ABSTRACT

e-Petitioning is a type of information and communication technology for development that can be used by citizens to express their voices in society. Although much work is focused on government-citizen relationships, little is known about whether and, if so, how e-petitions technology might result in structural transformations in public administration. In this study, we investigated the effects of an e-petitioning system in the Turkish public administration from neo-institutional and transaction cost perspectives. In contrast to the expectation of reducing transaction costs due to ICTs use, the transaction costs increased. The changes have further strengthened the central government by transforming the current tutelary relationship into a more hierarchical structure. The change is not driven by lowering transaction costs; instead, the change mirrors the power structures. The use of technology changed the structures in such a way that political power structures are reinforced while empowering the citizens to make their voices heard.

摘要

电子投票是一种用于发展的信息和通信技术，公民可以使用它在社会中表达自己的声音。尽管很多工作都集中在政府与公民之间的关系上，但人们对电子信访技术是否以及如何使公共行政机构发生结构性转变知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们从新制度和交易成本的角度研究了电子信访系统在土耳其公共行政中的作用。与使用ICT来降低交易成本的预期相反，交易成本增加了。这些变化通过将当前的家庭关系转变为更加等级的结构，进一步增强了中央政府的实力。这种变化不是由降低交易成本驱动的；代替，变化反映了权力结构。技术的使用改变了结构，在加强政治权力结构的同时赋予了公民表达自己的声音的权力。