Centralised Government Telephone Information Services: A Policy Perspective

Centralised government information services such as 'single' or 'universal' number telephone services have been identified as a major component of many government reform agendas. Particularly in the context of recent trends in e-Government and the policy drive toward innovation and transformation of government structures and operations. However, to date there has been little research directed at investigating and understanding the diverse and changing policy motives driving the development of such services. The aim of this study is to offer a more complete understanding of the problems and opportunities that have driven and continue to drive diverse jurisdictions to adopt these types of centralised telephone services for government access, information provision, communication, and transactions. We present a review and analysis of the development of centralised and universal telephone services by a wide range of government jurisdictions with a view to establishing a preliminary policy context. The findings are synthesised to present a more holistic picture of policy motivations and to provide a framework for considering the development of such services. The study findings indicate that the development of 'single' or 'universal' number services is the outcome of a mix of policy drivers which reflect: re-active problem solving; opportunistic evolution as a result of previous action(s), and innovation in technology and its application in service delivery. Further, the problems and opportunities identified have changed over time. These findings are considered in the context of key ideas about policy formation and theoretical, political and ideological issues represented by the oppositions, reactive or pro-active, centralising or decentralising, adaptive or entrepreneurial and, more recently, the perceived challenge by the network to its opposite, hierarchy. In this context imperatives for future research directions are proposed.