Inter-Organisational Electronic Information
Sharing in Local G2G Settings
A Socio-Technical Issue
Ali Ziaee Bigdeli
Muhammad Kamal
Sergio de Cesare
Brunel University – London
July 2011
Centre for Information Systems Research
Outline
• Introduction
• Theoretical background on Electronic Information Sharing (EIS)
• EIS Participation In Local Government Authorities –
Conceptual Framework
• Research methodology
• Case Organisation: LGA_North and LGA_East
• Discussion – Factors Revision
• Conclusion
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Introduction
• Information is a key business asset and fundamental to the delivery of
public services, however;
Repeated misuses and losses of sensitive information in both public
and private sectors show the weakness of many organisations in
managing When, with Whom, What, and How information should
be shared (Richard Thomas, Former UK’s Information Commissioner).
• In order to overcome the above problem, Local Government Authorities
(LGAs) as the primary interface between the central government and the
citizens have now recognised that it is essential to transform their
administrative processes (Fountain, 2001) and the use of ICT to facilitate
the information sharing in a networked environment.
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Introduction
•
Participation in Electronic information sharing (EIS) across government boundaries requires
fundamental technical and organisational changes;
From a technical point of view, information
system developers are faced with a variety of
challenges related to the existence of different
platforms, diverse data structures and
incompatible network infrastructures.
•
From an organisational perspective, enabling
information sharing requires new work
processes among the organisations, leading to
a considerable change in organisational
structure and culture.
Hence the objectives of this research are summarised as:
1. Identify the factors affecting Electronic Information Sharing (EIS) in Government-toGovernment (G2G) collaboration.
2. Present a conceptual framework in order to illustrate clearly the social and technical nature of
the phenomenon.
3. Justify the identified factors through conducting two case organisations in governmental local
level in United Kingdom.
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Theoretical Background on Electronic
Information Sharing (EIS)
• Some incentives for encompassing research on information integration
and sharing is that previous research:
 Have been conducted when information technologies were not as advanced and
developed as they are today
 Does not differentiate between electronic and non-electronic information sharing. This
issue is fairly important as the expected benefits and risks differ in electronic and nonelectronic information sharing.
 Are focused on recognising the experiences and viewpoints of those government
agencies which were pioneers in using technology and complex systems, rather than
those agencies which might not be familiar with these initiatives.
 Are mainly focused on information sharing in central/state level
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Theoretical Background on Electronic
Information Sharing (EIS)
•
Since single and dependent organisations within a government cannot deal and
solve complex problems related to service delivery alone, managing public services
increasingly relies on multiple networks of interdependent organisations.
•
Gil-Garcia et al (2009) clarified that inter-organisational information integration
and sharing is a combination of both social and technical elements hence it is a
very complicated field to study. For better understanding, they suggested:
Trusted Social
Network
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Shared
Knowledge
Integrated
Data
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Interoperable
Technical
Infrastructure
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EIS Participation In Local Government Authorities –
Conceptual Framework
•
One of the few examples is the survey conducted by the Centre of Technology in
Government (CTG) at the State University of New York. The researchers viewed
information sharing and integration as a combination of four different but
interrelated contexts.
Policy and Social Environment
Inter-Organisation Settings
Organisation / Business Process
Technology Solution
Electronic Information Integration and Sharing
Figure 1. Contexts of Information Integration and Sharing (Pardo & Tayi, 2007)
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EIS Participation In Local Government Authorities –
Conceptual Framework
Environmental Layer
Politics
Economics
Organisational Layer
Management Capability
Goals/Objectives
Business Process Layer
Technology Layer
Work
Processes
IT Capability
Data Quality
Data Security
Data Standards
Trust
Network Collaboration
Critical Mass
Participation in Electronic Information Sharing
Figure 2. Factors Influencing Inter-Organisational
Electronic Information Sharing and Integration
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Financial Matter
Perceived
Risk
Perceived
Benefits
Legal & Legislation
Decision
Processes
Perceived
Barriers
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Research Methodology
Start of the Research
Research Design
Introduction to the
Research Area
Data Collection
Conducting Case Enquiries
Based on the Interview Agenda
Identifying Research Issues
Regarding Participating in
Electronic Information
Sharing (EIS)
Justifying the Use of
Qualitative
Research Method
Develop and Identify Suitable
Research Strategy
Formulate a Research Protocol
Identifying Suitable Local
Government Authority In the
UK
Analysing the Case Data
based on the Proposed
Framework
Figure 3. Empirical Research Framework
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Investigating the
Research Gap/
Problem Area
Literature
Review
Developing a
Conceptual
Framework for
Participating in EIS
Research
Methodology: A
Qualitative Case
Study Research
Data Analysis
Obtaining
Background
Knowledge
Case Study –
Research Finding
Extrapolate Lessons
Learnt and Draw Empirical
Conclusion
End of Research
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Case Organisations:
LGA_North and LGA_East
•
Since the aim of this paper is to validate the conceptual framework and the research
presented herein is at an early stage, we only focused on testing the influential factors
through applying the framework on two Local Government Authorities in the region of
England.
•
As we wanted to illustrate the fact that participation in EIS is a major challenge among
all of the LGA’s department, in this stage, we did not focus on a specific department and
tried to investigate the decision-making process for electronic information sharing.
From LGA_North,
• Head of Information Technology (HIT)
• Project Manager (PM)
• Information Services Manager (ISM)
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From LGA_East,
• Head of ICT(HICT)
• Senior Information Systems Developer (SISD)
• Information Service Delivery Manager (ISDM)
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Discussion – Factors Revision
Less
important ()
EF
LGA_North
OF
Medium
important ()
CF
TF
BPF
Most
important ()
Factors
Politics
Economics
Legal & Legislation
Critical Mass
Managerial Capability
Goals/Objectives
Networked Collaboration
Trust
Financial Matters
Work Process
Decision Process
IT Capability
Data Quality
Data Standard
Data Security
Perceived Benefits
Perceived Barriers
Perceived Risks
HIT


















