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Co-creating e-Government Services: An Empirical Analysis of Participation Methods in Belgium

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Setting Foundations for the Creation of Public Value in Smart Cities

Part of the book series: Public Administration and Information Technology ((PAIT,volume 35))

Abstract

As citizens have more and more opportunities to participate in public life, it is essential that administrations integrate this participation in their e-government processes. A smarter, more participatory, governance is a well-recognized and essential part of any city that wants to become “Smart” and generate public value. In this chapter, we will focus on the impact of this participatory approach on the development of e-government services by the city. Therefore, the goal of this chapter is to identify which methods administrations can apply to co-create their e-government services with citizens and to understand the gap between the methods used in practice and citizens’ preferences.

This chapter contributes to research and practice in different ways. First, the literature review allows the identification of eight participation methods to co-create e-government services. Second, we further examine these methods by means of 28 in-depth interviews, a questionnaire sent to public servants and a questionnaire sent to citizens. This multi-method approach allows identifying the barriers and drivers of public servants regarding the co-creation of e-government services but also the citizens’ perception of these methods. By contrasting the identified methods with their implementation, we better understand the discrepancies between literature and practice. At the same time, this chapter will give practitioners a repository of participation methods as well as information about the perception public servants and citizens have of them. Finally, we expect the insights provided in this chapter will stimulate research on the practical use of all these different methods.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The full list of papers is not included in this Chapter due to space constraints.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Anthony Simonofski

  2. University of Namur, Namur, Belgium

    Anthony Simonofski

  3. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Monique Snoeck

  4. University of Namur, Namur, Belgium

    Benoît Vanderose

Authors
  1. Anthony Simonofski
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  2. Monique Snoeck
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  3. Benoît Vanderose
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony Simonofski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Manuel Pedro Rodriguez Bolivar

Annexes: Used Instruments

Annexes: Used Instruments

In this section, the questions asked in the three different instruments used throughout this study are described. Please note that the original questions were asked in French.

1.1 Semi-Structured Guide for In-Depth Interviews

  • Does your organization include the users in the creation of its e-services?

    • [If YES]

      • Why does your organization include users in the creation of e-services? [Open Question]

      • At which stage does your organization include the users in the creation of e-services? [Open Question]

      • How does your organization collect the requirements of users? [Open Question]

    • [If NO]

      • Why does your organization not include users in the creation of its e-services? [Open Question]

1.2 Questions Asked in the Questionnaire Sent to Public Servants

  • Does your organization include the users in the creation of its e-services?

    • [If YES]

      • Why does your organization include users in the creation of e-services?

      • At which stage does your organization include the users in the creation of e-services?

      • How does your organization collect the requirements of users?

    • [If NO]

      • Why does your organization not include users in the creation of its e-services?

1.3 Questions Asked in the Questionnaire Sent to Citizens

  • Would you like to participate in the development of e-government services?

    • [If YES]

      • How would you like to participate in the development of e-government services

      • In which stage would you like to participate in the development of e-government services?

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Simonofski, A., Snoeck, M., Vanderose, B. (2019). Co-creating e-Government Services: An Empirical Analysis of Participation Methods in Belgium. In: Rodriguez Bolivar, M.P. (eds) Setting Foundations for the Creation of Public Value in Smart Cities. Public Administration and Information Technology, vol 35. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98953-2_9

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