The Evolution of Korean e-Government in the Perspective of Actor-Network Theory

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Evolution of Korean e-Government in the Perspective of Actor-Network Theory

Sulim Kim College of Business Administration Seoul National University

In these days, as technologies has developed, it has changed our lives in everywhere. There is no exception for a nation. Since Information Technology (IT) was a criterion for deciding the national competiveness, it has been considered as a catalyst for the rapid growth in the knowledge information society. As a result, a government uses IT as a tool for accomplishing the national goal. E-Government is an effective tool to improve effectiveness, to elevate the quality of public service, and to promote active public participation in governance. (The Korean Association for Policy Studies, 2011) In order to accomplish the intended goal of e-Government, the Korean government has evolved its services and made considerable efforts. In this study, it shows the evolution of Korean e-Government services in details by using the lens of Actor-Network Theory. ANT considers that human and non-human actors are same and equal factors in its analytical view (Lee & Oh, 2006). Thus, this study focuses on the network between human actors (i.e. president and administrations) and non-human actors (i.e. law, standard and relay system). However, due to the strategy of top-down in the assimilation of Korean e-Government system, it caused the inequality between the central agencies. That is, ANT has the limitation in explaining the public sector cases in terms of the imbalance between actors. According to Naidoo (2009), Walsham (2001) made a valuable contribution by combining ANT and ST theories in the same cases, using ST to guide broader social analysis, and ANT to describe the detailed socio-technical processes that took place. Thus, this study decides to adopt Structuration Theory to overcome the shortage of ANT. This study involved six in-depth interviews with the key actors in the case of Korean e-Government. These interviews were conducted in face-to-face with audio recording from October 22, 2014 to November 20, 2014, and they progressed with specific and open-ended questions. The interviews with the key actors provided the overview of the evolution of Korean e-Government services process and meaningful insights on the success of e-Government in Korea. This case demonstrates that cases in public sector can adopt not only Actor-Network Theory, but also Structuration Theory to explain in both micro and macro contexts. Practical implications are given especially for developing countries in pursuing the rapid development process of Korean e-Government services.

Keywords: Korean e-Government, Actor-Network Theory, Structuration Theory, Law, Standard, Relay system. Student ID Number: 2013-20463