Technology adoption and innovation in public services the case of e-government in Italy

Abstract

a b s t r a c tUsing data from 1176 Italian municipalities in 2005, we identify factors associated with the development of e-government services supplied by local public administrations (PAs). We show that the combination of internal competencies and context-specific factors is different when explaining decisions to start e-government activities vs. the intensity of such activities. Municipalities involved in e-government are larger, carry out more in-house ICT activities and are more likely to have intranet infrastructures than PAs that do not offer front-office digitized services. They are also generally located in regions having relatively large shares of firms using or producing ICTs, where many other municipalities offer digitized services, and where population density is relatively low. The range and quality of e-government services supplied by local PAs tend to increase with their stock of ICT competencies, their efforts to train workers, and with their ability to organise efficient interfaces with end-users. Moreover, there is a correlation between the range and quality of e-government services offered and the broadband infrastructure development in the area where local PAs are located.

Electronic government adoption in developing countries: the case of the Indonesian electronic procurement system

“…Such findings are supported by more recent research (Dada, 2006, Shajari andIsmail, 2010). Thus, e-Government implementation remains an ongoing problem in some developing countries including Indonesia (Rose, 2004, Nugroho, 2005, Arduini et al, 2010.…”

“…This model seeks to explain users' acceptance of technology by proposing the predictors of system use. Many researchers have used the model as a means of understanding e-Government success and failure in their own countries (Arduini et al, 2010, Chu et al, 2004, Lau et al, 2008, Rehman and Esichaikul, 2011. The technology adoption model reveals both the implementation problems as well as the success factors in e-Government.…”

Industrial policy options for sustaining growth in Italy

“…Italian regional discrepancies have been exacerbated by administrative decentralisation to regional authorities of widely diverging efficiency levels. One of the ways to achieve a positive convergence in performance would be promoting to the largest extent possible technology based solutions like e-government services (Arduini et al 2010). This would help to overcome a number of obstacles posed by conventional mode of service provision, whose quality may vary substantially at regional level and can be extremely low.…”

Diffusion and usage of public e-services in Europe: An assessment of country level indicators and drivers

“…Now, the two phenomena of electronic government and digital divide -according to the most recent stream of literature on eServices -are not only connected, but recursively linked (Helbig et al 2009) and mutually enforcing each other. Concerning the infrastructural digital divide, for example, Arduini et al (2010) show that in 2005 there was a positive correlation between the range and quality of eGovernment services provided by their sample of Italian municipalities and the degree of broadband development available in the area where these municipalities were located. More fundamentally, we believe that the still-prevalent supply-side perspective of most studies addressing eGovernment diffusion has failed to consider the mediating role of demand-side (users') and other socio-institutional issues.…”