Evaluation of E-Government in China

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Evaluation of E-Government in China

• Professor Weiying Zhang
• Network Economy Research Center of
• Peking University
• Guanghua School of Management,
• Peking University
• July 16, 2004

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Internet Challenges to Government

• Internet and e-government present a challenge to
  government everywhere
• For it is NOT a technological problem, but an
  institution problem.
• But the challenge is particularly serious for
  Chinese government, because Chinese government is
  in a two-aspect transition.

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TWO-IN-ONE Transition

• From unlimited government to limited government
• Unlimited power, monopolist, self-centered,
  rule-maker, centralized, black box operation
• Limited power, competitor, service-centered,
  rule-taker, decentralized, transparent
• From off-line government to online government.

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Internet Dilemma

• Is internet a tool for more effectively
  controlling society?
• Or is it a way for better serving society?
• Internet is fundamentally changing the relation
  between government and society.
• Putting government online may change the nature
  of government.
• From a controller to a service provider.

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Importance of Government Websites to Services

• Platform Work platform, basic components of
  E-GOV
• Window Communication and information sharing
  with citizens
• Integration Aggregation point of multiple
  government services
• No e-Government without websites!

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Purpose of this study

• A data-based evaluation of central and local
  government websites in China.
• A factor-analysis of determinants of difference
  in website qualityparticularly, incentives
  behind e-government.
• An explanation for vertically strong and
  horizontally weak connections.
• Policy suggestions.

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10 Aspects of government website evaluation

• Time effectivenessupload time of government
  documents
• Standardizationstandardization of form
• Transparencyinformation accessibility
• External supervisionsupervision and feedback on
  service results
• Online officeonline service processing
• Easiness3CLICKfor information access
• Interactionsimulated monitoring, feedback
• Coordinationcross-section cooperation
• Personalservice targeting different people
• Pervasivenessservice scope.

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• Selected 257 municipalities and generated 233
  samples
• 47 department websites, 39 effective samples.
• 7 categories of index collected
• Time effectiveness, standardization,
  transparency, external supervision, online
  office, coordination, easiness .

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Scores for local Municipal Government
Websites(Maximum 10)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
external supervision
time effectiveness
standardization
transparency
Online office
coordination
easiness
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Top 10 Municipal Government Websites(Total
13,Total score 70)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Dongguan
Liaocheng
Xiangfan
Nanning
Huizhou
Weifang
Longyan
Yichun
Fuzhou
Panjin
Jining
Zibo
Sanming
12
Municipal Government Websites with Lowest
Ranks(Total 12,Total score 70)
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Shuozhou
Yuncheng
Zhoushan
Jinzhong
Meishan
Yingkou
Taizhou
Huaibei
Guilin
Zunyi
Jisi
Qinzhou
13
Top 10 Department Websites for Time Effectiveness
(Total 12)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Ministry of Commerce
Ministry of Public Health
Average
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Social Security Ministry
Administration of Environment Protection
Tourism Administration
Bureau of Intellectual Property
Public Security Ministry
Ministry of Science and Technology
Agriculture Ministry
Auditing Administration
14
Top 10 Department Websites for Service
Standardization(16 scored 3, not fully shown)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Auditing Administration
Taxation Administration
Quality supervision Bureau
Ministry of Communication
Ministry of Land Resource
Average
Safety Work Bureau
Physical Cultural Administration
Peoples Bank
State Forestry Bureau
Ministry of Justice
Social Security Ministry
15
Top 9 Department websites for Service
Transparency(4 scores starting from No.10, lower
than average, 9 in total)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Commerce
Ministry of Communication
Tourism Administration
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Physical Cultural Administration
Ministry of Science and Technology
Average
Peoples Bank
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Scores for Other Index

• 23 department websites do not provide complaints
  monitoring function, the complaint window of one
  website isnt available for use 15 websites
  provide complete complaint processing channel.
• Online office Only the Tourism Administration,
  the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of
  Information Industry and Food Supervision Bureau
  offer online office and service status inquiry.
• 12 websites offer poor links to other departments
  and subordinate sites, one website offers no link
  (the Ministry of Information Industry). Other
  department websites offer good links.
• the Intellectual Property Bureau, the Statistics
  Bureau and the State Administration of Radio,
  Film and TV got highest scores for service
  easiness, other departments got lower scores (the
  civil Aviation Administration, the State
  Nationalities Affairs Commission, the Ministry of
  Railway).

