries and government agencies have posted
  pre-policy consultation papers. We are seeing a
  consultative culture gradually evolving among the
  government agencies. - Chairman

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Preliminary Analysis

• IT Resources
• Application Software
• Email
• Web Chat
• Online Forum
• File Sharing
• Database Management Systems
• Operating Systems
• Hardware
• Network
• Firewalls
• Application Servers
• Web Servers
• Databases

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Preliminary Analysis

• Non-IT Organisational Resources

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Preliminary Analysis

• Complementarity Between IT Non-IT Resources
• More Choices for Customers
• Greater Convenience/ Increase Accessibility
• Financial
• Human, Skills Knowledge (Outsourcing)
• Relationship with External Stakeholders
  (Publicity)
• Leadership
• Organisational Culture (History (Mata et al. 1995
  ))
• Existing Channels

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Preliminary Analysis

• Complementarity Between IT Non-IT Resources
• Reaching New Customer Base
• Increase in Number of Feedback Received
• Financial
• Human, Skills Knowledge (Outsourcing)
• Relationship with External Stakeholders
  (Publicity)
• Leadership
• Organisational Reputation (Recognised Authority)
• Existing Channels

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Preliminary Analysis

• Complementarity Between IT Non-IT Resources
• Increased Consultation
• Financial
• Human, Skills Knowledge (Outsourcing)
• Relationship with External Stakeholders (Other
  Agencies (Beard Summer 2004))
• Leadership -gt Political Administrative
• Organisational Culture (History (Mata et al. 1995
  ))
• Organisational Reputation (Recognised Authority)
• Existing Channels

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Discussion

• Publicity
• Political Leadership
• Outsourcing - PPP
• History Inimitability
• Recognised Authority Inimitability
• Existing Channels Redundancy

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Future Research

• Analysis
• Analyse the process of developing resource
  complementarity in the achievement of the
  capabilities
• Identify if there are any key non-IT resources
  that keep recurring and attempt to substantiate
  their criticality
• Develop groupings of non-IT resources
• Differentiate between asset, capability
  competency (Peppard Ward 2004 Sanchez 2001)
• Further Work
• Additional 2-3 cases

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The End Comments Questions
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Hierarchical
Chairman of Supervisory Council
Supervisory Council
Director
Deputy Director
Executives
Clerical Staff
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