PM


















ISM


















LGA_East
HICT


















SISD


















ISDM


















Table 1: Importance of Factors Influencing EIS at LGA_North and LGA_East
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Discussion – Factors Revision
Environmental Factors
Organisational Factors
Business Processes
Factors
Technological Factors
Elections/New Admins Institutional Str.
Authorisations
Interoperability Fram.
Media
Community Size
BP Flexibility
IOIS: SAP-ERP
Citizens' Demand
Org. Size
BP Complexity
Info. Disposal Method
Budget Deficit
Resources
Process Controller
No.10 Pressure
Cultural Changes
Info. Sharing Protocol
ROI
Previous Lessons
Competition
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Conclusion
People
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Information
Processes
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Application
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References (1/2)
1. Akbulut, A. Y., Kelle, P., Pawlowski, S. D. and Schneider, H. (2009). To share or not to share? examining the
factors influencing local agency electronic information sharing. International Journal of Business Information
Systems, 4(2), 143-172.
2. Beaumaster, S. (2002). Local government IT implementation issues: A challenge for public administration.
System Sciences, 2002. HICSS. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on, 1725-1734.
3. Dawes, S. S. (1996). Interagency information sharing: Expected benefits, manageable risks. Journal of Policy
Analysis and Management, 15(3), 377-394.
4. Fountain, J. (2001). Public Sector: Early Stage of a Deep Transformation. The Economic Payoff from the
Internet Revolution , edited by the Brookings Task Force on the Internet,Washington DC: Brookings Institution
,235-268.
5. Gil-Garcia, J. R., Pardo, T. A. and Burke, G. B. (2007). Government leadership in multi-sector IT-enabled
networks: Lessons from the response to the west nile virus outbreak. Workshop 4: Leading in a Multi-Sector
Environment
6. Jankowicz, A. D. (2000). Business Research Project. Business Press, London.
7. Heeks, R. B. (2006). Implementing and managing eGovernment. London, UK: Sage.
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References (2/2)
8. Miles, M. and Huberman, A. 1994. „Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook‟, Sage, Newbury
Park, California.
9. Senyucel, Z. (2005). Towards successful E-government facilitation in UK local authorities. Proceedings of the
e-Government Workshop,
10. Pardo, T. A., & Tayi, G. K. f. (2007). Interorganizational information integration: A key enabler for digital
government., 691-715.
11. Remenyi, D., and Williams, B. (1996), “The nature of research: qualitative or quantitative, narrative or
pragmatic?”, Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 6, pp. 131-146.
12. Themistocleous, M., Irani, Z., Kuljis, J., & Love, P. (2004). Extending the information system lifecycle through
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Annual Hawaii International Conference on, 8.
13. Yin, R. K. (1994), “Case Study Research Design and Methods”, Sage, London.
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Many thanks..
Comments? Questions?
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