Doctoral Dissertation Defense- Kelsey Rydland
March 17, 2021
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Doctoral Dissertation Defense- Kelsey Rydland
The Department of Public Administration is pleased to announce the upcoming doctoral dissertation defense:
Candidate: Kelsey Rydland, PhD in Public Administration
Title: “Diffusion of electronic government technology: An Empirical Study of American Urban Places"
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 17 at 3pm CST
Location: Zoom- if interested in attending, please RSVP to Sharon Hayes, shar@uic.edu by Monday, March 15 to receive the zoom link to this doctoral defense.
Dissertation Committee:
Dr. Yonghong Wu, Chair (Department of Public Administration)
Dr. Michael Siciliano (Department of Public Administration)
Dr. Kelly LeRoux (Department of Public Administration)
Dr. Karen Mossberger (Arizona State University)
Dr. Benjamin Clark (University of Oregon)
*All are welcome to this public defense.*
Abstract:
The rapid expansion and proliferation of technology are continually changing our daily personal and civic lives. The internet's role and the technology behind it are arguably one of the most critical policy innovations of the past century. The rapid, widespread, and sustained diffusion of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies have changed society forever. Digital era governance (DEG) and its use of technology are the driving force behind many of the past several decades of administrative reforms. DEG is central to how governments aspire to manage relationships with their citizens. This research examines the spread of DEG by offering a unique look at how technology has diffused in urban governments in the United States. The research uses a fixed-effects regression model and geospatial analysis to examine the determinants of DEG policy adoption. The dissertation examines three phases of DEG (Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and open data portals and 311 systems) across 231 cities. The model uses 693 variables and nearly six thousand text-mined and geographically linked data points over a 10-year time frame to inform our understanding of what internal and external factors influence DEG policy adoption. The analysis indicates that the external factors of educational attainment, median age, and population of the urban area positively and significantly impact predicting DEG policy adoption. The research also indicates that the internal factor of median income was also a determinant in predicting DEG policy adoption. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of examining DEG policy diffusion, its limitations and then offers potential future research areas.
Date posted
Mar 11, 2021
Date updated
Mar 11, 2021