Citizen-centered e-government services: benefits, costs, and research needs

ABSTRACT

The promise of E-Government (and its more recent spin-offs of E-Democracy, E-Participation, E-Procurement, and a range of other "E-'s") is to engage citizenry in government in a user-centered manner, but also to develop quality government services and delivery systems that are efficient and effective. User-centered E-Government suggests that governments will provide services and resources tailored to the actual service and resource needs of users, including citizens, residents, government employees, and others. Efficient and effective E-Government suggests that governments will gain economies of scale, reduce costs, and provide technology-enabled user services. The extent to which these goals of E-Government are mutually exclusive is an issue that requires additional study, particularly research that focuses on the relationship between citizen-centered E-Government services and the attainment of cost savings. A key issue is that citizencentered E-Government implies that governments know what citizens want from E-Government, want to meet citizen expectations and needs, and actively seek to discover what citizens want from E-Government. This paper presents a range of issues associated with the development and implementation of citizen-centered e-Government.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Government

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Systems analysis and design; Strategic information systems planning; Systems development

General Terms:
Design, Management, Theory

Keywords:
citizen-centered E-Government, evaluation, performance measurement