Stakeholder Salience Changes in an e-Government Implementation Project

January 1, 2013, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Genotyping common FSHR polymorphisms based on competitive amplification of differentially melting amplicons (CADMA).

$

0

0

Abstract

In this article we discuss in what ways an e-government project can give both expected and unexpected effects for agency employees and their working tasks. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the fact that, besides the aim to increase agency efficiency and citizen benefit, e-government implementation might also change the salience of involved stakeholders. We do this by focusing on one stakeholder group which was reluctant and hesitating in the beginning of the studied project; marginalized, passive, easily convinced, and old-fashioned. After the e-government implementation, this group had turned to satisfied, proud, influential, active, powerful, and modern IT users. The case shows how stakeholder salience might change over time in an e-government project. Stakeholder influence aspects and IT driven change aspects are intertwined. This makes it necessary for any e-government project to address the notion of stakeholder involvement in decision-making during the development and implementation phases, but also to acknowledge e-services force to change how things and people are perceived during these phases.

---

Genotyping common FSHR polymorphisms based on competitive amplification of differentially melting amplicons (CADMA).

November 1, 2014, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Open Innovation Contests for Improving Healthcare – An Explorative Case Study Focusing on Challenges in a Testbed Initiative

≪ Previous: Stakeholder Salience Changes in an e-Government Implementation Project

$

0

0

Abstract

Purpose

To provide an improved platform for simple, reliable, and cost-effective genotyping.

Background

Modern fertility treatments are becoming increasingly individualized in an attempt to optimise the follicular response and reproductive outcome, following controlled ovarian stimulation. As the field of pharmacogenetics evolve, genetic biomarkers such as polymorphisms of the follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) may be included as a predictive tool for individualized fertility treatment. However, the currently available genotyping methods are expensive, time-consuming or have a limited analytical sensitivity. Here, we present a novel version of “competitive amplification of differentially melting amplicons” (CADMA), providing an improved platform for simple, reliable, and cost-effective genotyping.

Methods

Two CADMA based assays were designed for the two common polymorphisms of the FSHR gene: rs6165 (c.919A > G, p. Thr307Ala, FSHR 307) and rs6166 (c.2039A > G, p. Asn680Ser, FSHR 680). To evaluate the reliability of the new CADMA-based assays, the genotyping results were compared with two conventional PCR based genotyping methods; allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR) and Sanger sequencing.

Results

The genotype frequencies for both polymorphisms were 35 % (TT), 42 % (CT), and 23 % (CC), respectively. A 100 % accordance was observed between the CADMA-based genotyping results and sequencing results, whereas 5 discrepancies were observed between the AS-PCR results and the CADMA-based genotyping results. Comparing the CADMA-based assays to (AS-PCR) and Sanger sequencing, the CADMA based assays showed an improved analytical sensitivity and a wider applicability.

Conclusions

The new assays provide a reliable, fast and user-friendly genotyping method facilitating a wider implication in clinical practise.

Open Innovation Contests for Improving Healthcare – An Explorative Case Study Focusing on Challenges in a Testbed Initiative

January 1, 2015, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Government

≪ Previous: Genotyping common FSHR polymorphisms based on competitive amplification of differentially melting amplicons (CADMA).

$

0

0

Abstract

Working with innovation is important in several sectors and industries. One emerging arena for innovation is the arrangements of innovation contests. The aim of the paper is to describe and characterize an open innovation contest for improving healthcare, and to address the challenges involved. The research is a qualitative, explorative and interpretive case study of a Swedish region providing publicly funded healthcare. The conclusions show the need to generate and analyze data from actors with several perspectives in the contest. Challenges identified include defining and precisely expressing the problem, separating and delimiting the different problems and achieving a joint view. Other challenges were identifying and attracting knowledgeable participants, to consider incentives, and communicating the contest. In the collaboration stage, challenges involved the contest design, enabling knowledge sharing, managing various agendas, and being open-minded to new ideas; and finally, assessing whether the problem is suitable for open innovation contests at all.

