Challenges of Administrative Simplification for Businesses and Citizens and Transition to One-stop e-Government Services

Authors

  • Thanaporn Tengratanaprasert GSPA

Keywords:

Administrative simplification, one-stop e-government services, cost-benefit analysis

Abstract

Administrative simplification for businesses and citizens is a key issue for many governments worldwide because it reduces time, procedures, and cost for businesses and citizens to comply with laws and regulations which has a significant positive impact on economic growth. This research aims to assess the current public services provided in both traditional and onlinesystems. The quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to systematically analyze administrative simplification of government agencies and to leverage one-stop
e-government services. This research provides empirical evidence to reflect the challenges of administrative simplification and theoretical insights to critically examine how and why digital technology improves efficiency and enables administrative simplification. The comparative case studies, citizens' experiences using public services, and cost-benefit analysis were presented to establish best practices as the foundation for policy and technical recommendations to transform one-stop e-government services.

The research illustrated that digital technology enables public services' values and improves the weaknesses of New Public Management (NPM), if the government pays attention to the user experience in the aspect of design and effective service provision. Quantitative analysis clearly demonstrated the ability of one-stop e-government services to enhance procedures and time required for approval/permission through. It is noted that the systems which are in transitioning have improved the average time, reduced the document processing’s cost, travel expenses, and the waiting time when contacting government agencies. Therefore, more attempts should be made by the Thai government to build the capacity and enhance one-stop e-governmentsystems to support the transition towards digital economy and society.

References

Adams, M. O., & Smith, L. D. (2008). New public management and service science: Preparing students for the 21st century. Journal of Service Science (JSS), 1(1), 23-30.

Andrews, R., Guarneros-Meza, V., & Downe, J. (2016). Public management reforms and social cohesion in Europe: The view from the top. Public Management Review, 18(4), 558-582.

Andrews, R., & Van de Walle, S. (2013). New public management and citizens' perceptions of local service efficiency, responsiveness, equity and effectiveness. Public Management Review, 15(5), 762-783.

Arendsen, R., Peters, O., Ter Hedde, M., & Van Dijk, J. (2014). Does e-government reduce the administrative burden of businesses? An assessment of business-to-government systems usage in the Netherlands. Government Information Quarterly, 31(1), 160-169.

Bergeron, F., & Raymond, L. (1997). Managing EDI for corporate advantage: A longitudinal study. Information & Management, 31(6), 319-333.

Bekkers, V. (2003). Reinventing government in the information age. International practice in IT-enabled public sector reform. Public Management Review, 5(1), 133-139.

Boonstra, A., & De Vries, J. (2005). Analyzing inter-organizational systems from a power and interest perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 25(6), 485-501.

Branstetter, L., Lima, F., Taylor, L. J., & Venâncio, A. (2014). Do entry regulations deter entrepreneurship and job creation? Evidence from recent reforms in Portugal. The Economic Journal, 124(577), 805-832.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.

Braunerhjelm, P., & Eklund, J. E. (2014). Taxes, tax administrative burdens and new firm formation. Kyklos, 67(1), 1-11.

Brown A., Fishenden J., Thompson, M. (2014). Digitizing Government: Understanding and Implementing New Digital Business Models (Business in the Digital Economy). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Burden, B. C., Canon, D. T., Mayer, K. R., & Moynihan, D. P. (2012). The effect of administrative burden on bureaucratic perception of policies: Evidence from election administration.

Public Administration Review, 72(5), 741-751.

Chantavanich, S. (2010). Wichai Chung Khunaparb [Qualitative Research]. 18th ed. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.

Cordella, A. (2007). E-government: towards the e-bureaucratic form? Journal of Information Technology, 22(3), 265-274.

Cordella, A., & Bonina, C. M. (2012). A public value perspective for ICT enabled public sector reforms: A theoretical reflection. Government Information Quarterly, 29(4), 512-520.

Cordella, A., & Iannacci, F. (2010). Information systems in the public sector: The e-Government enactment framework. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19(1), 52-66.

Creswell, J. W., Klassen, A. C., Clark, V. L. P., & Smith, K. C. (2011). Best practices for mixed methods research in the health sciences. Bethesda (Maryland): National Institutes of Health, 2013, 541-545.

Da Cruz, N. F., & Marques, R. C. (2011). Viability of municipal companies in the provision of urban infrastructure services. Local Government Studies, 37(1), 93-110.

Daddi, T., Testa, F., Iraldo, F., & Frey, M. (2014). Removing and simplifying administrative costs and burdens for EMAS and ISO 14001 certified organizations: Evidences from Italy. Environmental Engineering & Management Journal (EEMJ), 13(3), 689-698.

David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2017). Strategic Management a Competitive Advantage Approach. 16th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

Dolowitz, D. P., & Marsh, D. (2000). Learning from abroad: The role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making. Governance, 13(1), 5-23.

Dunleavy, P., & Hood, C. (1994). From old public administration to new public management. Public Money & Management, 14(3), 9-16.

Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989) Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532-550.

Elgarah, W., Falaleeva, N., Saunders, C. C., Ilie, V., Shim, J. T., & Courtney, J. F. (2005). Data exchange in interorganizational relationships: review through multiple conceptual lenses. ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, 36(1), 8-29.

Fernández-Serrano, J., & Romero, I. (2014). About the interactive influence of culture and regulatory barriers on entrepreneurial activity. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 10(4), 781-802.

