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The purpose of this paper is to report on the level of government web portal resource development, impediments to progress in electronic government practices, and areas that require improvement in 19 Latin American countries.

A comparative study was carried out between March and May of 2012, based on a method combining heuristic usability analysis with an automatic web portal accessibility test.

The results suggest that Latin American government web portals do not fully meet international accessibility guidelines and that multidirectional communication and participation mechanisms lack diversity. Only functionalities related to usability presented positive scores, but with shortcomings in terms of security.

Extensive literature is available on the development of electronic government policies in Latin America. This study falls within that tradition but, in addition, offers a new perspective by examining the features of web portals, which ultimately aids the calibration of the results of policy implementation. The data obtained are useful for web developers, ICT policy designers and the entire community of actors involved in developing electronic government programs.

El artículo pretende describir el nivel de desarrollo de los recursos ofertados por los portales webs gubernamentales de 19 países latinoamericanos, desvelar la presencia de elementos obstaculizadores del desarrollo de las prácticas de gobierno electrónico y subrayar áreas de mejora.

Se realiza un estudio comparado, llevado a cabo entre los meses de marzo y mayo de 2012, basado en el empleo de un método que combina el análisis heurístico de usabilidad y la aplicación de un procedimiento automático de examen de la accesibilidad de los portales webs.

Los resultados sugieren que los portales webs gubernamentales latinoamericanos adolecen de insuficiencias relativas al cumplimiento de la normativa internacional de accesibilidad y una escasa diversidad de dispositivos de comunicación/participación multidireccionales. Solo las funcionalidades relacionadas con la usabilidad, salvo la relativa a seguridad, presentan un balance positivo.

Existe una abundante literatura latinoamericana sobre el desarrollo de políticas de gobierno electrónico. Este trabajo se enmarca en esa tradición, pero ofrece un ángulo nuevo al centrarse en el examen de las prestaciones que ofrecen los portales webs, lo que puede contribuir ulteriormente a calibrar los resultados de la implementación de tales políticas. Los datos obtenidos resultan de utilidad para desarrolladores web, diseñadores de políticas de difusión de TIC y, en general, la comunidad de actores relacionados con el desarrollo de programas de gobierno electrónico.

This chapter studies Digital (or Electronic) Government in Latin American (LatAm) countries from a comparative perspective. It analyzes a group of countries with a significant degree of economic diversity and public administration heterogeneity. This chapter presents data about the development of the Information Society in Latin America, regarding the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet in the countries of the region and taking into account the digital divide phenomenon. It also analyzes Digital Government from a regional perspective, pinpointing intergovernmental institutions and international organizations devoted to design and define, and, in some cases, implement, shared perspectives and a common agenda within this region. This overview is brought forward by a comparative approximation to the development of e-Government readiness in LatAm countries, using data from the United Nations reports. Additionally, this chapter analyzes sectional e-Government dimensions, including digital public administration national agendas, electronic public service delivery websites, interoperability initiatives, social media technologies, open data and open government strategies, and the future of technology in public sector of the region. Therefore, this chapter is important to understand the role of ICTs as one of the most recent sources of innovation and reform in public administrations Latin America.

This issue includes six articles from ten universities in Chile, Colombia and Spain. The subjects are on entrepreneurship, public administration, management of intellectual capital marketing and also the immediate rejection policies of the journal's editor. The first study identifies different models of support programs in creating technology-based companies (spin‐offs) in universities from Spain and Great Britain, and the factors that determine their efficiency. The second one is on that factors that lead a person to entrepreneurship, particularly the impact of gender and the sociocultural aspects in regional entrepreneurships of Chile. The third studies the continuity of the entrepreneurial spirit in university students many years after graduating. The fourth makes an evaluation of the service portals available to the citizens of 19 countries in Latin America. The fifth is a study of the nets of scientific collaboration of the most prestigious Latin American business schools. The sixth is a study on the market orientation and obtained results in the business of rural tourism. An Editorial also deals with the criteria for immediate rejection of articles received by the journal. We plan a special issue on culture and art management, associated with the EURAM conference.

Este número incluye seis artículos provenientes de diez universidades de Chile, Colombia y España, sobre emprendimiento, administración pública, gestión del capital intelectual y mercadeo, así como la política de rechazo inmediato del editor de la revista. El primer estudio identifica diferentes modelos de programas de apoyo a la creación de empresas con base tecnológica (spin‐offs) en universidades de España y Gran Bretaña, y los factores que determinan su eficacia. El segundo sobre factores que llevan a una persona a emprender, en particular el impacto del género y aspectos socioculturales en los emprendimientos regionales en Chile. El tercero estudia la continuidad del espíritu empresarial de los universitarios varios años después de graduarse. El cuarto realiza una evaluación de los portales de servicio al ciudadano en 19 países de América Latina. El quinto es un estudio de las redes de colaboración científica de las escuelas de negocios más prestigiosas de América Latina. El sexto es un estudio sobre la orientación al mercado y los resultados obtenidos en el negocio de pequeñas firmas de servicios de turismo rural. Un Editorial trata sobre los criterios para rechazo inmediato de artículos recibidos en la revista. Planeamos un número especial sobre la gestión cultural y de arte, asociada a la conferencia de EURAM.

