Challenges&Opportuni2esinPublicManagementResearch:LessonsLearnedfromaNa2onalStudyofTechnologyinLocalGovernment

MaryK.FeeneyAssociateProfessorandLincolnProfessorofEthicsinPublicAffairsAssociateDirector|CenterforScience,TechnologyandEnvironmentalPolicyStudiesmkfeeney@asu.edu@mkfeeneyASU

Maxwell School, PhD Colloquium

MaryK.FeeneyAssociateProfessorandLincolnProfessorofEthicsinPublicAffairsAssociateDirector,CenterforScience,Technology,andEnvironmentalPolicyStudiesSchoolofPublicAffairsArizonaStateUniversity

ResearchAreasPublicManagement

SectordisHncHons,mentoring,nonprofitmanagement,redtape,e-governmentScience&TechnologyPolicy

Womeninscience,mentoring,collaboraHvenetworks,evaluaHon,e-government

About me

“Ifweknewwhatitwasweweredoing,itwouldnotbecalledresearch,wouldit?”

I.  Paper: Aresmallci8esonline?Content,ranking,andvaria8onofU.S.municipalwebsites

II.  National Study of Local Governments

III.  Discussion of Public Management Research

part I: Aresmallci8esonline?Content,ranking,andvaria8onofU.S.municipalwebsites

Most e-government research focuses on -  Federal government -  Single states -  Large cities

Are Small Cities Online?

(Bearfield & Bowman, 2016; Mossberger & Wu, 2012; Youngblood & Mackiewicz, 2012; West 2008)

Small cities are less likely to be online -  Less technological infrastructure -  Less expertise -  Fewer resources -  Fewer incentives -  Fewer mandates

Are Small Cities Online?

I.  Paper: Aresmallci8esonline?Content,ranking,andvaria8onofU.S.municipalwebsites

II.  National Study of Local Governments

III.  Discussion of Public Management Research

1.  To what extent are small cities online?

2.  How has this changed from 2010 to 2014, if at all?

3.  Is there variation across cities? And if so, what explains that variation?

Research Questions

part II: Na8onalStudyofTechnologyinLocalGovernments

National study of technology use in 500 US municipalities, population 25,000-250,000

Surveying 5 department heads in each city:

Mayor’s Office Community Development Finance Parks & Recreation Police

Surveys in 2010, (2011), 2012, 2014, & 2016 Website coding in 2010 & 2014

The survey data have been used across years, by function, & paired with Census data, city finance data, & website codes

part I: Aresmallci8esonline?Content,ranking,andvaria8onofU.S.municipalwebsites

1.  To what extent are small cities online?

2.  How has this changed from 2010 to 2014, if at all?

3.  Is there variation across cities? And if so, what explains that variation?

Research Questions

Most common city website features 2010 & 2014

CouncilAgenda 478IndexofLaw/CityCode 473Mayor'scontactinfo 469OnlineListofJobs 469SearchBar 453VoHngInformaHon 394PaymentTransacHon 351PrivacyStatement 297VoHngRegistraHon 294CouncilMeeHngVideos 267OnlineJobApplicaHons 229Facebook 220RSSFeed 218Twi_er 215RecreaHonOnlineRegistraHon 209DistrictMaps 191SearchProvider 172SiteContractor 156MajorSpeech 143PoliceReportSubmission 132NonEnglishTranslaHon 106YouTube 102EmployeeDirectory 87DepartmentDescrip2ons 71Mayor'sBlog 58PageDate 32

IndexofLaw/CityCode 484CouncilAgenda 477Mayor'scontactinfo 469SearchBar 467OnlineJobApplica2ons 466PaymentTransacHon 426VoHngInformaHon 380Facebook 370CouncilMeeHngVideos 350Twi_er 350VoHngRegistraHon 312PrivacyStatement 285OnlineListofJobs 276RecreaHonOnlineRegistraHon 275DistrictMaps 245RSSFeed 234SiteContractor 226PoliceReportSubmission 219NonEnglishtranslaHon 199YouTube 195MajorSpeech 178EmployeeDirectory 150SearchProvider 146DepartmentDescrip2ons 124Mayor'sBlog 53PageDate 182010 2014

Ranking of cities with most website features 2010 & 2014

Change in city website features 2010 & 2014

Change in city website features 2010 to 2014

OnlineJobApplicaHons 237Facebook 150Twi_er 135NonEnglishtranslaHon 93YouTube 93PoliceReportSubmission 87CouncilMeeHngVideos 83PaymentTransacHon 75SiteContractor 70RecreaHonOnlineRegistraHon 66EmployeeDirectory 63DistrictMaps 54DepartmentDescripHons 53

MajorSpeech 35VoHngRegistraHon 18RSSFeed 16SearchBar 14IndexofLaw/CityCode 11Mayor'scontactinfo 0CouncilAgenda -1Mayor'sBlog -5PrivacyStatement -12VoHngInformaHon -14PageDate -14SearchProvider -26OnlineListofJobs -193

What explains variation in city website features?

population (+)

form of government ( )

technical capacity (+)

ICT Adoption: Predictors

centralization (-) work routineness (-) personnel constraints (-) risk-taking (+) external stakeholder influence (+) external site provider (+)

ICT Variation: Predictors

What are the limitations & contributions of this paper?

