E-government: Interactivity in a digital environment - patterns, factors and impacts. A Case Study of the building permit procedure in the district of Soest

1st Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hubertus von Amelunxen (ISNM)

2nd Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Urs Gattiker (ISNM)

This study examines how the Internet and related technologies affect public organisations. The study analyses the rhetoric and reality of public organisations by investigating a single case - the digitisation of the building permit procedure in the district of Soest, Germany. The assesment is based on an interaction perspective, that is, it is analysed how an interactive digital environment affects information and communication flows and fundamental organisational paradigms of bureaucracies. The findings suggest that expected outcomes of e-goverment such as more efficiency, transparency, and better service are not 'simply' the result of technology employment. Instead diverse factor such as management, organisational behavious, the legal framework, and other aspects such as communication modes and forms buld a complex framework of interdependent factors. In part such factors can be more important and effective than digital workflows.