Electronic Government

January 1, 2015, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Government

≪ Previous: Open Innovation Contests for Improving Healthcare – An Explorative Case Study Focusing on Challenges in a Testbed Initiative

$

0

0

Electronic Government

January 1, 2016, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Time to Refuel the Conceptual Discussion on Public e-Services – Revisiting How e-Services Are Manifested in Practice

≪ Previous: Electronic Government

$

0

0

Time to Refuel the Conceptual Discussion on Public e-Services – Revisiting How e-Services Are Manifested in Practice

January 1, 2017, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Government

≪ Previous: Electronic Government

$

0

0

Abstract

There are various models and frameworks describing the nature of e-services in the public sector. Many of these models are based on previous conceptualizations and have evolved over time, but are first and foremost conceptual creations with weak empirical grounding. In the meantime, practitioners in the field have continued to further develop e-services, and new advancements in technology have enabled new solutions for e-services. In the light of advancements in practice, and the limitations seen in current conceptual work concerning public e-services, we identify a need to refuel the conceptual discussion on e-services in the public sector by empirically investigating how e-services can be manifested in practice. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the possible variations of e-services in practice, and to discuss this variation in relation to the conceptual representation of the phenomenon. Based on qualitative interviews with employees involved with e-service development and provision at a large governmental agency, we illustrate that an ‘e-service’ can take on many different forms within an organization; ranging from downloadable forms, to complicated self-service systems that require expertise knowledge and IT-systems with specific processing capacity. The notion that all services mediated through a website can be understood under one general umbrella term, without further categorization, needs to be challenged.

Electronic Government

January 1, 2017, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Coordinating Public E-services - Investigating Mechanisms and Practices in a Government Agency

≪ Previous: Time to Refuel the Conceptual Discussion on Public e-Services – Revisiting How e-Services Are Manifested in Practice

$

0

0

Coordinating Public E-services - Investigating Mechanisms and Practices in a Government Agency

January 1, 2018, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Who Are the Users of Digital Public Services?

≪ Previous: Electronic Government

$

0

0

Abstract

Coordination is a critical enabler when creating and managing coherent, integrated, secure and smart public electronic services (e-services) as a part of digitalization. With an increased demand for such services, coordination as an internal organizational phenomenon is becoming increasingly important. Based on a qualitative case study, and informed by coordination theory, this paper investigates two different theoretical views applied on internal e-service coordination within a government agency in Sweden. At the outset, the agency is seeking one generic way to coordinate the current heterogeneous and fragmented internal e-service landscape in a more efficient way. Hence, our aim also includes investigating the prerequisites and potential for this type of coordination. We conduct this study in two stages. First, we apply a well-established theoretical lens from organizational theory on a set of coordination efforts, thereby perceiving coordination as a planned and anticipated activity based on a fixed set of mechanisms. Second, we apply a lens of coordinating as emergent practice, which allows for an in-depth investigation of more flexible and dynamic aspects of coordinating activities in daily work. By combining these two views, we argue that this approach can facilitate and increase understanding of the dynamics and flexibility needed to understand the type of coordination needed in public e-service contexts. This can also imply that there is no single best practice or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to internal e-service coordination. Instead, organizations need to acknowledge the need for multi-dimensional views revealing the inherent complexity of coordination; as planned as well as emerging activities.

---

Who Are the Users of Digital Public Services?

January 1, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Artificial Intelligence in Swedish Policies: Values, Benefits, Considerations and Risks

≪ Previous: Coordinating Public E-services - Investigating Mechanisms and Practices in a Government Agency

$

0

0

Abstract

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.

Artificial Intelligence in Swedish Policies: Values, Benefits, Considerations and Risks

January 1, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Government

≪ Previous: Who Are the Users of Digital Public Services?

