Editor’s Column: e-Service Journal HICSS Special Issue #3

Electronic government has emerged as an important topic for both researchers and practitioners. Frequently, organizations in the public sector adopt best practices from companies in the private sector. This special issue explores various e-services utilized by government agencies. The five papers included in this issue represent a diverse assortment of information communications technology that enable governments to provide services and information electronically. The first paper, entitled “Key Differences of Private and Public Sector Business Process Change,” compares the evolution of business processes in the public and private sectors. The authors use a meta-case analysis to highlight lessons learned from business process changes implemented in the private sector. These lessons are used to make recommendations for public sector managers.

The second paper, “The Potential of Configurative Reference Modeling for Business to Government Reporting – A Modeling Approach and its Evaluation,” develops a modeling technique that can be used to create government reports that comply with existing legal regulations. The authors present ways that business to government reporting can be streamlined to reduce data warehouse management efforts. As the value of data that government organizations manage continues to increase, data analytics will continue to grow in importance.

Thirdly, “Designing IT-Support For Citizen Advisory Services: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective” explores the intrinsic factors that impact citizen satisfaction. The paper uses a design science approach to identify design elements that are essential for citizen counseling. The results will be valuable to both researchers and practitioners interested in government to citizen interactions.

The forth paper is entitled “Similarities and Differences in Critical Success Factors across Context and Time: An Examination in the Setting of Shared Services.” The paper explores the impact of context and time on critical success factors (CSF). The authors posit that although CSFs can be used across organizations to provide general guidance, each organization should make adjustments based its unique context.

The final paper is entitled “Psychosocial Modeling of Insider Threat Risk Based on Behavioral and Word Use Analysis.” The paper presents a psychosocial model that can be used to assess an employee’s behavior. In particular, it highlights behavior associated with an increased risk of insider abuse. Given the sensitive nature of government information, insider abuse is an extremely important topic. This paper makes an interesting and timely contribution to the existing literature on IS security.