Golafshani, N. (2003). Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 8(4), 597-606.

Government Digital Service. (2021). Gov, Where’s My Stuff? Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2015/08/26/gov-wheres-my-stuff/.

Halachmi, A., & Greiling, D. (2013). Transparency, e-government, and accountability: Some issues and considerations. Public Performance & Management Review, 36(4), 562-584.

Halili, R., & Kukovič, S. (2022). Organizational and structural approaches on administrative simplification: The case of Kosovo. Administrative Sciences, 12(1), 1-12.

Heinrich, C. J., & Brill, R. (2015). Stopped in the name of the law: Administrative burden and its implications for cash transfer program effectiveness. World Development, 72, 277-295.

Herd, P., DeLeire, T., Harvey, H., & Moynihan, D. P. (2013). Shifting administrative burden to the state: The case of medicaid take-up. Public Administration Review, 73(s1), S69-S81.

Hood, C. (1995). The “new public management” in the 1980s: Variations on a theme. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 20(2-3), 93-109. Howard, C. (2017). Putting one-stop-shops into practice: A systematic review of the drivers of government service integration. Evidence Base: A Journal of Evidence Reviews in Key Policy Areas, (2), 1-14.

Khalil, M. I., & Ibrahim, A. (2015). Quick techniques for template matching by normalized cross-correlation method. Journal of Advances in Mathematics and Computer Science, 1-9.

Kitching, J., Hart, M., & Wilson, N. (2015). Burden or benefit? Regulation as a dynamic influence on small business performance. International Small Business Journal, 33(2), 130-147.

Landman, T. (2008) Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics. 3rd ed., London and New York: Routledge.

Layne, K., & Lee, J. (2001). Developing fully functional E-government: A four stage model. Government Information Quarterly, 18(2), 122-136.

Lorsuwannarat, T. (2016). Ratthaban Electronics. [e-Government]. 10th ed. Bangkok: Sat Four Printing Company Limited.

Malone, T. W., Yates, J., & Benjamin, R. I. (1987). Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies. Communications of the ACM, 30(6), 484-497.

Masood, A., & Nisar, M. A. (2021). Administrative capital and citizens’ responses to administrative burden. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 31(1), 56-72.

Moore, N., & Stokes, P. (2012). Elite interviewing and the role of sector context: an organizational case from the football industry. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 15(4), 438-464.

Morris, R., & Aziz, A. (2011). Ease of doing business and FDI inflow to Sub-Saharan Africa and Asian countries. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 18(4), 400-411.

Moynihan, D., Herd, P., & Harvey, H. (2015). Administrative burden: Learning, psychological, and compliance costs in citizen-state interactions. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(1), 43-69.

Ntaliani, M., & Costopoulou, C. (2018). E-Government for lowering administrative burden: An empirical research on European rural businesses. International Journal of Public Administration, 41(9), 700-711.

OECD. (2003). From Red Tape to Smart Tape: Administrative Simplification in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD. (2006). Cutting Red Tape: National Strategies for Administrative Simplification. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD. (2009). Over Barriers to Administrative Simplification Strategies: Guidance for Policy Makers. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD. (2011). Progress in Public Management in the Middle East and North Africa: Case Studies on Policy Reform. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD. (2019). The Path to Becoming a Data-Driven Public Sector. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD. (2020). Digital Government in Chile – Improving Public Service Design and Delivery. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Poel, K., Marneffe, W., Bielen, S., Van Aarle, B., & Vereeck, L. (2014). Administrative simplification and economic growth: A cross country empirical study. Journal of Business Administration Research, 3(1), 45-58.

Przeworski, A., & Teune, H. (1970) The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley-Interscience.

Radaelli, C. M., (2000). Policy transfer in the European Union: institutional isomorphism as a source of legitimacy. Governance, 13(1), 25-43.

Ridley, F. F. (1996). The new public management in Europe: Comparative perspectives. Public Policy and Administration, 11(1), 16-29.

Rixer, Á. (2015). Administrative Simplification The Case of Hungary. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Legal Studies, 4(1), 81-95.

Ruiz, F., Cabello, J. M., & Pérez-Gladish, B. (2018). Building ease-of-doing-business synthetic indicators using a double reference point approach. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 131, 130-140.

Silveira, J. T., de Freitas, T. F., Fabião, G., & Raimundo, M. A. (2022). The simplification of procedures in Portuguese administrative law. Administrative Sciences, 12(1), 1-18.

Tengratanaprasert, T., & Prateeppornnarong, D. (2021). Fostering digital government systems to facilitate business operations: A qualitative evaluation research of the Thai case. Journal of Social Sciences, 52(1), 148-169.

Thanh, V. T., & Van Nguyen, C. (2016). Regulatory Coherence: The Case of Viet Nam. In Gill, D., & Intal, P. Jr. (eds.). The Development of Regulatory Management Systems in East Asia: Country Studies. ERIA Research Project Report 2015-4, Jakarta: ERIA, 259-391.

The World Bank Group. (2016). World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends. Washington DC: The World Bank; The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2006). The Network Society. Social Aspects of New Media. 2nd ed. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

West, D. M. (2004). E-government and the transformation of service delivery and citizen attitudes. Public Administration Review, 64(1), 15-27.

Yin, R. K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 4th ed. London: Sage.

Young, D., Houston, H., & Rainer, R. K. (2000). Strategic benefits from a mature innovation. American Journal of Business, 15, 43–52.

Downloads

Published

2022-06-30