Blockchain refers to a range of general purpose technologies to exchange information and transact digital assets in distributed networks. The core question addressed in this paper is whether ...blockchain technology will lead to innovation and transformation of governmental processes. To address this question we present a critical assessment of the often exaggerated benefits of blockchain technology found in the literature and discuss their implications for governmental organizations and processes. We plea for a shift from a technology-driven to need-driven approach in which blockchain applications are customized to ensure a fit with requirements of administrative processes and in which the administrative processes are changed to benefit from the technology. Having sound governance models are found to be a condition for realizing benefits. Based on a critical assessment we offer directions for further research into the potential benefits of BC applications in e-government and the role of governance of BC architectures and applications to comply with societal needs and public values.
•Blockchain implications and the need for institutional changes and transformations are not well-understood.•Potential benefits of blockchain range from technical to economic and strategic.•Implementation and adoption determines if the possible benefits can be realized.•Governments has a dual responsibility: governance by BC and BC governance.•Blockchain changes information stewardship.
•Use of blockchain remains limited despite it promises.•Boundary conditions should be met before blockchain can be used.•Blockchain technology requires standardization and data governance.•Blockchain ...use requires organizational transformations.•Blockchain can result in more information sharing.
Traceability of ingredients in food supply chains has become paramount in a world in which markets become global, heterogeneous, and complex and in which consumers expect a high level of quality. The food supply chain consists of many organizations having different interests and are often reluctant to share traceability information with each other. Blockchain has been advocated for improving traceability by providing trust. Yet, practice proved to be more stubborn. The goal of this paper is to identify boundary conditions for sharing assurance information to improve traceability. Four cases in the food supply chain have been investigated using a template analysis of 16 interviews. Eighteen boundary conditions categorized in business, regulation, quality and traceability categories have been identified. Some boundary conditions were found in all supply chains, whereas others were found to be supply chain specific. Standardization of traceability processes and interfaces, having a joint platform and independent governance were found to be key boundary conditions before blockchain can be used. Our findings imply that supply chain systems have first to be modified and organizational measures need to be taken to fulfill the boundary conditions, before blockchain can be used successfully.
Although blockchain has attracted a great deal of attention from academia and industry there is a lack of studies on acceptance drivers. This study explores blockchain acceptance by mining the ...collective intelligence of users on Twitter. It maps blockchain user acceptance drivers to technology acceptance constructs. The analysis shows that users are attracted by security, privacy, transparency, trust and traceability aspects provided by blockchain. On Twitter more discussions on blockchain benefits than on drawbacks. Initial coin offering (ICO) is extensively discussed. The study provides guidelines for managers and concludes by presenting the limitations of the study along with future research directions.
Many public organizations are opening their data to the general public and embracing social media in order to stimulate innovation. These developments have resulted in the rise of new, infomediary ...business models, positioned between open data providers and users. Yet the variation among types of infomediary business models is little understood. The aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding of the diversity of existing infomediary business models that are driven by open data and social media. Cases presenting different modes of open data utilization in the Netherlands are investigated and compared. Six types of business models are identified: single-purpose apps, interactive apps, information aggregators, comparison models, open data repositories, and service platforms. The investigated cases differ in their levels of access to raw data and in how much they stimulate dialogue between different stakeholders involved in open data publication and use. Apps often are easy to use and provide predefined views on data, whereas service platforms provide comprehensive functionality but are more difficult to use. In the various business models, social media is sometimes used for rating and discussion purposes, but it is rarely used for stimulating dialogue or as input to policy making. Hybrid business models were identified in which both public and private organizations contribute to value creation. Distinguishing between different types of open data users was found to be critical in explaining different business models.
Computational artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are increasingly used to support decision making by governments. Yet algorithms often remain opaque to the decision makers and devoid of clear ...explanations for the decisions made. In this study, we used an experimental approach to compare decision making in three situations: humans making decisions (1) without any support of algorithms, (2) supported by business rules (BR), and (3) supported by machine learning (ML). Participants were asked to make the correct decisions given various scenarios, while BR and ML algorithms could provide correct or incorrect suggestions to the decision maker. This enabled us to evaluate whether the participants were able to understand the limitations of BR and ML. The experiment shows that algorithms help decision makers to make more correct decisions. The findings suggest that explainable AI combined with experience helps them detect incorrect suggestions made by algorithms. However, even experienced persons were not able to identify all mistakes. Ensuring the ability to understand and traceback decisions are not sufficient for avoiding making incorrect decisions. The findings imply that algorithms should be adopted with care and that selecting the appropriate algorithms for supporting decisions and training of decision makers are key factors in increasing accountability and transparency.
