Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Digital Government Research: A Diverse Domain

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Scientific Foundations of Digital Governance and Transformation

Part of the book series: Public Administration and Information Technology ((PAIT,volume 38))

Abstract

As formulated in the Digital Government Society’s mission statement of 2006, Digital Government refers to “the use of information technology to support government operations, engage citizens, and provide government services.” Although the term “digital” as opposed to “analog” implicitly establishes a relationship between (digital) modern “information and communication technology (ICT)” and “government,” the scope and the various dimensions of Digital Government extend to more than just uses of ICTs in the public sector but rather induce and help transport transformational changes in how the business of government is conducted. This, it appears, holds for all types (democratic or not), all aspects, all levels, and all branches of government. In this chapter, the evolutionary path of Digital Government is accounted for, and the unfolding of the research tradition that accompanied, and sometimes guided, the emerging practice is described. Digital Government Research (DGR) started from humble beginnings to what is now the intermediary present. The chapter provides a projection and a preview of where this rapidly growing multi-disciplinary domain of research and practice might be headed in the next two decades. As it appears, the transformation of the business of government is only in its early phase, and major trends of transitions and transformation are observable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adam, N. R., Artigas, F., Atluri, V., Chun, S. A., Colbert, S., & Degeratu, M., et al. (2001). E-government: Human-centered systems for business services. In 2nd Annual National Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2001) (pp. 48–55). Digital Government Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alawadhi, S., Aldama-Nalda, A., Chourabi, H., Gil-Garcia, R. J., Leung, S., & Mellouli, S., et al. (2012). Building understanding of smart city initiatives. In: H. J. Scholl, M. Janssen, M. Wimmer, C. Moe, & L. Flak (Eds.), Electronic Government: Proceedings of the 11th IFIP WG 85 International Conference, EGOV 2012, Kristiansand, Norway (pp. 40–53).

    Google Scholar 

  • Aminah, S., Ditari, Y., Kumaralalita, L., Hidayanto, A. N., Phusavat, K., & Anussornnitisarn, P. (2018). E-procurement system success factors and their impact on transparency perceptions: Perspectives from the supplier side. Electronic Government, an International Journal, 14(2), 177–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, K. V., & Henriksen, H. Z. (2005). The first leg of E-government research: Domains and application areas 1998–2003. International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 1(4), 26–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backer, L. C. (2017). Measurement, assessment and reward: The challenges of building institutionalized social credit and rating systems in China and in the West. In Proceedings of the Chinese Social Credit System, Shanghai Jaiotong University (p. 23).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bannister, F., & Grönlund, Å. (2017). Information technology and government research: A brief history. In Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Science (HICSS-50). Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, USA, 2017 (pp. 2943–2952).

    Google Scholar 

  • Botsman, R. (2017). Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens. Wired UK, 21, 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozeman, B., & Bretschneider S. (1986). Public management information systems: Theory and prescriptions. Public Administration Review, 46(November (special issue)), 475–489.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bretschneider, S. (1990). Management information systems in public and private organization: An empirical test. Public Administration Review, 50(September/October), 536–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (Ed.). (2010). The rise of the network society (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charalabidis, Y., & Lachana, Z. (Eds.) (2020a). On the science foundation of digital governance and transformation. In 13th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2020); 2020 23–25 September; Athens, Greece. Association for Computing Machinery.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charalabidis, Y., & Lachana, Z. (Eds.). (2020b). Towards a science base for digital governance. In: 21st Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2020); 2020 17–19 June; Seoul, Republic of Korea. Association for Computing Machinery.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciment, M. (2003). A personal history of The NSF digital government program. Communications of the ACM, 46(1), 69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai, X. (2018). Toward a reputation state: The social credit system project of China. Available at SSRN: https://ssrncom/abstract=31935772018 (pp. 1–61).

    Google Scholar 

  • Estevez, E., Pardo, T. A., & Scholl, H. J. (Eds.). (2021). Smart cities and smart governance. Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo, Y. (2016). The construction of Commercial credit system from the view of civil code. In Proceedings of the 4th International Education, Economics, Social Science, Arts, Sports and Management Engineering Conference (IEESASM 2016) (pp. 553–557). Atlantis Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauck, R. V., Schroeder, J., & Chen, H. (2001). COPLINK: Developing information sharing and criminal intelligence analysis technologies for law enforcement. In 2nd Annual National Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2001) (pp. 134–141). Digital Government Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazen, D., Horrell, J., & Merrill-Oldham, J. (1998). Selecting research collections for digitization. Council on Library and Information Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, S. R. (2017). Programming China: The Communist Party’s autonomic approach to managing state security. University of Nottingham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollis, D. B., & Ohlin, J. D. (Ed.). (2017). Defending democracies: Combating foreign election interference in a digital age. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iyengar, S. (2001). Making voters autonomous: The Possibility of unmediated political campaigns. In: 2nd Annual National Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2001) (pp. 84–91). Digital Government Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kostka, G. (2018). China’s social credit systems and public opinion: Explaining high levels of approval (pp. 1–31). Available at SSRN 3215138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraemer, K. L., & King, J. L. (1986). Computing and public organizations. Public Administration Review, 46(6), 488–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraemer, K. L., & King, J. L. (2003). Information technology and administrative reform: Will the time after E-government be different? (pp. 1–19). Heinrich Reinermann Schrift Fest, Post Graduate School of Administration.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenk, K., & Traunmüller, R. (2002). Electronic government: Where are we heading? In: R. Traunmüller & K. Lenk (Ed.), Electronic Government: Proceedings of the 1st IFIP WG 85 International Conference, EGOV 2002, Aix-en-Provence, France (pp. 1–9).