$

0

0

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is said to be the next big phase in digitalization. There is a global ongoing race to develop, implement and make use of AI in both the private and public sector. The many responsibilities of governments in this race are complicated and cut across a number of areas. Therefore, it is important that the use of AI supports these diverse aspects of governmental commitments and values. The aim of this paper is to analyze how AI is portrayed in Swedish policy documents and what values are attributed to the use of AI. We analyze Swedish policy documents and map benefits, considerations and risks with AI into different value ideals, based on an established e-government value framework. We conclude that there is a discrepancy in the policy level discourse on the use of AI between different value ideals. Our findings show that AI is strongly associated with improving efficiency and service quality in line with previous e-government policy studies. Interestingly, few benefits are highlighted concerning engagement of citizens in policy making. A more nuanced view on AI is needed for creating realistic expectations on how this technology can benefit society.

Electronic Government

January 1, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Process Automation as Enabler of Prioritized Values in Local Government – A Stakeholder Analysis

≪ Previous: Artificial Intelligence in Swedish Policies: Values, Benefits, Considerations and Risks

$

0

0

Process Automation as Enabler of Prioritized Values in Local Government – A Stakeholder Analysis

January 1, 2021, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Government

≪ Previous: Electronic Government

$

0

0

Abstract

Local government organizations (municipalities) in Sweden are encouraged to pursue process automation to face upcoming challenges. In this paper we focus on a case where these recommendations are put into practice and explore the views on process automation held by different stakeholder groups, related to which values they prioritize in their respective area of work. We do this by applying stakeholder theory and the model of value ideals by [1] as a combined theoretical lens. Our results show that different stakeholder groups prioritize different value ideals in their areas of work and that their views on process automation as able to enable these value ideals vary from optimistic, to hesitant to pessimistic. In the studied case, the achievement of process automation is in part reliant on workers themselves seeking it out, meaning that the pessimistic view on process automation poses a problem in that it becomes an obstacle for this to function. We discuss the possible reasons for the differently held prioritized value ideals as well as the differently held views on process automation. We conclude that the studied case shows that implementing process automation includes establishing new structures, roles and responsibilities and comes with certain issues, as those highlighted by our analysis. We found the combination of value ideals and stakeholder theory useful in studying e-government initiatives and make some further recommendations on possible future, related, streams of research.

Electronic Government

January 1, 2021, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Organizing for Robotic Process Automation in Local Government: Observations from Two Case Studies of Robotic Process Automation Implementation in Swedish Municipalities

≪ Previous: Process Automation as Enabler of Prioritized Values in Local Government – A Stakeholder Analysis

$

0

0

Organizing for Robotic Process Automation in Local Government: Observations from Two Case Studies of Robotic Process Automation Implementation in Swedish Municipalities

January 1, 2022, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Towards Service Automation in Public Organizations

≪ Previous: Electronic Government

$

0

0

Abstract

Automation of internal administrative processes tied to the delivery of public services is outlined as a continuation of the development toward a more digital, efficient, and effective local government. However, this development is often based on unrealistic expectations of the transformative power of digital technologies. It is therefore important to further understand automation as a driver of digital transformation of local government organizations. Automation, in this chapter, is understood as a change from a function previously carried out by a human to being performed by a machine agent (e.g., robotic process automation). We explore and compare how initiatives to implement robotic process automation (RPA) are organized in two Swedish municipalities. Our analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with employees working in the two municipalities. The analysis shows interesting patterns across the cases concerning dissonances and disconnects between stakeholders on different levels in the organizations, making this kind of development difficult. Our results contribute with (a) empirical illustrations that show how general policies on process automation promoted by policymakers are influencing the organization of IT and work in local government practice; (b) challenges that affect the implementation of RPA in local government; and (c) point to a set of observations that require further research.

Towards Service Automation in Public Organizations

January 1, 2022, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Why is it Difficult to Implement Robotic Process Automation?

≪ Previous: Organizing for Robotic Process Automation in Local Government: Observations from Two Case Studies of Robotic Process Automation Implementation in Swedish Municipalities

$

0

0

Abstract

This title aims at presenting the latest advancements and findings from research on service automation in public sector organizations. The authors of the chapters use a mix of social- and technical approaches to increase our understanding of public service automation. The chapters present and discuss the conceptualization of automation of service in public organizations, empirical examples of automation applications in public organizations, and implementation challenges that can arise from public sector service automation. The overall ambition is to aid and inspire researchers and practitioners to advance their knowledge on service automation in public organizations, as well as to provide a foundation for policy development and future research. In this introductory chapter, we give a brief overview of the included chapters. We then synthesize a set of gaps in the current understanding of service automation in public organizations and provide suggestions for future research. We conclude that there is a continued need to observe and learn from empirical examples and a want for more critical studies on the social- and societal consequences of increased service automation in public organizations.

