University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service assistant professor Chul Hyun Park has recently published four research articles. Two of the research articles focus on emergency management and two focus on open government, or the use of information technology for communication and collaboration between the government and non-state actors.
“We live in the digital era,” Park said. “Thus, it is essential for the government and citizens to communicate and collaborate with each other through information technology for diverse public service purposes.”
Park’s first article, “E-government as an anti-corruption tool: panel data analysis across countries,” was published online in the International Review of Administrative Sciences. It was co-authored with Koomin Kim of Florida State University.
Over the past two decades, many governments around the world have adopted e-government as an anti-corruption tool. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the impacts of e-government on corruption. The article aims to empirically examine whether e-government reduces corruption across countries.
Park’s second article on open government is titled “Exploring non-state stakeholder and community-led open governance: Beyond the three pillars of open government” and was published online in the Public Performance & Management Review. It was co-authored with Justin Longo of the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy at the University of Regina and Erik W. Johnston of the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University.
Over the past four decades, open government has been applied and researched in diverse democratic and administrative contexts. The literature focuses primarily on open government initiatives designed by government actors or co-created by government actors with non-state stakeholders. But the literature has paid little attention to the emergence of open governance by non-state stakeholders acting independently of government and developing innovative solutions to complex social problems. The study by Park, Longo, and Johnston extends the open government literature by considering the role of non-state stakeholders in open governance initiatives.
Another article co-authored with Johnston, “Determinants of collaboration between digital volunteer networks and formal response organizations in catastrophic disasters” appeared in the May 2019 edition of the International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior.
When catastrophic disasters recently occurred, digital volunteer networks formed by the public emerged across the globe. They aggregated, analyzed and visualized disaster data. Those volunteer networks sometimes shared their data with formal response organizations. Such data sharing and integration increased the capacity of formal response organizations for dealing with disasters. However, despite the emergence and contributions of digital volunteer networks, the literature has been focused primarily on the role of formal response organizations such as emergency management agencies and The Red Cross. The purpose of the paper is to describe how technical and organizational factors influence collaboration between digital volunteer networks and formal response organizations.
Finally, Park’s article “Intentionally building relationships between participatory online groups and formal organizations for effective emergency response” was also co-authored with Johnston and appeared in the July 2019 edition of Disasters.
Advances in information and communication technologies enable the public to contribute to emergency response. For example, reporting systems set up during recent disasters allowed affected people to submit testimonies about conditions on the ground. Additionally, the public has analyzed data and helped to mobilize and deliver relief resources.
To plan intentionally for an integrative emergency response system in the networked age, the research explores two subject areas: the organizational and technical determinants of relationships forged between formal organizations and participatory online groups established by the public; and the consequences of the outcomes generated by these relationships.
In addition to leading the development of the school’s online degree program, Park teaches Field Research Methods, Data Analysis, and Program Evaluation. Prior to joining UACS, he worked for the School of Public Affairs and the Center for Policy Informatics, both at Arizona State University.
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