Creating a citizen centric administration through eGovernment in Romania.

• Author: Velicu, Bogdan Calin
• Position: Report

Introduction

Beginning with 2008, the year that marked the debut of the economic global crisis, the governments of different states are now being confronted more than ever with the imperative of redefining the concepts that guide their activity. Huge deficits, efficiency losses, or redundant processes represent only a few of the factors leading to the aggravation of a situation which seemed to affect economies only slightly. Citizens' trust in the public administration's capacity to surpass critical moments decreased to a minimum and caused ample social movements often culminating into government changes and extended economic instability. Thus, the implementation of concepts such as transparency, efficiency, efficacy within the public sector became primordial objectives. One field that finds itself more and more in the limelight is the implementation of public electronic services. EGovernment (eGov) involves the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in intensifying the access to and distribution of governmental services for the benefit of the citizens, business partners and employees (European Commission, 2006). The electronic mediation process between the citizen and public administration, for instance via the Internet, is able to substantially enhance the quality of public service, to increase transparency, responsiveness and the citizens' trust in the government (Ahn and Bretschneider, 2011).

Considering that eGov involves focusing on providing more efficiently high quality services to all socio-economic participants, the use of marketing concepts could become relevant in founding the strategies aimed at implementing electronic public services. Thus, this article deals with a few of the decisive aspects in the implementation of eGov and tries to emphasize the role that marketing had and still could have in this process.

EGovernment Management via Public Marketing

The essence of eGov should be focused upon transmitting public value. This concept draws its essence from three important sources, namely the citizens' perception of the quality of the public service provided, attaining the desirable public targets (e.g., improving healthcare services or lowering poverty) and the increase of trust in public administration (Baptista, 2005). Before attempting to describe the synergy resulted from the interaction of eGov implementation strategies with marketing, it is required that we tackle the taxonomy of the characteristic features of these two fields.

From the point of view of the doctrine, public marketing appeared at the same time as the reformation of the concept of public management, ideologically known as New Public Management (NPM). The concept is based on the use of practices and techniques specific to the private sector in governmental activities (Lynn, 1998), with the purpose of producing more by using less resources. The main suggestions decided upon by NPM refer to reducing the size of the public sector, co-opting the experts in management activities, de-bureaucratization, introduction of performance recompensing mechanisms, competition, institutional de-centralization and, perhaps the most important component, implementation of an organizational culture around the concept of the citizen regarded as a customer (Barzelay, 2000; Behn, 1995). Therefore, from an operational point of view, since the end of the 1990s, the citizen-customer concept has become the focal point of organizational activities. Furthermore, Martin and Webb (2009) consider that an administrative reform cannot really be implemented without involving the citizens.

Dunleavy et al. (2005) introduced a new paradigm for the public sector. The alternative consists of Digital Administration which should be based on the following concepts: Reintegration, Needs-based Holism and Digitalization. A careful analysis of the described directions denotes the interdisciplinary character on which the construction of Digital Administration is based on. Thus, Reintegration refers to the ample reform of the manner in which the institutions' administrative apparatus functions. The measures aim to establish a type of activity based on performance criteria. Together with the increase in efficiency, the improvement of inter-institutional relations is also a target. The concept of Needs-based Holism aims at making the citizen, seen as a consumer, the focal point of the public administration's existence. If this is the case, then the inclination towards the concepts guiding organizations in the business environment which aim at satisfying the consumers' needs is obvious. The last concept (Digitalization) assumes the introduction of electronic public services. Consequently, three domains, namely public management, marketing and eGov are necessary for a paradigm change in the public administration field.

The leap from these ideas to their implementation is a priori the appendage of decision-makers. Taking into consideration the fact that inefficient managers may make eGov implementation difficult (Vasiu and Vasiu, 2006), Andersen (2006) has defined five key-challenges on which the management structures within the public administration bodies should focus on if they intend to implement eGov (76). Andersen's guidelines may help public decision-makers implement efficient electronic public services, by means of making the processes and the activity of public institutions automatic and thus achieving higher quality, ubiquitous and uninterrupted access, and the elimination or reduction of the human factor in the service processes, lower costs for the beneficiaries as well as for providers.

In a chronological approach, which is necessary for a general view of the field, marketing evolved following a sequence of stages (Balaure et al, 2002: 4546), including, successively, the orientation towards production (the 1900 1930s), the orientation towards sales (the 1930-1950s), to the climax in the orientation towards the modern concept of marketing (after the year 1950) which aims at the analysis and the study of the needs and wishes of the customers with the purpose of achieving a higher and better level of satisfaction.

The article published in the Journal of Marketing by Kotler and Levy (1969) virtually proclaimed the universality of the marketing approach and the validity of the discipline for any organization dealing with products and customers. Thus, the attention was also directed towards the public sector since there was a demand for better services and efficient public institutions. The use of the marketing concept in the public sector supposes the implementation of programs by means of which the public institutions create, communicate and supply value to the citizens. Nevertheless, not everyone embraced the new direction. Walsh (1994) issued an almost antagonistic assertion regarding marketing and public interest. In his view, marketing should have only a limited, strictly controlled application in the public sector. The characteristics specific to public administration cannot be captured by adjusting the definitions. However, public entities, just like those in the private environment, should follow principles such as improvement of efficacy, renewal, adjustment. The differences between the two types should not justify the losses or the ineffectiveness. The pillars of the classical marketing science could therefore be applicable also for public institutions.

In contrast to Walsh, Andreasen (2012) pointed that nonprofit/social marketing represents the most complex and difficult context in which marketing activities can be carried out, the commercial classification being only a simplified version of this convolution, having as its aggregating point the sale of products and services. In his opinion, non-profit and social marketing represents the most complex and difficult context in which marketing activities can be carried out, the commercial classification being only a simplified version of this convolution, having as its aggregating point the sale of products and services.

EGovernment in Romania

The term of public service comprises activities such as public lighting,

public road construction, healthcare or antiterrorism. In order to deal with this field in an efficient manner, it is necessary to define the limitations with regards to the types and specificity of public services, which could be digitalized and transmitted efficiently in an electronic manner to the citizens. The filter must be taken into consideration in a European context. The European Union's (EU) strategy regarding the access to an Informational Society for the member states proposes the following services as being primordial for the field of eGov:

Romania, as a member of the EU, adopted the Community acquis with regards to its policy in the field of public administration and committed itself to being an integral part of the Informational Society. By trying to digitalize public administration, the most important initiative was launched in 2009 as "eRomania". The project aims at the computerization and interconnection of all public services in Romania (under the guidance of the Ministry of Communications and Information Society). However, the circulated costs led to the suspension of the project. Some of the eGov specific initiatives were implemented nonetheless. Notable projects refer to the possibility of transmitting a few official financial forms in an electronic format, an electronic system for Public Procurement (SEAP), the issuance of transportation permits and the possibility to pay some (income) taxes online.

Although the initiatives are commendatory, certain negative aspects must be emphasized. Thus, the number of financial forms which can be filled in and sent electronically is reduced as compared to the number of forms which must be sent by a company throughout a year. Using SEAP is not mandatory and the great majority of public procurement processes are...