Local E-Government’s Contribution To Performance

Government informatization is the first and important step of China’s informatization development, and e-government is the core of government informatization development. With the gradual process of China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the focus of e-government has shifted from the cost-benefit of technology projects to the promotion of government performance. Whether e-government technology can strengthen the public service of local governments concerns not only the Chinese governments and news media, but also enterprises and citizen of the whole. Therefore, how to reveal the influencing process of e-government technology on the performance of local governments has become crucial in developing e-government and promoting government performance.This paper starts from the mismatch between the e-government technology and the behavior of local governments, and analyses the influencing factors of the e-government technology, institution, and the behavior of local governments on the e-government technology--local government system. Additionally, the paper establishes a theoretical model of e-government technology——local government with a perspective on the interaction between e-government technology and institution. By analyzing the important role of civil servants (under the top-down development model) in the process of "technology-institution-behavior" and "behavior-performance" of e-government technology, the author proposes the analysis model of local government behaviors as well as the model of civil servants’ perceptible performance. Besides, Based on the empirical examination of sample statistics sourced from three provinces and five cities, the author proposes the policy path of promoting government performance by e-government.Based on previous research, this paper recognizes influencing factors of e-government technology, institution, local government behaviors, and performance, and explains influencing factors and affecting route of China’s e-government technology on the local government performance. Through empirical studies, case analysis and other methodologies and relevant tools, the paper analyzes the sample statistics in five cities in three provinces, proves the research framework and hypothesis of the promotion of e-government technology to the local government performance, and proposes policy path of e-government in promoting local government performance. This paper concludes:First, the use of e-government technology of civil servants in local governments is not only effected by their own attitudes and intention, but also effected by their acceptance intention and capability in dealing with institutional pressure. These four elements foster the basis of local government performance alteration; second, e-government technology promoting local government performance is influenced by not only the e-government technology--government route, but also by the institution-government route; third, the affecting route of China’s e-government technology to the local government performance is built on the matching relationship between the behaviors of civil servants and the individual performance, and it is also relied on the matching relationship between the behaviors of local governments and their performance. The e-government technology contributes to the promoting the labor division and collaboration, encouraging the learning of civil servants, and guaranteeing the interaction between governments and the public. The thesis can provide policy suggestions about how to develop e-government and how to enhance local government’s performance.