Presentation by Ann O’Brien at the CeDEM16 conference PhD Colloquium in Krems

1. Public Value in eParticipation: the
mediating role of Sense of
Community
Ann O’Brien
PhD Colloquium CeDem 16
Krems

2. Public Administration and
Technology
• (Macintosh, 2004) describes eParticipation as the use of
information and communication technologies to engage
citizens, support the democratic decision making processes
and strengthen representative democracy.
• For public administrators (Creighton, 2006) suggests that
public participation is the process by which public concerns,
needs and values are incorporated into governmental and
corporate decision making.
Ultimate goal being better decisions that are supported by the
public.

3. Linking Social Value and IT
• Call for eParticipation research that examines citizens’ personal
attitudes and their self-perceptions (Susha and Grönlund, 2012).
• Key role of eParticipation is to facilitate engagement using
interactive tools (UNDESA, 2010).
• Policy Informatics (Krishnamurthy, 2013) generation of feelings
of empathy.
• A strong and positive predictor of internal and external efficacy
and personal and political trust (Anderson, 2010) and
participation (Mannarini and Fedi, 2009; Pavlova and Silbereisen
2014).
The community psychology term Sense of Community SOC is
introduced to eParticipation to help explain participants’ attitudes
and experiences.

4. The object of this research
(i) elucidate the theory behind Sense of Community as a contribution
to eParticipation research.
(ii) explore the expected benefits of SOC to the eParticipation process
and develop constructs to represent SOC in eParticipation.
(iii) determine the Public Value of SOC to the eParticipation process
using an IS Success Model.

5. Public Value of eParticipation
Moore defined Public Value as a framework that helps us connect what
we believe is valuable . . . and requires public resources, with improved
ways of understanding what our ‘publics’ value and how we connect to
them (Williams and Shearer, 2011).
• Moore’s strategic triangle reflects the interdependence of a range of
stakeholders in Public Value goals, authorizing environment and operational
capacity.
• The authorizing environment must be legitimate and politically sustainable
to key stakeholders and public sector decision makers (Williams and Shearer,
2011).
• The creation of a public that can understand and act in its own interests is at
the core of the Public Value paradigm, enabling citizens to be arbiters of
Public Value (Moore and Fung, 2012)

6. Sense of Community
“a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members
matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’
needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (McMillan
and Chavis, 1986)
Building on the work of (Sarason, 1974) McMillian and Chavis created the
SOC Index a quantitative measure of SOC.
• Membership refers to a sense of belonging closely linkded to identity
• Influence when a person believes they can make a difference to their
group (two way)
• Integration and fulfilment of needs where values in the group are
shared and needs fulfilled
• Shared emotional connection or shared history among members of
the community leading to identification, the quality of the interaction
(McMillan and Chavis, 1986).

7. A visual representation of how the constructs Public Value, eParticipation
and SOC are interrelated.

8. Sense of Virtual Community
• Sense of belonging refers to the feeling of belonging, membership, or
identification to the virtual community; the feeling of members that
they are integral parts of the virtual community this equates to SOC
(Zhao, 2012).
• SOC represents a key variable in the development of online trust (Koh
and Kim, 2003; Blachard and Markus, 2004, Lin, 2008)
• SOVC investigations should pay attention to influencing and being
influenced by the community (Tonteri, 2011).

9. Sense of Community in
eParticipation
(eParticipation Platform) Constructs
• Sense of belonging - identify with the community
• Shared Values – shared goals Fulfillment of needs –
information/support
• Influence - bi-directional – the role of feedback
• Shared emotional connection or history - quality of the
interaction
• Functionality of platform
• Experience of using the platform
To what extent does the platform assist the creation of SOC by
developing the above feelings?

10. Methodology
(Lewis, 2005)

11. Thank you for your time
Questions