National Economics University

E-PhD Program Seminar Series

 

Government Roles in Digital Transformation Projects: The Case of National eHealth Initiatives in Vietnam

by

Quang “Neo” Bui

Associate Professor, Department of MIS, Marketing and Analytics

Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA

&

Duong Dang

University Lecturer, School of Innovations and Technology

University of Vaasa, Finland

 Time and Venue

Time: 2.00PM – 3.00PM

Date: Thursday, 6 July, 2023

Venue: Room 15.01, Building A1, National Economics University

207 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Vietnam

 

Abstract

National digital transformation (DT) initiatives have strategically been deployed by governments to not only improve government efficiency but also increase the digital competitiveness of the country and gain leverage over other countries. While prior studies have examined government roles in IT transformation initiatives, these studies only uncover government roles within a specific setting due to the difficulty of getting comprehensive data across multiple initiatives. To advance the literature, this study examines three separate national DT initiatives over a 10-year period by the Vietnamese government to transform its healthcare sector. These initiatives aim to completely digitalize the healthcare experience: national telehealth initiatives for remote medical examination, national admin health IT initiatives to modernize back-office administrative tasks, and national clinical health IT initiatives to convert to electronic medical records. The findings suggest a 2×2 framework that generalizes the government roles in DT initiatives. Depending on the level of clarity in the problem and solution, three government roles are identified: champion, corrector, and monitor. Furthermore, we propose a triangle of constraints that conceptualize DT initiatives as constituted of three transformation processes: digital infrastructure, digital competence, and digital governance transformation.

 

Keywords: government roles, digital transformation, digital infrastructure, digital competence, digital governance

 

About presenter

Quang “Neo” Bui is an associate professor at of Information Systems at Rochester Institute of Technology. He earned his PhD from Bentley University. His research focuses on health IT adoption and digital transformation. His research has been published in top MIS journals such as Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Information & Management, Information and Organization, and Communications of the Association for Information Systems.

Duong Dang is a university lecturer at the School of Innovations and Technology, University of Vaasa, Finland. He earned his Ph.D. from Tampere University. His research focuses on Enterprise Architecture, Digital Transformation, Energy Informatics, Citizen Science, and Project Management. Duong Dang Google’s site: https://sites.google.com/view/danpages

 

About series

This seminar series is part of the E-PhD Program at National Economics University. It targets PhD students, early-career researchers, and senior faculty who find interested in doing research in the areas of economics, business, management, and other inter-disciplinary fields of social science. The series is a platform for the wider research community to exchange ideas, networks and collaborations.

 

Contact details

Bach Ngoc Thang

Seminar series coordinator

Room 15.04, Building A1

Institute for Sustainable Development

National Economics University

207 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Vietnam

M: +84 35 443 1750

E:  bnthang@gmail.com, or thangbn@neu.edu.vn

W: http://isd.neu.edu.vn/