---

Why is it Difficult to Implement Robotic Process Automation?

January 1, 2022, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Government

≪ Previous: Towards Service Automation in Public Organizations

$

0

0

Abstract

Swedish municipalities have been urged by policy makers to implement automation technologies to make administrative work more cost-efficient. As a response, a large set of municipalities have attempted to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions with the intention to speed up administrative processes. However, although RPA has been promoted for several years, implementation has been limited and slow. This paper explores challenges related to RPA implementation experienced by three Swedish municipalities. We use an extensive interpretive case study as our empirical foundation, generated in collaboration with three Swedish municipalities, complemented with interviews with RPA consultants. Through interpretive analysis, we generate challenges along four themes. Our analysis shows that RPA implementation requires that different organizational sub-units and stakeholders cooperate. Challenges arise from: initiating RPA top-down without bottom-up support; insufficient process- and IT-competence; dependence on individual enthusiasts and external RPA consultants; and subsequent difficulties in finding the right processes to automate. Our study contributes with empirical illustrations of how RPA implementation is made difficult by current organizational structures and resources. We confirm and further contribute to previous findings by pointing to multiple dimensions in which challenges can arise.

Electronic Government

January 1, 2022, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Administrative Burden in Digital Self-service: An Empirical Study About Citizens in Need of Financial Assistance

≪ Previous: Why is it Difficult to Implement Robotic Process Automation?

$

0

0

Administrative Burden in Digital Self-service: An Empirical Study About Citizens in Need of Financial Assistance

January 1, 2022, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Electronic Participation

≪ Previous: Electronic Government

$

0

0

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate what challenges arise for vulnerable citizens when welfare service provision is digitalized. We analyze the challenges citizens experience in the application process using the theoretical concept of administrative burden., i.e., learning-, compliance-, and psychological costs imposed on the citizen by policy implementation. The financial assistance service provided by the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV) is our empirical example. Our results show that digitalizing financial assistance creates new administrative burdens for vulnerable citizens. While frontline workers offer important help to citizens in the application process, they can also impose additional burdens on the citizen. Our study contributes with empirically grounded insights on the administrative burdens related to digital self-service, which causes citizens to turn to frontline workers for support. We offer a theoretical contribution by linking digitalization and administrative burden.

Electronic Participation

January 1, 2022, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Robot Colleagues in Swedish Municipalities: How RPA Affects the Work Situation of Employees

≪ Previous: Administrative Burden in Digital Self-service: An Empirical Study About Citizens in Need of Financial Assistance

$

0

0

Robot Colleagues in Swedish Municipalities: How RPA Affects the Work Situation of Employees

January 1, 2023, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Institutional Re-design for a Digital Era - Learning from Cases of Automation

≪ Previous: Electronic Participation

$

0

0

Abstract

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a popular software used for process automation in order to automate administrative tasks, traditionally performed by knowledge workers. The existing research on RPA is lacking in terms of what is known about how this type of technology affects the work situations of employees and their experiences with it. In this study, we seek to contribute to this knowledge gap by conducting an inductive analysis of employee experiences in three Swedish municipalities to explore the effects of RPA on their work situation. We find that RPA creates different effects during implementation compared to post-implementation, and that these effects can be positive or negative in both cases. Furthermore, we show that RPA may alleviate stress in one area of the organization, but that new stress emerges in another. We also conclude that the experiences on the individual level are interconnected with the organizational and managerial aspects of RPA, showing the need to further interconnect knowledge in these areas. Finally, we present some recommendations for future research, with an emphasis on studying employees’ work situations from a work environment perspective.