Suchergebnisse

This study explores the interests served by technological reform through an empirical analysis of power shifts stemming from the use of computer technology in American local governments. Alternative hypotheses concerning the existence and direction of power shifts are tested with survey and observational data collected in 42 U.S. cities. The findings indicate that computer-based systems tend to follow and reinforce the existing pattern of local government power relationships, whether that pattern be pluralistic or centralized in bureaucrats, technocrats, or politicians. Consequently, computing tends to support the interests of the status quo versus the interests of reform. © 1979, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Traditional concepts of management information systems (MIS) bear little relation to the information systems currently in use by top management in most US local governments. What exists is management-oriented computing, involving the use of relatively unsophisticated applications. Despite the unsophisticated nature of these systems, management use of computing is surprisingly common, but also varied in its extent among local governments. Management computing is most prevalent in those governments with professional management practices where top management is supportive of computing and tends to control computing decisions and where department users have less control over design and implementation activities. Finally, management computing clearly has impacts for top managers, mostly involving improvements in decision information. © 1978, ACM. All rights reserved.

This study argues that as automated information systems in local governments are more oriented to providing top management with information, top managers gain control vis-à-vis lower level managers and staff. clients, and lay policy officials. A measure of "management oriented computing" is developed which indicates the degree computing is oriented to serving top management. This index is related to both the hypothesized payoffs and the hypothesized preconditons of computing being oriented to serve the interests of top management. Survey response datafrom most of the larger U.S. cities and counties tend to support the power shift hypothesis and identify certain local government milieus most conducive to management-oriented computing. These milieus tend to be characterized by administrative reform values and top management control of computing decisions. © 1977, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

The growing centrality of cybersecurity has led many governments and international organisations to focus on building the capacity of nations to withstand threats to the public and its digital resources. These initiatives entail a range of actions that vary from education and training to technology and related standards, as well as new legal and policy frameworks. While efforts to proactively address security problems seem intuitively valuable, they are new, meaning there is relatively little research on whether they achieve their intended objectives. This paper takes a cross-national comparative approach to determine whether there is empirical support for investing in capacity-building. Marshalling field research from 73 nations, the comparative data analysis: (1) describes the status of capacity-building across the nations; (2) determines the impact of capacity-building when controlling for other key contextual variables that might provide alternative explanations for key outcomes and (3) explores the factors that are shaping national advances in capacity-building. The analysis finds a low, formative status of cybersecurity capacity in most of the nations studied and also shows that relatively higher levels of maturity translate into positive outcomes for nations. The study provides empirical support to international efforts aimed at building cybersecurity capacity.

Strategies for the analysis of public policy have been a major focus of interest among social scientists during the last decade. This paper introduces a survey research design and perspective which differ from most current strategies for public policy analysis. The design, which is basically an ex post facto correlational design, employs an unconventional sampling technique to derive policy-impact statements from a small sample. The policy analysis perspective of this research is focused on making prescriptive rather than descriptive statements. The specific research is the "URBIS" project, a study which is evaluating the impact of automated information systems upon the operations of local governments. After briefly discussing the general logic of public policy analysis, this paper details the methods and critical issues of this research design. The paper suggests that the URBIS research strategy might be viewed as one general model for public policy analysis. © 1976.