-  Baseline, generalizable information

-  We still lack data on website quality

-  Importance of political factors

-  Importance of external providers

-  Change in rank is fast

For Researchers

-  Most common features are basic

-  Many sites lack of basic information

-  Need for active, online sites

-  Low capacity for active, online sites

-  Potential market for providers

For Practitioners

part III: Public Management Research

Our research assesses managerial roles in technology adoption & use, with a smattering of other management topics

Findings include knowledge about ICT adoption, managerial roles, barriers & determinants of technology adoption & use

Findings also contribute to research on work life balance, citizen participation in decision making, diversity in orgs, person-organization fit, & red tape measurement

Outputs include more than 25 publications, 5 dissertations, 6 international presentations, 4 annual reports, & at least 22 collaborators

ChallengesOpportunities

ChallengesOpportunities -  Surveys -  Cross-sectional data -  Managerial focus -  Funding

ChallengesOpportunities

Interested, Interesting, Doable

Learn more about this work at: https://csteps.asu.edu/ Email: mkfeeney@asu.edu Twitter: @mkfeeneyASU Request papers at Research Gate

Disserta2onsAdrianBrown:E-Government:EnablingEngagementorReinforcingTradiHonRashmiKrishnamurthy:UseofsocialmediaforinternalandexternalcollaboraHon:EvidencefromUSlocalgovernments,2016GustavoOliveira:UseofsocialmediaforciHzenengagementbylocalgovernmentsintheUS,2014

PapersFusi,Federica,andFeeneyMK.Accepted.SocialMediaintheWorkplace:InformaHonExchange,ProducHvity,orWaste?AmericanReviewofPublicAdministra8onGrimmelikhuisen,SG,andFeeneyMK.Accepted.DevelopingandtesHnganintegraHveframeworkforopengovernmentadopHoninlocalgovernments.PublicAdministra8onReview.Welch,EW,Feeney,MK,andPark,ChulHyun.accepted.DeterminantsofdatasharinginU.S.citygovernments.GovernmentInforma8onQuarterlydoi:10.1016/j.giq.2016.07.002Wang,Shu,andM.K.Feeney.2016.DeterminantsofinformaHonandcommunicaHontechnologyuseinmunicipaliHes.AmericanReviewofPublicAdministra8on46(3)292-313.October19,2014.DOI:10.177/0275074014553462Feeney,M.K.,andE.W.Welch.2016.Technology-TaskCoupling:ExploringSocialMediaUseandManagerialPercepHonsofE-Government.AmericanReviewofPublicAdministra8on46(2):162-179.August202014.10.1177/0275074014547413

PapersHuang,Wan-Ling,andM.K.Feeney.2015.CiHzenparHcipaHoninlocalgovernmentdecision-making:TheroleofmanagermoHvaHon.ReviewofPublicPersonnelAdministra8on.March162015.doi:10.1177/0734371X15576410Feeney,M.K.andJulieLanger.2015.GemngAheadinthePublicSector:PercepHonsofManagersinUSMunicipaliHes.AmericanReviewofPublicAdministra8on.February8,2015,doi:10.1177/0275074015570037Welch,E.W.,andFeeney,M.K.2014.Technologyingovernment:HoworganizaHonalculturemediatesinformaHonandcommunicaHontechnologyoutcomes.GovernmentInforma8onQuarterly13:506-512..1-OCT-2014Li,Meng-Hao,andM.K.Feeney.(2014).AdopHonofelectronictechnologiesinU.S.localgovernments:DisHnguishingbetweene-servicesandcommunicaHontechnologies.AmericanReviewofPublicAdministra8on.44(1):75-91.Feeney,M.K.andE.W.Welch.2013.ImplemenHnginformaHonandcommunicaHontechnologies(ICTs)inpublicorganizaHons:ThemediaHngeffectsoforganizaHonrouHnenessandcentralizaHononICTandmanagerialoutcomes.Proceedingsofthe14InternaHonalDigitalGovernmentResearch.Pages38-45.ISBN:978-1-4503-2057-3.

PapersFeeney,M.K.(2012).OrganizaHonalredtape:Ameasurementexperiment.JournalofPublicAdministra8onResearch&Theory.22(3):427-444.10.1093/jopart/mus002Feeney,M.K.andE.W.Welch.(2012).ElectronicparHcipaHontechnologiesandperceivedoutcomesforlocalgovernmentmanagers.PublicManagementReview.14(6):815-833.DOI:10.1080/14719037.2011.642628.Welch,E.W.,andYavuz,N.(forthcoming).FactorsAffecHngOpennessofLocalGovernmentWebsites:ExaminingtheDifferencesacrossPlanning,FinanceandPoliceDepartments.GovernmentInforma8onQuarterly.deOliveira,G.andWelch,E.W.(2013).SocialMediaUseinLocalGovernment:LinkageofTechnology,Task,andOrganizaHonalContext.GovernmentInforma8onQuarterly.30(4):397-405Grimmelikhuijsen,S.,andWelch,E.W.(2012).FactorsDeterminingtheTransparencyofAirPolluHonInformaHon?:FactorsaffecHngInternetinformaHontransparencyoflocalgovernment.PublicAdministra8onReview,72(4):562-571.Welch,E.W.(2012).TheRelaHonshipBetweenTransparentandParHcipatoryGovernment:AStudyofLocalGovernmentsintheUnitedStates.Interna8onalReviewofAdministra8veSciences,78(1):93-115.