Project governance and portfolio management in government digitalization

Can digital transformation improve transparency and accountability of public governance in Nigeria?

Purpose

Corruption within the Nigerian Government – at all levels – is endemic and a major problem. While there is ample evidence to buttress this fact, its effects are having a negative impact on the ability of the government to meet its agreed UN sustainable development targets, as well as the credibility of the government (nationally and internationally), and its ability to deliver on quality governance. Hence, this study aims to identify the power of digital transformation in curbing corruption and improving governance for sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed method that encompasses the use of a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis was used to examine extant literatures – to derive lessons for the Nigerian Government and governments in other developing countries (most especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa).

Findings

The results obtained within this study show that digital transformation – brought by the fourth industrial revolution – is a verified solution to improving transparency and accountability in governance. However, the current technological infrastructure in Nigeria is too weak to support this innovation. Key infrastructures like high-speed internet, a harmonized data storage system, and communications among government organizations rarely exist.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the approach used in this research is unique as it is one of the earliest studies to provide a viable solution to the issue of corruption in public governance in Nigeria, while examining the effects of the digital transformation of governance globally.

How does institutional environment in the digital context affect technology entrepreneurship? The moderating roles of government digitalization and gender

Purpose

Based on institutional theory, this study aims to analyze the influencing mechanisms of the institutional environment in the digital context on technology entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, World Bank and World Economic Forum, this study builds a multilevel database covering 79 countries and 97,146 individuals from 2013 to 2017. A mixed-effects logistic regression model with the fixed part and random part was chosen to test the hypotheses in this study. The mixed-effects logistic regression model used in this study includes a random intercept with random effects at the country level, while the robustness test considers a more complex two-level model with a random intercept plus random slope.

Findings

The findings indicate that different dimensions of the institutional environment in the digital context have different effects on individual technology entrepreneurship. The analysis shows that exposure to digital networks and innovative culture positively influences technology entrepreneurship. However, intellectual property rights protection has a negative impact on technology entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the government digitalization has different effects on above relationships. When a government digitalization is higher, there will be a weaker positive relationship between exposure to digital networks and technology entrepreneurship. When a government digitalization is higher, there will be a stronger positive relationship between innovative culture and technology entrepreneurship. When a government digitalization is higher, there will be a weaker negative relationship between Intellectual property rights protection and technology entrepreneurship. Finally, the effect of innovative culture on technology entrepreneurship in the digital context is stronger for females than for males.

Originality/value

The aforementioned findings contribute to a better understanding of the theoretical logic underlying digital factors affecting the institutional environment and technology entrepreneurship and act as a reference for the country in terms of raising its scientific and technological levels and promoting economic structure transformation in the digital era.

Digital transformation success in the public sector: A systematic literature review of cases, processes, and success factors

This study conducts a systematic literature review on several aspects regarding the success of initiatives of digital transformation in the public sector (DTPS), focusing on case studies, processes, and success factors of the DTPS projects. The research was carried out using several scientific databases and indexers (such as ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, and ISI Web of Science). The literature review process enabled the identification of a total of 38 case studies, four processes, and 51 success factors, all of which are presented and discussed, contributing both to theory and practice, to minimizing risks and improving the success of DTPS projects. The review process also enabled the identification of new research avenues.

Contextualized Design of IoT (Internet of Things) Finance for Edge Artificial Intelligence Computing

With the widespread application of IoT technology in the world, the new industry of IoT finance has emerged. Under this new business model, commercial banks and other financial institutions can realize safer and more convenient financial services such as payment, financing and asset management through the application of IoT technology and communication network technology. In the cloud computing model, the local terminal device of IOT will transmit the collected data to the cloud server through the network, and the cloud server will complete the data operation. Cloud computing model can well solve the problem of poor performance of IoT devices, but with the increasing number of IoT terminal devices and huge number of devices accessing the network, cloud computing model is constrained by network bandwidth and performance bottleneck, which brings a series of problems such as high latency, poor real-time and low security. In this paper, based on the new industry of IoT finance which is developing rapidly, we construct a POT (Peaks Over Threshold) over threshold model to empirically analyze the operational risk of commercial banks by using the risk loss data of commercial banks, and estimate the corresponding ES values by using the control variables method to measure the operational risk of traditional commercial banks and IoT finance respectively, and compare the total ES values of the two. This paper adopts the control variable method to reduce the frequency of each type of loss events of operational risk of commercial banks in China respectively.