The past decade has witnessed a rapid development of open government data practices and academic research. However, there is no systematic survey of existing research to understand the evolution of ...open government data. Such research can facilitate knowledge transfer within and across domains, and foster learning for countries in the early stages of open government data development. This study quantitively extracted the evolution trajectory of open government data based on the main path analysis method and then analysed the underlying motivations. The results show that open government data research went through four main phases and that the open government data movement has spread towards developing countries and smart cities. Different challenges and issues faced by the researchers in each phase drove the evolution of open government data research. Finally, we discuss future directions of open government data research based on our findings and recent development. There is a tendency to create sustainable open government data and smartness by employing artificial intelligence and creating data marketplaces.
Points for practitioners
Open government data efforts have evolved over the years into a global phenomenon. Countries have learned from each other and more and more efforts are focused on innovating with open government data by stimulating co-creation and using other incentives. The way that data are opened should focus on achieving goals like innovation, participation, transparency and accountability. There is a tendency to create sustainable open government data and smartness by employing artificial intelligence and creating data marketplaces.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to help in providing a better understanding of the application of blockchain technology in the context of the banking and finance sectors. The aim is to outline ...blockchain's benefits, opportunities, costs, risks as well as challenges of the technology in the context of banking and finance services.Design/methodology/approachCareful examination of the extant literature, including utilising relevant academic-based research databases has been carried out. It covered reviewing various research contributions published in peer-reviewed journals, academic reports, as well as technical reports to help in identifying related benefits, opportunities, costs and risks.FindingsThe findings reveal that there are limited contributions in utilising blockchain in the banking and finance sectors when compared with other sectors. As such, the study highlighted the relevant perspective of benefits, opportunities, costs and risks within such sectors.Practical implicationsThis study helps in offering a focal point to banking and financial sector managers and decision-makers for realising the value and offerings of blockchain technology as well as associated strategies and programmes.Originality/valueThis study highlights the need for a holistic understanding of the various aspects of cost, benefits, risk and opportunities to create blockchain applications that work for banking and finance sectors
The objectives of open government data initiatives range from enhancing transparency and accountability to increasing innovation and participation. However, there is a lack of knowledge of the extent ...to which the objectives of open government data initiatives are achieved. This article investigates the relationship between the objectives of open government data initiatives and the benefits delivered. A total of 168 survey responses concerning 156 open government data initiatives at different government levels worldwide suggest that operational and technical benefits are the benefits most often delivered, followed by economic benefits and, finally, societal benefits. Surprisingly, our study suggests that whether an open government data initiative delivers a benefit (e.g. increased openness, trust or innovation) is not significantly affected by having an objective related to the delivery of that benefit. The objectives of state- and national-level open government data initiatives are more often achieved than those of local- and regional-level open government data initiatives.
Points for practitioners
Key implications for professionals working in public management and administration are: attaining open government data objectives is easier said than done; the benefits delivered are most often operational and technical benefits, followed by economic benefits and, finally, societal benefits; the benefits are often in areas other than those of the open government data initiative’s objectives, suggesting a mismatch between the objectives and their attainment; state- and national-level open government data initiatives achieve their objectives more often than local- and regional-level open government data initiatives; and initiatives might mimic each other instead of aiming at delivering the benefits.
Since 2003, the United Nations has introduced the E-Participation Index (EPI), the first index to evaluate e-participation initiatives worldwide. This index has been subject to criticism for not ...representing the society side of e-participation initiatives. The EPI assesses e-participation initiatives on the government side only and neglects the society side, which includes all kinds of civil e-participation initiatives. In this work, the society side is included by incrementally extending the EPI with the Human Development Index and the Democracy Index. To identify the weights of the index, the best–worst method (BWM) is used while surveying 23 experts. The results show that political rights and civil liberties are viewed as the most important criteria with which to evaluate e-participation initiatives. Using this ranking, the Balanced EPI (BEPI) is created, giving weight to both the government and society sides. The new index concerns the willingness and empowerment levels of citizens so that the public can influence policy and political decision-making. Dedicated e-participation measures should be developed in further research.
•A comprehensive measurement of e-participation initiatives should evaluate the social and political readiness of countries.•The Balanced E-Participation Index (BEPI) includes both the government and society sides of e-participation initiatives.•Political rights and civil liberties are the most important criteria in the BEPI.•The BEPI concerns the willingness and empowerment level of citizens.
Although various scholars have researched issues regarding disaster management, few have studied the sharing and coordinating of information during disasters. Not much empirical data is available in ...this field and there is sparse insight into the factors that may impede or facilitate information sharing and coordination among stakeholders. In this paper, we provide an overview of the relevant obstacles and challenges by examining existing literature and then investigating a series of multi-agency disaster management exercises, using observations and a survey. Although all the people who took part in our study agree that sharing information is important, for the success of their own organization as well as the exercise as a whole, the extent to which information is actually being shared among organizations is often limited by a number of factors that can be attributed to the community, agency and individual level. We found that relief workers are often more concerned with receiving information from others than with providing information to others who may benefit. Incentives for sharing information, understanding each other’s work-processes and the usability of information systems have shown positive effects on information sharing and coordination. The findings of our study have been formulated using six grounded propositions, which can be used by system designers and policy-makers upon validation in further research. We also provide directions for future research.
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