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Top 10 Department Websites(Total 12,Total score
70)
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Ministry of Commerce
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tourism Administration
Taxation Administration
Bureau of Intellectual Property
Ministry of Science and Technology
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Land Resource
Physical Cultural Administration
State Forestry Bureau
Auditing Administration
Social Security Ministry
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Last 10 Department Websites (Total 11,Total
score 70)
25
20
15
10
5
0
Development and Reform Commission
Civil Aviation Administration
the Ministry of Personnel
Administration of Radio, Film and TV
the Ministry of Information Industry
the Ministry of Railway
State Nationalities Affairs Commission
the Family Planning Committee
General Administration of Customs
State Council Counsellors Office
the Ministry of Culture
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Total Score Comparison between Department and
Municipal Websites (Total 70)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Department
Municipality
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Comprehensive Comparison for all indexes between
Department and Municipal Websites
10
9
8
7
6
Department
5
Municipality
4
3
2
1
0
Transparency
Coordination
Online office
Time effectiveness
Standardization
Easiness
External supervision
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Primary Conclusions

• Overall, service delivered by department websites
  are better than that of municipal websites
• Imbalance among department websites and municipal
  websites
• Superior in policy announcement, service
  easiness, transparency and external supervision
• The department websites lag behind in online
  office and standardization
• The department websites more focus on information
  service, and municipal websites are in transition
  from information service to information-office

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Basic Evaluation of Government Websites (I)

• Overall quality is low
• Average score is only 0.45, lower than qualified
  score(0.48)
• Application in e-Government is poor, particularly
  online office is in its early stage
• The website has little impact on traditional
  government, benefits not shown
• Strictly speaking, many government websites need
  to be rebuilt for better function, structure and
  process isolation among websites also need to be
  addressed.
• Need for image-building, for information, not for
  services
• Technically, online information is easier than
  online services
• Central government emphasized regulation on
  information and efficiency, not online office and
  service for the public
• For image building, large quantity of propaganda
  on performance

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Basic Evaluation of Government Websites (II)

• Financial drivingpay attention to direct
  economic interests attracting investors,
  tourists, commercial advertisement, training not
  enough for better serving citizens and businesses
• more like internal information management
  system( Zhou Qiren, 2002) regulatory
  government not service government
• Internal news like meetings held, speeches by
  certain leaders, awarded people, appointments and
  retirements take much capacity of the website
• Little difference in intranet and extranet, lack
  online service awareness
• Regulatory instead of service-oriented
  government, citizen demands are not addressed
• Non-standardization is the common problem for
  municipal websites
• Good news is improvements are made for each
  survey
• Some websites (Wuxi, Quzhou, Suzhou) greatly
  improved after revisionSome new websites
  (Liaocheng)come with more functions and higher
  quality. These websites indicate an improvement
  of overall website level
• Quick changes, effective results, but many
  websites still stay the same

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Lack of Service is the Major Problem with
E-Government

• More focus on construction, less on application
  more focus on intranet, less on portal more
  focus on investment than maintenance more focus
  on department expansion than cross-department
  cooperation, little innovation in public service
• Root causes for the problems with e-Government
  many government agencies havent the awareness of
  public centered, lack awareness, attitude and
  capability to serve the public

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e-Service is the direction of e-Government
Development in China

• There will be no e-Government without service.
  Delivering high quality e-Government services is
  critical in driving government institutional
  reform
• Highly centralized government regulation is the
  traditional system in China. The government is
  regulatory rather than serving the public. This
  kind of centralized and regulatory government is
  backward in an information society

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Improve Government Service Based on e-Government
Result Evaluation

• 3 benefits of e-Government result evaluation
• Helps to increase transparency of government
  information
• Helps to increase efficiency of government
  service
• Facilitate changes to government process
• The ability to service citizens is a fundamental
  measurement of e-Government in China and the
  criterion in evaluating successfulness of
  e-Government.

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Improving e-Government Service at Institutional
Reform Level

• Full exploitation of e-Government is secured by
  well-established institution
• The governance model of Chinese government limits
  further development and service innovation of
  e-Government
• Unclear division of authority between various
  levels of governments, especially between central
  and local governments
• The government has not transitioned from
  regulation-based to service-based model, lack
  awareness and incentives
• Further development of e-Government is limited by
  institutional handicaps.

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Stages of e-Government Development in China

• Initial stagebasic service, offer information
• Middle stagegeneral service, online office
• High stageconsolidated service, process
  improvement
• Highest stagepersonalized service.

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Several Trends in International e-Government
Development

• Centered on public service7/24 ,one-stop,
  personalized
• Focus on result assessment of e-Government
• Focus on cross-section cooperation
• Training of government employees
• Began to enter government process improving and
  restructuring stage
• Standardization and well set goals

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Thank You!
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