Managing in the Era of Digital Governance: The Expanding Role & Efficacy of E-Government Innovations in US Social Services

Background

We classify government to citizen interactions as: (1) information provided on programs and services to citizens; (2) the ability of citizens to apply for government services or programs, and (3) the ability of governments to deliver program benefits to citizens electronically, typically as cash transfers deposited directly in bank accounts or onto government issued debit cards, some of which have restrictions on their use.

Information provided to citizens on government programs and services through static websites is currently the most common and basic form of E-government (West, 2005). As such, no transactions between governments and citizens occur as the websites simply provide information to citizens (Fountain, 2004). U.S. governments at all levels typically offer this basic level of E-government, as do the governments of most industrialized nations throughout the world.

As the ability to transact with private businesses over the Internet grew in popularity, the demand for E-government services began to rise. The second phase of E-government development allows citizens to conduct transactions with the government by means of portals. Portals are “web based front-end applications that allow state governments to access and manage all of their data and information and deliver it to users” (Center for Technology in Government, 2003). The portal for the U.S. government, FirstGov, was launched in 2000 (Chadwick, 2003). The goal of government web portals is to provide “one-stop shopping” which allows a citizen to enter the portal and easily access any government service instead of having to go to different agency websites. This is the current phase of E-government development of most federal and state governments, and it makes DEG possible.²