eGovernment initiatives all over the world endeavor to integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to transform delivery of government services to their stakeholders by improving quality of services, accountability and efficiency. In this study we explore adoption of ICT to enhance government-to-employee interactions in a government organization in a developing country. We examine this adoption behavior by utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) that provides an integrative view of user acceptance. We found that performance and effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions all positively impact the use of the ICT. We did not find a significant moderating effect of gender on these relationships.

Adoption of ICT in a government organization in a developing country: An empirical study

We review the empirical research on Free/Libre and Open-Source Software (FLOSS) development and assess the state of the literature. We develop a framework for organizing the literature based on the input-mediator-output-input (IMOI) model from the small groups literature. We present a quantitative summary of articles selected for the review and then discuss findings of this literature categorized into issues pertaining to inputs (e.g., member characteristics, technology use, and project characteristics), processes (software development practices, social processes, and firm involvement practices), emergent states (e.g., social states and task-related states), and outputs (e.g. team performance, FLOSS implementation, and project evolution). Based on this review, we suggest topics for future research, as well as identify methodological and theoretical issues for future inquiry in this area, including issues relating to sampling and the need for more longitudinal studies.

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Free/Libre open-source software development: What we know and what we do not know

Given the fact that more and more governments invest heavily in e-government design and implementation, e-government has become an evolving and important research area in the IS field. Most, if not all, currently published e-government strategies are based on successful experiences from developed countries, which may not be directly applicable to developing countries. Based on a literature review, this study summarizes differences between developed/developing countries. It identifies key factors for a successful e-government implementation and proposes an implementation framework. As a demonstration, we follow the guidance of the proposed framework in conducting a case study to analyze the implementation strategies of e-government in developed and developing countries.

E-Government Strategies in Developed and Developing Countries: An Implementation Framework and Case Study

There is an exciting natural match between social network analysis methods and the growth of data sources produced by social interactions via information technologies, from online communities to corporate information systems. Information Systems researchers have not been slow to embrace this combination of method and data. Such systems increasingly provide “digital trace data” that provide new research opportunities. Yet digital trace data are substantively different from the survey and interview data for which network analysis measures and interpretations were originally developed. This paper examines 10 validity issues associated with the combination of digital trace data and social network analysis methods, with examples from the IS literature, to provide recommendations for improving the validity of future research.

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Validity issues in the use of social network analysis with digital trace data

The success of Wikipedia demonstrates that self-organizing production communities can produce high-quality information-based products. Research on Wikipedia has proceeded largely atheoretically, focusing on (1) the diversity in members' knowledge bases as a determinant of Wikipedia's content quality, (2) the task-related conflicts that occur during the collaborative authoring process, and (3) the different roles members play in Wikipedia. We develop a theoretical model that explains how these three factors interact to determine the quality of Wikipedia articles. The results from the empirical study of 96 Wikipedia articles suggest that (1) diversity should be encouraged, as the creative abrasion that is generated when cognitively diverse members engage in task-related conflict leads to higher-quality articles, (2) task conflict should be managed, as conflict-notwithstanding its contribution to creative abrasion-can negatively affect group output, and (3) groups should maintain a balance of both administrative-and content-oriented members, as both contribute to the collaborative process.

http://iiseb.knu.ac.kr/Lecture/2012/KSS/p13.pdf

Information Quality in Wikipedia: The Effects of Group Composition and Task Conflict

As governments at different levels and all around the world are increasingly using the Web to enhance and improve their services, understanding e-government development and exploring factors that affect e-government development have become important research topics. The purpose of this research is to investigate factors explaining e-government development in terms of social development lenses. Based on growth and regional development theories, the paper hypothesizes that income level, development status, and region are three factors that differentiate e-government development in countries. Group comparison tests are conducted using secondary data from the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme. The results support the hypotheses that significant differences in e-government development exist between countries with respect to the three categorical variables mentioned above. In addition, the paper applies planned post-hoc tests to further investigate the differences. The results of this research are valuable to e-government scholars and practitioners. As the research involves data from more than a hundred countries, the research contributes to understanding e-government development factors on a global scale.

Using Social Development Lenses to Understand E-Government Development

Drawing on social network theories and previous studies, this research examines the dynamics of social network structures in open source software (OSS) teams. Three projects were selected from SourceForge.net in terms of their similarities as well as their differences. Monthly data were extracted from the bug tracking systems in order to achieve a longitudinal view of the interaction pattern of each project. Social network analysis was used to generate the indices of social structure. The finding suggests that the interaction pattern of OSS projects evolves from a single hub at the beginning to a core/periphery model as the projects move forward.

Yuan Long

Papers

Using Social Development Lenses to Understand E-Government Development

Social Network Structures in Open Source Software Development Teams