    Google Scholar 

  • MacEachren, A. M., Hardisty, F., Gahegan, M., Wheeler, M., Dai, X., & Guo, D., et al. (2001). Supporting visual integration and analysis of geospatially-referenced data through web-deployable, cross-platform tools. In 2nd Annual National Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2001) (pp. 17–24). Digital Government Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meissner, M. (2017). China’s social credit system: A big-data enabled approach to market regulation with broad implications for doing business in China (pp. 1–13). MERICS Mercator Institute for China Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mistreanu, S. (2018). Life inside China’s social credit laboratory (pp. 1–10). Foreign Policy; Graham Holdings Company, Formerly the Washington Post Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohan, L., & Holstein, W. K. (1990). EIS: It can work in the public sector. MIS Quarterly, 14(4), 434–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niehaves, B., Plattfaut, R., & Becker, J. (2013). Business process management capabilities in local governments: A multi-method study. Government Information Quarterly, 30(3), 217–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris, D. F., & Kraemer, K. L. (1996). Mainframe and PC computing in American cities: Myths and realities. Public Administration Review, 56(6), 568–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Looney, J. (2001). Personalization of government internet services. In: 2nd Annual National Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2001) (pp. 195–202). Digital Government Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2005a). Motives, strategic approach, objectives and focal areas in e-Gov-induced change. International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 1(1), 59–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2005b). E-government-induced business process change (BPC): An empirical study of current practices. International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 1(2), 25–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2005c). Organizational transformation through E-government: Myth or reality? In: M. A. Wimmer, R. Traunmüller, Å. Grönlund, & K. V. Andersen (Eds.), Electronic Government: Proceedings of the 4th IFIP WG 85 International Conference, EGOV 2005 (pp. 1–11).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2007). Central research questions in e-government, or which trajectory should the study domain take? Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 1(1), 67–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2010a). Electronic government: Introduction to the domain. In: H. J. Scholl (Ed.), E-government: Information, technology, and transformation (vol. 17, pp. 3–10). M.E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2010b). Electronic government: A study domain past its infancy. In H. J. Scholl (Ed.) E-government: Information, technology, and transformation (Vol. 17, pp. 11–32). M.E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2012). Five trends that matter: Challenges to 21st century electronic government. Information Polity: The International Journal of Government & Democracy in the Information Age., 17(3), 317–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2013). Electronic government research: Topical directions and preferences. In: M. A. Wimmer, M. Janssen, H. J. Scholl (Eds.), Electronic Government: Proceedings of the 12th IFIP WG 85 International Conference, EGOV 2013. Koblenz, Germany (pp. 1–13).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2016). Making sense of indices and impact numbers: Establishing leading EGOV scholars ‘Signatures’. In: H. J. Scholl, O. Glassey, M. Janssen, B. Klievink, I. Lindgren, & P. Parycek et al. (Eds.), Electronic Government: Proceedings of the 15th IFIP WG 85 International Conference, EGOV 2016 (pp. 3–18). Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J. (2021). The digital government reference library (DGRL) [webpage]. University of Washington, The Information School [updated 01/31. Versions 16.0—16.6]. Available from: http://faculty.washington.edu/jscholl/dgrl/

  • Scholl, H. J., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2014). Forums for electronic government scholars: Insights from a 2012/2013 study. Government Information Quarterly, 31(2), 229–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J., & Scholl, M. C. (2014). Smart governance: A roadmap for research and practice. In: M. Kindling, & E. Greifeneder (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th iConference. Berlin, Germany: Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS) (pp. 163–176).

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholl, H. J., & Bolívar, M. P. R. (2019). Regulation as both enabler of technology use and global competitive weapon: The Gibraltar case. Government Information Quarterly, 36(3), 1–42 (under review).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahin, S., & Zheng, P. (2018). Big data and the illusion of choice: Comparing the evolution of India’s Aadhaar and China’s Social Credit System as technosocial discourses. Social Science Computer Review, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharda, R., Delen, D., & Turban, E. (2020). Analytics, data science, & artificial intelligence (11th ed., vol. xxxv, 795 p). Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, L., Li, X., Tang, L., Zhang, Z., & Kou, G. (2015). Social credit: A comprehensive literature review. Financial Innovation, 1(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, A., & Zhu, L. (2001). Metadata generation and retrieval of geographic imagery. In 2nd Annual National Conference on Digital Government Research (dgo 2001) (pp. 76–83). Digital Government Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Hans J. Scholl

Authors
  1. Hans J. Scholl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hans J. Scholl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Aegean, Samos, Greece

    Yannis Charalabidis

  2. University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

    Leif Skiftenes Flak

  3. Danube University Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria

    Gabriela Viale Pereira

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Scholl, H.J. (2022). Digital Government Research: A Diverse Domain. In: Charalabidis, Y., Flak, L.S., Viale Pereira, G. (eds) Scientific Foundations of Digital Governance and Transformation. Public Administration and Information Technology, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92945-9_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation