cpso research seminar school of management, royal holloway university of london

Greta Nasi

CPSO Research Seminar, February 28° 2007

Information technology and public service delivery: an empirical investigation in Italian

municipal governments

Greta NasiAssistant Professor of Public Management

Bocconi University, Milan

February, 28° 2007

CPSO Research SeminarSchool of Management, Royal Holloway University of London

Greta Nasi


Agenda

Theoretical background

eGovernment in Italy

Purpose and methodology of the research

Findings

Conclusions

Open discussion for further research studies

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Theoretical backgroundTheoretical background

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Change and innovation in public service organizations

Global economic changes;

Internationalizations of firms;

New institutional role of states;

Social factors;

Demographic characteristics;

Technological factors

Deliver “better services”

Maintain and enhance “trustworthy relationships” with constituents

Adoption of NPM approach and principles for public service provisions

Adoption of new modes to meet unanticipated needs

(Osborne, S.P. and Brown, K.; 2005)

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A social revolution: the Information Society

Input and output of innovation in public service organizations

– How services are provided– New forms of public services

New forms of organizational structure

– Change in roles and responsibilities;

– Different job content of personnel

– More horizontal structures

Tec

hn

olo

gic

al

fact

ors

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An exploratory framework

Norris D. F. and Moon M. J. (2005) present an exploratory framework that depicts three dimensions of IT adoption:

– The input dimension

– The impacts on internal organizational processes

– The impacts in terms of organizational outputs and outcomes

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The input dimension in local and state governments

Environmental factors (Moon, M. J. 2002; Reddick, C. G. and Frank, H. A. 2007)

Demographic factors (Bingham, R. D. 1978)

Organizational factors (Kimberly J. R. and Evanisko M. J. 1981; Brudney, J. L. and Selden, S. C. 1995)

Human factors (Nedovic-Budic, Z. and Godschalk, D. R. 1996)

Drivers of diffusion (Walker 2006)

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The context of Italian Local Governments

The context of Italian Local Governments

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Background: The Italian context

Four levels of government: central government, 20 regional governments, 103 provinces, 8,101 municipal governments (92% with populations < 15,000; 0,5% with population < 100,000)

Population Number< 5,000 58415,000-10,000 117410,000-50,000 94650,000-100,000 99100,000-250,000 28250,000-500,000 7500,000-1,000,000 3>1,000,000 3Total 8101

Mu

nic

ipa

litie

s

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NPM reforms and the action plan for egovernment

Main reform principles Vertical regulation (LGs only) Horizontal regulations (applies to all public agencies)

Reorganizations, Downsizing 1990 New role of Local Governments

2000 Reorganization, accounting and management control reforms

1997 Decentralization, transfer of functions to regional and local governments

1997 New forms of organization, reductions of layers and complexity

Decentralization, PPP, outsourcing

1990 Introduction of contracting in and out

2000 Revision of new forms of public service provision

1990 New forms of public service provision

Market principles 2001 Performance measurement

2001 Market principles for personnel recruitment and incentives

1993 Introduction of new personnel system

Digital signature

Digital workflow

Integrated management systems

Enhance internal efficiency

Deliver integrated on line public services

Grant digital access to information

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The action plan for eGovernment

June 23° 2000: The action plan for eGovernment was published

2002: First action phase of eGovernment– Guidelines for establishing an on line presence of LGs;– Guidelines for building IT infrastructure– 120 M Euros to co-finance projects

Nov. 2003: The second phase of eGovernment started– eDemocracy;– IT infrastructure;– eInclusion of small LGs;– Reutilization of “best practices”– Establishment of local agencies for eGovernment coordination

Jan. 2007: New strategic objectives for eGovernment

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Survey mania

The UN eGovernment readiness index 2005

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The UN eGovernment readiness index: from 2003 to 2005

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Survey mania

The UN eGovernment readiness index

EU countries in 2004 and 2005

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Discussion

Is the UK eGovernment strategy consistent with NPM ideas and the overall reform process?

How similar/different is the UK action plan for eGovernment?

As citizens, do you have comments about the UK eGovernment readiness?

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The purpose and methods of the research

The purpose and methods of the research

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Purpose of the research

Take a close look at the actual state of eGovernment in Italian Municipal Governments (MUs);

Assess the attributes of innovative municipal governments (MU) that adopt IT innovations by changing how public services are provided (stages of eGovernment) and their internal organizational structures’ arrangements (back office organizational structure rearrangements)

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Its positioning in the current literature

Most studies that discuss determinants of IT innovations, focus on the technical aspects of IT adoptions or types of innovation (Walker, R. 2006)

Some studies focus on trust and legitimacy (Welch, E. W., Hinnant, C. C. et al. 2005; Tolbert, C., J. and Mossberger, K. 2006; Torres, L., Pina, V. et al. 2006)

A few researches focus on the impacts on the delivery of public services (Moon, M. J. 2002; West, D. M. 2004), focusing on the stages of egovernment.