Incorporating agile practices in public sector IT management: A nudge toward adaptive governance

Public sector organizations are moving from digitalization toward digital transformation. However, this fast-paced and fundamental transformation can be difficult to manage with traditional approaches. One solution is the application of agile methods and adaptive governance. Currently, it is not clear whether the agile mindset can be successfully adopted by public sector organizations, which value stability over agility. To provide a much-needed example of how the agile approach can be introduced in the context of the public sector, this paper presents the findings of a single case study of a municipal IT department. The case shows how the IT department adopted an agile IT management approach in response to the growing demand for digital services and the effects of the digital transformation inside the IT department and throughout the municipality. The findings reveal that introducing agile IT management in public sector IT departments can help improve operational flexibility, collaboration, and customer service despite barriers, such as traditional operational structures, and resistance to change. Consequently, bottom-up agile experiments can drive large-scale agile transformations, especially if such transformations are also accepted at the organizational level.

Innovating with government digital platforms in low-income countries: the dynamic capabilities of Woredas in Ethiopia

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the dynamic capabilities of government organisations in Woredas of Ethiopia that digitally innovate on the existing government digital platform, the WoredaNet.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a qualitative interpretive case study strategy using three government administrative regions in Ethiopia (called Woredas), which digitally innovate using the government digital platform, the WoredaNet. A structured interview protocol was implemented for data collection. In total, 5 respondents representing users, information and communication technology (ICT) staff and management were selected from each of the Woredas (districts), yielding a total of 15 respondents.

Findings

Drawing from the dynamic capabilities literature, the findings reveal that the digital platform governance model plays the strongest role in digital government innovation. Specifically, the Woredas exhibit highly developed adaptive capabilities through learning from the affordances offered by the digital platform. Also, despite the collaborative nature of their absorptive capabilities, there are no clear organisational structures to manifest these capabilities (integrating new learnings). The innovative capabilities (creating digital government products or service innovations) are constrained by the governance model, which is centralised in one ICT unit.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to one of the Regional States of Ethiopia. Further studies would be needed to consider other regional states and more Woredas.

Practical implications

The research provides a means through which dynamic capabilities can improve digital innovation on government digital platforms, despite the scarcity of resources, especially in low-income countries.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to digital government and dynamic capability literature in revealing how digital innovations in government agencies might be organisationally enhanced through distributed digital platform governance models.

Closeness and distance: configurational practices for digital ambidexterity in the public sector

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to increase the current understanding of how public sector organizations dynamically balance exploration and exploitation of digital initiatives, i.e. the enactment of digital ambidexterity.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses Zimmermann, Raisch and Cardinal’s perspective of configurational practices for addressing the enactment of digital ambidexterity. The method comprises a qualitative, interpretative case study of a large municipality in Sweden, using both interviews and secondary data.

Findings

Through the perspective of configurational practices, the study identifies and describes a set of sub-practices that constitute the enactment of digital ambidexterity. This is then used for theorizing how configurational practices involve the balancing of closeness and distance.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited by being a single, non-longitudinal case of a Swedish municipality that has implications for generalizability and transferability. Moreover, it opens up for new perspectives to the future study of the enactment of ambidexterity in the public sector.

Practical implications

Organizations striving for digital ambidexterity are recommended to use the configurational approach to assess and design their governance to build ambidextrous capabilities through a combination of closeness and distance.

Social implications

This study is aimed at strengthening public sectors abilities for continued relevance for its stakeholders over time. With increased need for digital innovation within the public sector, the findings and recommendations derived from the study lead to increased innovation capability, which in turn is expected to lead to increased relevance of services.

Originality/value

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that addresses how ambidexterity is enacted within the public sector following the configurational approach. As such, it opens up for new perspectives on organizational ambidexterity.

Roadmap to digitalisation of an emerging economy: a viewpoint

Purpose

This paper posits a critical analysis of digitalisation initiatives of emerging economies with a focus on India. It suggests granular policy measures towards realising the dream of a competitive, empowered and knowledge-based society. To this extent, the paper juxtaposes and compares policy measures undertaken by several governments to facilitate digitalisation in their country. The policy measures embarked upon have been critically analysed in terms of their relevance, challenges for their implementation and adoption at the back of the prevailing social and economic fabric of the country. At the same time, attempts have been made to benchmark it against the best practice standards weighed in by the industry studies. The paper has also laid down a robust agenda for future research that can be replicated for any country.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a viewpoint study based upon public data and documentary sources within India as well as publications of several countries and international agencies. Research projects of numerous multinational companies working in the area of digitalisation has been accessed and analysed as well in the study.

Findings

The findings of this study have policy implications for governments in several emerging economies who have embarked on the path of digitising their economy with the larger objectives of reaping its larger benefits but have to deal with the challenges of inadequate resources to create an effective ecosystem to facilitate such a transition.

Originality/value

The study highlights the implications of challenges of gaps of physical and socioeconomic infrastructure in driving digitalisation, highlighting granular policy measures for public managers and policy makers to address them.