Governments’ social media use for external collaboration: Juggling time, task, team, and transition, with technology
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy
ISSN: 1750-6166
Article publication date: 16 October 2017
Abstract
Purpose
As social media technologies permeate public life, the current forms of collaboration between government and non-government stakeholders are changing. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how social media use reconfigures the organizing practices around such collaboration. A case study of a collaborative e-government project showcases how emergent organizing practices through external social media differ from existing ones along the dimensions of time, task, team and transition.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study of a collaborative e-government project on open data, organized by Shanghai Municipality, local businesses, universities and non-governmental organizations, using an external social media platform, WeChat. Adopting the theoretical lens of temporary organization, the paper identifies the key aspects of change emerged in the organizing practices of this collaboration.
Findings
The findings outline how the use of external social media reconfigures the collaboration between government and non-government stakeholders along the four dimensions of time, task, team and transition. The new form of collaboration is reconfigured along the lines of (1) an ad hoc and non-linear management of time; (2) discursive task creation, assignment and engagement among stakeholders; (3) a serendipitous engagement of team members based on expertise; and (4) a shift in formal and informal organizing practices.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights on the use of external social media for collaboration in e-government research and develops the concept of temporary organization in a sociomaterial setting. It also provides practical suggestions on how to manage new forms of public projects leveraging on the capacity of external social media.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study has been supported by funding from the Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC).
Citation
Wang, C. and Medaglia, R. (2017), "Governments’ social media use for external collaboration: Juggling time, task, team, and transition, with technology", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 572-595. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-02-2017-0009
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited