Sample Editorial Preface

This is the age of development of electronism in various aspects of social life. Expansion of electronism to different areas of individual and social life, from family to the government and elements forming them, has changed human life.

In such a situation, it is important to consider the need for better adaptation with new conditions in all social institutions from family and religion to education, market, and government.

This issue is mainly concerned with this phenomenon and must be regarded as the commencement of a more expansive effort for understanding public policy-making and public administration in the electronic era. This era sees the growth of information technology, introducing new products, trends, procedures, approaches, and theories daily, thereby changing the identity of human society.

Electronic government is one of the most important outcomes of the development of information technology which influences various approaches for administration and governance and transforms the relationship between government and citizens by increasing speed, precision, and accuracy of information processing and offering 24/7 services.

Inside This Issue

In this regard, the first article is devoted to provision of a strategic framework for continuous innovation in electronic government so that providing various, numerous, and expansive services by the government is made possible in a comprehensive and integrated framework. This framework provides a roadmap for policy makers to formulate policy goals of their e-government initiatives commensurate with their respective environments.

The second article, on the basis of an empirical study, argues that perceived usefulness is necessary for accepting electronic government. The results of this study reveal that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, compatibility, trust, and age have significant relationships with e-government adoption. The results from this study will be useful for government in formulating appropriate strategies to improve the adoptions of e-government applications.

The third article, stressing the necessity of developing processes between private and public sectors, claims that both private and public organizations can enjoy from procurement of progressive and economical public services. Thus, it offers suggestions for directing the efforts of professionals toward optimization of information trends and avoiding redundancy in the interaction between the market and government.

The fourth article, emphasizing the management of customer relations in electronic areas, refers to the importance of attention to customer approaches in public organizations. The findings of this study show that customers’ perception of e-CRM value has positive causal effects on their website loyalty. Valuable implications can be derived of this finding for public organizations in managing their customer relationship.

The fifth article, referring to knowledge management in public sector, puts emphasis on the Rossian ethical framework through a philosophical approach to discussing factors affecting success in knowledge management and ethical duties. The study indicates that “beneficence” is the most significant duty to knowledge management success in public sector. This may be the first paper that integrates knowledge management to the Rossian ethical framework in order to increase the chance of having successful knowledge management in public organizations.

The last article, by discussing the challenges of megacities in the future digital world, stresses the necessity of strategic approaches for providing infrastructures and structural requirements appropriate for the future world. This article emphasizes adopting effective strategies for provisioning of infrastructures and structural requirement and the importance of enhanced competitiveness and quality of life and environment for the development of the cities.

Conclusion

Such discussions with great diversity and a broad scope have caused an international dialogue that merges the boundaries of administration and policy in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary arena with a broad and expansive set of knowledge, skills, techniques, and approaches.

Nowadays, more than ever before, it seems that individuals need more collaboration with each other and need each other's help beyond time and space and across the boundaries of countries, cultures, and even generations. Indeed, development of information technology enables successive generations to cooperate with each other as if they live at the same age.

Achieving this aim requires attention to requirements beyond era and placing working groups for launching and completing large software and hardware projects for eliminating air pollution, protection of the environment, fighting against contagious and deadly diseases, removing expansive poverty, eliminating illiteracy, and developing humanity considering the necessity of simultaneous development of human societies in economic, political, and cultural areas of social life.

Policy making for facing these phenomena and effective administration of those policies requires exploiting progressive and appropriate structures. Here, we neither talk about inadequacy of bureaucracy, nor we deny other structures developed on its basis; rather, it is emphasized that if bureaucracy is still needed, it must change and enjoy capabilities beyond era and place working groups in new structures such as professional adhocracies with modern strategic planning systems (ECP) like era-based cellular planning in a way proper to information technology age.