The rollout of eGovernment is in full swing worldwide, because of governments' realization of its possible efficiency and effectiveness gains. The introduction of service accounts, as exemplary initiation of the European eID strategy in Germany, is one of the eGovernment projects that keeps the German public sector busy. Owing to the federal structure of Germany, the nationwide implementation poses an extraordinary challenge. With this, it forms a good example for the complexity of eGovernment projects in federal states. (Future) public servants need to have a full understanding of the interdisciplinary environment, they will need to operate in. Simulation games, offering the possibility of immerging into a subject matter in a neutral, risk-free environment, are increasingly used in educational programs in times of digitalization and therefore could represent a powerful tool to teach the needed eGovernment competences. At the same time, they help to early sensitize eGovernment students to the numerous exigencies in their working life. We developed a simulation game, targeting the introduction of service accounts in Germany, and tested it with an international student group (n=16) to measure its potential for competence development in higher education programs in eGovernment.

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Despite the importance of citizens as users of digital public services, e-government research has not explicitly considered different perspectives on citizens as users of said services. This paper sets out to explore the possible variations in which the citizen as a user of digital public services is conceptualized within the e-government literature. Through a qualitative and interpretive approach, we have analysed literature from different fields of e-government research to create an overview of how citizens as users of digital public services are conceptualized in e-government research. The structure of the review departs from, and is framed by, four established value paradigms for e-government management. Our approach reveals that -depending on the perspective taken -the conceptualization of the citizen varies considerably and, as a consequence, may impact the results and contributions of each research perspective. The conception of the citizen as a user of digital public services varies from being a passive recipient of government services, to being an active co-producer of services. This article contributes to e-government theory by unboxing the conceptions of citizens as users of digital public services that are existent in current research on digital public services. In providing a framework that relates these conceptions to previously known value paradigms, the article offers a starting point for taking a multidimensional perspective in e-government research that considers the citizen as a multifaceted and heterogeneous entity.

Public administration institutions increasingly use business process management (BPM) to innovate internal operations, increase process performance and improve their services. Research on private sector companies has shown that organizational culture may impact an organization's BPM and this culture is often referred to as BPM culture. However, similar research on public administration is yet missing. Thus, this article assesses BPM culture in Germany’s municipal administration. 733 online survey responses were gathered and analyzed using MANOVA and follow-up discriminant analyses to identify possible determinants of public administration’s BPM culture. The results indicate that the employees’ professional experience and their responsibility influence the assessment of BPM culture, as does the size of a municipality. Based on these findings, the article proposes testable relationships and an agenda for further research on BPM culture in public administration.

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