Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Several scholars have commented on the marginalization of information technology within the field of academic public administration – how it has tended to become the preserve of a minority of e-government specialists. This paper extends the point to the larger issue of technological change as a whole. In response to this, the paper develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of technological change, which relates it to some of the mainstream concerns of the field. To this end the framework incorporates effects on citizen users of public services, on service providers, suppliers/contractors, politicians and on wider cultural norms and beliefs. Each of these is illustrated and referenced, demonstrating not only the flexibility of the framework but also the pervasiveness of technological change. This approach can be adapted for use with a wide range of theoretical approaches.

Keywords

citizens contractors ICTs politicians providers public administration technologies

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

6, P (2004) Joined-up Government in the Western World in Comparative Perspective: A Preliminary Literature Review and Exploration. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 14(1): 103–138.

Arthur

(2009) The Nature of Technology New York: Free Press.

Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) (2009) ACPO e-crime Strategy version 1.0. London: ACPO.

Audit Commission (AC) (1996) Streetwise: Effective Police Patrol London: HMSO.

Barry

(2001) Political Machines: Governing a Technological Society London and New York: Athlone Press.

Bekkers

(2000) Information and Communication Technology and the Redefinition of the Functional and Normative Boundaries of Government. In: van Heffen

Klickert

Thomassen

(eds) Governance in Modern Society Dordrecht: Kluwer, 257–278.

Bekkers

Homburg

(2005) The Information Ecology of e-government Amsterdam: IOS Press.

Bellamy

Taylor

(1998) Governing in the Information Age Buckingham: Open University Press.

Borins

(2007) What Keeps a CIO Awake at Night? Evidence from the Ontario Government. In: Borins

Kernaghan

Brown

Bontis

Thompson

(eds) Digital State at the Leading Edge Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 69–101.

10.

Borins

Kernaghan

Brown

Bontis

Thompson

(2007) Digital State at the Leading Edge Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

11.

Brown

(2007) The Government of Canada: Government On-line and Citizen-centred Service. In: Borins

Kernaghan

Brown

Bontis

Thompson

(eds) Digital State at the Leading Edge Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 37–68.

12.

Business and Enterprise Committee (BEC) (2009) Eighth Report, Session 2008–09: Post Offices – Securing Their Future, 23 June. Retrieved 11 September 2009 from http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmberr/371/37102.htm.

13.

Castells

(2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society Oxford: Oxford University Press.

14.

Committee of Public Accounts (2000) Improving the Delivery of Government IT Projects, first report, session 1999–2000 London: House of Commons.

15.

Craig

(2006) Plundering the Public Sector: How New Labour are Letting Consultants Run Off with £70 Billion of our Money London: Constable.

16.

Dunleavy

Margetts

Bastow

Tinkler

(2006) Digital Era Governance: IT Corporations, the State and e-government Oxford: Oxford University Press.

17.

Dutton

Helsper

Gerber

(2009) Oxford Internet Survey 2009 Report: The Internet in Britain Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.

18.

Ethics Group (2008) First Annual Report of the Ethics Group, National DNA Database. Retrieved [2 March, 2010] from Homeoffice.gov.uk/police/forensic-science-regulator/ndnad-ethics-group/.

19.

Fountain

(2001) Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change Washington DC: Brookings Institution.

20.

Hood

Margetts

(2010) Cyber-bureaucracy: If It Is so Central to Public Administration, Why Is It so Ghetto-ized? Pierre

Ingraham

(eds) Comparative Administrative Change and Reform: Lessons Learned Montreal and Kingston, PQ: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 114–138.

21.

Janssen

Rotthier

(2005) Trends and Consolidations in e-government Implementation. In: Bekkers

Homburg

(eds) The Information Ecology of e-government Amsterdam: IOS Press, 37–52.

22.

Jorgensen

Klay

(2001) Technology and Public Administration. In: Liou

(eds) Handbook of Public Management Practice and Reform New York: Marcel Dekker, 75–96.

23.

Kay

(2006) The Dynamics of Public Policy: Theory and Evidence Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

24.

Keen J (2010) ‘Integration at any price: the case of the NHS National Programme for Information Technology’, 138–154 in H. Margetts, P. 6 and C. Hood (eds.) Paradoxes of modernization: unintended consequences of public policy reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

25.