In this study the focus is on the level of sophistication of on line public service delivery for each type of stakeholder (i.e. citizen, businesses, employees, suppliers, ect) of the MUs.

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Egovernment framework, Hiller J.S. and Bélanger F. (2001)

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The dependent variable

IT adoption was measured through an indicator that measures the intensity of adoption from two categorical variables:

One variable measures the type of interaction of the municipal government and its constituents.

The second variable measures the level of sophistication of IT adoption for each of the interaction the municipality engages in using five stages: information, communication, transaction, integration, political participation.

Based on this, we created an indicator to consider the following:– the number of interactions activated;– the number of stages at which each interaction is activated.

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Methodology

Desk research and literature review to draw the conceptual framework

Analysis of official LGs’ documents, revision of websites

An on line survey, conducted by email, sent to Chief Information Officers to all Municipal Governments with populations greater than 40,000 inhabitants (a total of 183)

The sample represents:– 2.26% of the total Municipalities in Italy– 37% of the population

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ResultsResults

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The Respondents

114 MUs responded: 62.3% of the sample

Small Medium LargeNW 50% 100% 75%NE 64% 73% 100%C 44% 60% 100%S 58% 50% 75%

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Are IT innovations a priority?

There is a vision for IT innovations– 53% of respondents have a “long term strategic plan for

eGovernment”; 43% are drafting it;

However, there is a perception of lack of consistent actions to adopt them:

– Among those that have a strategic plan, over 68% don’t have consistent yearly operative plans for IT;

– The annual budget allocated for IT capital investments is usual very low:» 63% of total respondents allocate less than 1% of annual current

expenditures;; » 27% allocate between 1 and 2%;

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CIO positioning

Staff to a Councillor 25.4%

Staff to City Manager 30.7%

Staff to a Department 34.6%

A Department of its own

9.3%

CIO and IT Staff positioning

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HR capacity

Personnel dedicated to IT and eGovernment innovations (over total MUs’ personnel)

Less than 1% 43% of MUs

Between 1 and 2% 45% of MUs

A little over 2% 13% of MUs

Educational background of IT staff

Technical or mostly technical

75%

Mostly managerial 23%

Managerial 2%

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Technology readiness

Workstations and PCs

Each Staff member has a PC

21.9%

Three out of four staff members has a PC

70%

1 out of four staff members has a PC

8.1%

Island information system

26.3%

Some integration

Native integration (1.3%)

66.7

Back office information system integration

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IT integration and alignment of back office processes: is it a priority?

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Information Two-way communication

Transaction Integration Political Participation

Government to Individuals - Services

97% 81% 26%

22% will be activated this year

14%


28% 7% will be activated this year

Government to Individuals - Political

96% 86% 0% N/A Evote 0%

Government to Businesses - Suppliers

96% 85% 23%


34%


N/A

Government to Employees

79%


96% 56%


35%


N/A

Government to other governments

99% 96% 35% N/A

Stages of egov

Type of interaction

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Attributes of innovative Municipal Governments

MU environment:– Small size (population between 40,000 and 100,000)– Located in North of Italy – Have a centre-left city council

MU’s eGovernment vision:– Have a strategic plan for eGovernment– CIO and IT Staff respond directly to the City Manager

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Attributes of innovative Municipal Governments

MU’s eGovernment actions:

– Have access to external funds

– Invest in managerial training to adopt innovations (more than 6 days per year)

– Are technologically ready (3 PC every 4 employees)

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Overall view

Municipalities adopt IT at different stages to support many interactions with their constituents

– Most relevant stakeholders for more sophisticated stages of eGovernment:

– Businesses – Employees

Environmental, organizational and demographic attributes are important in determining the stages of eGovernment and the MUs relationship with constituents

Access to external resources seems to be more important than the budget allocated

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Next steps

Qualitative analysis aimed at better understanding:

– What motivates MUs’ choice of high sophisticated level of web interactions with some constituents?

– How do they choose which public service processes and information flows to align?

– How does internal organizational structure (and information system) affects innovation?

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The UK case

The healthcare case

– What are the main factors affecting the development of electronic medical record systems?

– What motivates health care structures to adopt technological innovations to manage relationships with patients?

– Does the institutional environment (and policies) play a strong role?

cpso research seminar school of management, royal holloway university of london

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