Affiliations: [a] University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Faculty of
Economics, Via Columbia, 2-00133, Roma | University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands | Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Abstract: The paper aims to provide new insights concerning the role of
Information Systems (IS) in the theoretical and practical debate on New Public
Management (NPM) and Public Governance (PG) reforms. If NPM aims to increase
efficiency in order to reduce costs and to improve performance, PG suggests to
rebuild the relationship with society and to increase public participation. In
order to be implemented, NPM and PG reforms require the introduction of new
work practices with fundamental changes in public organizations. The paper
argues that IS can be regarded as enablers of the two streams of reforms: on
the one hand IS are used for in-house government applications, on the other
hand they assist in the push toward providing more user-oriented services. To
explore this theoretical argument, the 'life-stories' of 44 bureaucrats,
operating in four different regional branches of an Italian public agency, have
been collected and analyzed. The results show that: a) IS support the planning,
control and evolution of activities related with to the achievement of goals;
b) IS sustain an increase in administrative responsibility and citizen
participation. Empirically, the paper demonstrates that IS support everyday
work, putting in practice and combining NPM and PG reforms.
Keywords: Information system, work practices, new public management, public governance, management by objectives, right of access