Kernaghan

(2007) Beyond Bubble-gum and Goodwill: Integrating Service Delivery. In: Borins

Kernaghan

Brown

Bontis

Thompson

(eds) Digital State at the Leading Edge Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 102–136.

26.

Koskela

(2000) The Gaze without Eyes: Video-surveillance and the Changing Nature of Urban Space. Progress in Human Geography 24(2): 243–265.

27.

Lips

Schuppan

(2009) ‘Editorial: Transforming e-government Knowledge through Public Management Research. Public Management Review 11(6): 739–749.

28.

Lips

Taylor

Organ

(2009a) ‘Identity Management, Administrative Sorting and Citizenship in New Modes of Government. Information, Communications and Society 12(5): 715–734.

29.

Lips

Taylor

Organ

(2009b) Managing Citizen Identity Information in e-government Service Relationships in the UK. Public Management Review 11(6): 833–856.

30.

Lyons Review (2004) Well-placed to deliver? Shaping the pattern of government service. Independent Review of Public Sector Relocation. London: HMSO March.

31.

Markus M and Robey D (1988) “Information technology and organizational change: causal structure in theory and research”. Management Science 34(5): 583–609.

32.

McKee M and Healey J (eds.) (2002) Hospitals in a changing Europe. Buckingham: Open University Press.

33.

National Audit Office (2000) The cancellation of the Benefit Payments Card Project. HC 857, Session 1999–2000, London: The Stationary Office.

34.

National Audit Office (2009) Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform: oversight of the Post Office network change programme. HC 558, Session 2008–2009. Norwich: The Stationary Office.

35.

Norris P (2001) Digital divide: civic engagement, information poverty, and the internet worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

36.

Pawson

Tilley

(1997) Realistic Evaluation London: Sage.

37.

Pollitt

(2008) Time, Policy, Management: Governing with the Past Oxford: Oxford University Press.

38.

Pollitt

(2009) Bureaucracies Remember, Post-bureaucratic Organizations Forget? Public Administration 87(2): 198–218.

39.

Pollitt C and Bouckaert G (2009) Continuity and change in public policy and management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

40.

Reddick

(2005) Citizen Interaction with e-government: From Streets to Servers? Government Information Quarterly 22: 38–57.

41.

Roberts

(2006) Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

42.

Sahay S (1997) ‘Implementation of information technology: a space-time perspective’. Organization Studies 18(2): 229–260.

43.

Savage

(2007) Police Reform: Forces for Change Oxford: Oxford University Press.

44.

Smith A, Schlozman K, Verba S and Brady H (2009) The Internet and Civic Engagement. Pew Internet, September. Retrieved 3 February 2010 from http://www.pewinternet.org.

45.

Snellen

van der Donk

(1998) Public Administration in an Information Age: A Handbook Amsterdam: IOS Press.

46.

Sørensen

Pica

(2005) Tales from the Police: Rhythms of Interaction with Mobile Technologies. Information and Organization 15: 125–149.

47.

Spurgeon

Cooke

Fulop

Walters

West

(2010) Evaluating Models of Service Delivery: Reconfiguration Principles . Research Report for the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organization London: HMSO.

48.

Sutherland Inquiry (2008) An Independent Inquiry into the Delivery of the National Curriculum Tests in 2008 . A report to Ofqual and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, HC62, 16 December London: The Stationery Office.

49.

Tholen

(2010) The Changing Border: Developments and Risks in Border Control of Western Countries. International Review of Administrative Sciences 76(2): 259–259.

50.

Thomas

Strieb

(2003) The New Face of Government: Citizen-initiated Contacts in the Era of e-government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13(1): 83–102.

51.

Thompson

Jones

(2008) Reaping the Advantages of Information and Modern Technology: Moving from Bureaucracy to Hyperarchy and Netcentricity. International Public Management Review 9(1): 148–192.

52.

Welch

Hinnant

Jae Moon

(2005) Linking Citizen Satisfaction with e-Government and Trust in Government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 15(3): 371–391.

53.

Whitehead T (2009) Bobbies on Beat for Just 6 Hours a Week. The Daily Telegraph, 3 October, p. 1.

54.

Winner

(1977) Autonomous Technology Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mainstreaming Technological Change in the Study of Public Management

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References