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Syed, Rehan; Bandara, Wasana; Eden, Rebekah
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-220017
Influenced by the global uptake of digital transformations, governments in developing countries are making considerable investments in digital transformation initiatives; however, these often result in very high failure rates. The overall purpose of this study is to identify why digital transformations in the public sector of developing country contexts fail. This paper reports on a rich revelatory case study of a Sri Lankan government agency that experienced digital transformation failure. Data was collected primarily via semi-structured interviews and augmented with document analysis that enabled us to derive deep insights into why digital transformations fail. We identified 23 failure factors which were grouped into 5 meta-themes, namely, Organisational, Implementing Agency, Cultural, Leadership and Macro-Level Factors, forming a failure factor model. The analysis also unveiled complex interrelationships between these themes/factors, which formed the basis for 6 evidence-supported propositions detailed in the paper. The findings will benefit public sector organizations in developing countries and their implementation partners to effectively plan their digital transformation strategies.
Heidlund, Marcus; Gidlund, Katarina L.
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-220007
Though ‘digitalization’ has become a buzzword and policy objective in public-sector development, the struggle to grasp and define it as a modern phenomenon continues. Furthermore, research has long shown that it is difficult to extract the value with which digitalization is associated. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is to uncover the enactment by a specific set of actors of digitalization as production and reproduction practices. We interviewed a group of governmentally sanctioned regional digitalization coordinators to identify how digitalization was translated and implemented by the appointed professionals. We applied Orlikowski and Gash’s three levels of technology (nature, strategy, and use) and combined these with Feenberg’s matrix of four views on technology to produce an analytical framework. Our findings show that the making of digitalization can be described like ‘nailing jelly to a wall’, owing to the lack description of its capabilities and functionalities, coupled with a raison d’etre that is highly elusive beyond ‘change’, in very general terms.
Guenduez, Ali A.; Mettler, Tobias; Schedler, Kuno
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-211508
The interest in digital identities has increased considerably in academia and practice in recent years. This can be seen by the many electronic identity projects worldwide and the numerous published studies that provide insightful narratives and descriptive case findings about success factors and barriers to the adoption of national authentication infrastructures. In this paper, we take a closer look to the role of trust on the design and implementation of a nation-wide e-credential market. We argue that trust in political and economic institutions can be an important factor to explain differences in the chosen cooperative arrangement which can range from monopolistic, purely state-controlled e-credential markets, to polypolistic, decentralized e-credential markets where also private vendors offer state recognized e-ID on their own or in partnership with the government. Following an inductive reasoning process, we develop three testable propositions which may inspire further empirical research and offer practitioners a new angle to rethink e-credential markets in the light of citizen trust in political and economic institutions.
Escobar, Fernando; Almeida, Washington H.C.; Varajão, João
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-211518
This study conducts a systematic literature review on several aspects regarding the success of initiatives of digital transformation in the public sector (DTPS), focusing on case studies, processes, and success factors of the DTPS projects. The research was carried out using several scientific databases and indexers (such as ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, and ISI Web of Science). The literature review process enabled the identification of a total of 38 case studies, four processes, and 51 success factors, all of which are presented and discussed, contributing both to theory and practice, to minimizing risks and improving the success of DTPS projects. The review process also enabled the identification of new research avenues.
Masoudnia, Hossein; Ghorbani, Maryam; Stockemer, Daniel
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-210006
This article contributes to the debate on the effect of social media usage on political attitudes. Our research question is: Does the use of social media affect citizens’ political trust? We test this research question using Egypt’s Arab Barometer Wave V country data (2018–2019). We expect social media usage to increase political distrust among citizens through the three mediating variables: corruption perceptions, perceptions of poor government performance, and perceptions of missing guaranteed freedoms. Our quantitative study results confirm these mediating relationships; that is, social media usage significantly increases political distrust among Egyptian citizens by increasing corruption perceptions, perceptions of poor government performance, and perceptions of a lack of guaranteed freedoms.
Buggenhout, Natasja Van; den Broeck, Wendy Van
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-211500
European General Data Protection Regulation requires organisations to request the data subject’s consent for personal data processing. Data controllers must be able to demonstrate valid consent was obtained (‘transparency’). Media often struggle to meet GDPR requirements in practice. We identified several issues with existing consent procedures amongst which a need for trustworthy approaches to record and track consent. In this article, we evaluate a specific transparency initiative: a Personal Data Receipt (PDR) for news personalisation. We investigated how European media users and media professionals evaluated the PDR. We conducted qualitative surveys and interviews to explore and describe individuals’ viewpoints on/responses to the PDR. The main strengths highlighted in this study are: GDPR compliance and improved data processing transparency which leads to more control and user trust. PDR weaknesses are mainly related to users not reading the receipt, lack/overload of information, and design issues. Based on our findings, we identified missing elements and formulated recommendations for PDR improvement to optimise consent strategies. By examining how individuals responded to this specific transparency tool, and rhetorical tactics connected to it (placation, diversion, jargon, and misnaming), our study provides informed suggestions for ways out of digital resignation (Draper & Turow, 2019).
Zhu, Lin; Demircioglu, Mehmet Akif
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-229003
The COVID-19 pandemic brings the topic of citizen data management (CDAMA) into the public eye. This study is one of the first attempts to analyze the national approaches for CDAMA applied by governments of different countries and continents in public sectors. The study first conducts a systematic overview of the representative contact tracing apps in 21 countries of four continents, collecting information of the four aspects of the CDAMA system. It then summarizes and analyzes the various governments’ approaches to the CDAMA system applied by different countries and continents based on the app overview. We found that governments’ priority between national safety (i.e., public health in this study) and citizen privacy is different in terms of their national approaches for CDAMA. For example, governments of Asian countries are more intrusive and hold a stricter attitude in their national CDAMA approach than countries elsewhere. Our study has contributions both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it fills the literature gap about data management by discussing the data management in governments; practically, the study provides the background information as well as implications for future debates and discussions on governments’ data management system and citizen data use.
Mathiyazhagan, Siva; La Fors, Karolina
2023 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/ip-229014
The right to participation in matters related to children is a fundamental right of every child. AI systems are emerging in all contexts of children’s lives, both in the US and EU, yet children’s voices are often ignored in AI policy and practice, particularly children from historically marginalised communities. This article explores the policy and practice gaps in Europe and the US and the lack of children’s participation in AI at the global level. Current AI policies and practices discount the transnational implications of AI on children’s lives and their rights in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The article calls for co-creative approaches which should be implemented transnationally to elevate the benefits of the inclusion of children in AI policy and practice – not only as users but also as contributors and innovators. This approach offers AI systems and policies that are more inclusive and children-friendly. By offering children more agency as contributors and innovators, children would gain more power compared to only being users. We propose that the balance in transnational power dynamics in AI policy and practice could become reversed. Ultimately, children’s increased agency as innovators in shaping AI practices can offer mutual benefits for children’s individual and social development, inclusive AI policy, and innovation practice.
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