Evaluating the Public Value of E-Government Services: An Actor-Network Theory Approach

Abstract

Government all over the world are working on a broad array of e-government-services including re-designing services such as diverse as tax filing, applying and registering for social security, obtaining birth and marriage certificates, procurement for business, government transactions and customs declaration.Studies have shown that different stakeholders benefits from these e-government services. However, it is through objectively evaluating e-government services, that the benefits between citizens and governments can be successfully understood and improving areas correctly identified. Recently, researchers have shown interest in information systems evaluation and the public value perspective segment taking the lead. This is in support of the view that the prime objective of egovernment is to produce public value through effective use of information and communication technology. Also, research in the field of IS evaluation has begun to recognize the need for grounding evaluation approaches and studies in the ontology and epistemology of relevant paradigms. Therefore, the main aim of this article is to develop an understanding of evaluation of the public value of egovernment services using Actor-Network Theory perspective. This research review mainly focus on two aspects: studying the concept of public value and how it is relevant in evaluating e-government services and using Actor-Network Theory, to conceptualise the evaluation and as an ontological foundation to analyse the relations among actors in evaluating the public value of e-government services.