The increased use and proven benefits of building information modelling (BIM) worldwide suggest that its implementation could be of great help in diminishing inefficient traditional practices in the Dominican Republic (DR) construction industry. However, there is no empirical work about the implementation of BIM in the country. This study aims to critically appraise and document the status of the implementation of BIM in the DR to raise awareness and understand how BIM can be successfully implemented in the country.

A qualitative approach was adopted in which data was collected through semi-structured interviews, with the participation of 53 professionals from 36 construction organisations. The data collected was analysed with the method of content analysis.

The results confirmed that the DR is a BIM infant country. There are low levels of BIM implementation. The reasons why BIM is not implemented are explored, and a significant interest in implementing BIM in the future was also reported. Drivers to implement BIM include BIM benefits, competitive advantage and pressure from external partners. Current BIM approaches are mainly single-disciplinary, principally in architecture, and the effectiveness and scope of implementation are highly affected by intra-organisational and inter-organisational barriers.

There is a lack of research about the implementation of BIM in the DR. This study bridges this research gap by collecting primary data from Dominican construction organisations and construction professionals to report findings related to BIM implementation.

Peru’s recent macro-economic success has not translated into significant changes in the capabilities of the state to shape economic activities like Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) through specific policies, even though the country has drafted a national action plan, Agenda Digital del Perú, with stakeholders’ participation, as well as a National Broadband Plan. While there are some state programs that have been considered successes and are potentially examples for Peru and the region, the intent of having a full set of “information society” policies, as in the European Union, has failed.

The paper explores two sets of issues: the diffusion of internationally sourced policies and the capabilities of governments to impact the use of ICT. In the Peruvian case, the state has not been capable of both designing its own set of policies while still following the lead proposed at international fora. To understand the lack of success, it is necessary to differentiate between the shortcomings of local policy-making and the international agenda. Policy makers’ insistence on an “information society” approach is particularly prominent, as the term has been ever present as a policy objective while still lacking actual meaning.

This paper will explore the role of policy-making and the failures of digital policies. It will also consider the contradictory nature of a policy-making process that privileges policies stemming from international bodies over locally driven understandings of ICT policy needs.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the e-goverment on corruption in Mexico. Mexico, although it has fought corruption from different angles, continues to be among the most corrupt countries in the world. One possible tool to reduce corruption, or at least so-called bureaucratic corruption, is e-government. There are studies that confirm an inverse relationship between e-government and corruption; as e-government increases, corruption decreases. The purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of the development of e-government (electronic portals) on corruption.

To achieve the stated objective, the authors have used econometrics (clusters) as the main methodology to obtain a possible confirmation of such inverse relationship between e-government and corruption in the 32 states that make up the country, for the period 2015–2019.

In the states that make up the Republic of Mexico, as the development of e-government increases, the corruption variable does not decrease. There is no significant relationship between these two variables.

The relationship between the variables e-government and corruption has been extensively studied in previous articles. However, in Latin America, studies on the impact of e-government on corruption are scarce, and at the Mexican national level are almost nonexistent.

The purpose of this study is to develop an in-depth understanding of the overall process of facilitating co-creation of e-government services, focusing on the government's role in fostering citizen engagement.

This study conducted a meta-synthesis of qualitative case studies encompassing analyses on a case-specific level followed by syntheses on a cross-study level.

Through meta-synthesis, the study developed an integrated framework, the process theory view of enabling co-creation of e-government services, illustrating how co-creation could be initiated and facilitated by the government.

By providing critical insights into co-creation steps, the process theory view offers a holistic theoretical understanding of enabling co-creation by identifying factors driving and motivating governments to initiate co-creation activities, interpreting the prerequisites for co-creation and the importance of impact assessment.

This study offers important implications for public authorities, administrators and policymakers by helping them enhance their knowledge base on the co-creation process to facilitate a higher level of collaboration between citizens and government for effective and efficient public service delivery through e-government.

While it is widely acknowledged that citizen engagement is crucial for improving and transforming the development and delivery of e-government services, it is equally recognized as a challenging and complex task. Through a meta-synthesis of qualitative case studies, this study is one of the first to develop a process theory view for offering a holistic understanding and crucial insights for addressing the concerns over the co-creation of e-government services.

The aim of this study is to analyse the level of environmental, economic, and social engagement disclosed by local governments, taking into account factors such as political ideology and media pressure.

The authors analysed 102 large Spanish municipalities, using data from 2011. An econometric model was used based on dependency techniques for cross-sectional data. The Tobit technique is suitable, since it enables the authors to address particular considerations of extreme scores on the dependent variable.

The results show that local governments report less strategic and socio-economic information when subjected to strong media pressure, because the press tends to focus on unusual, negative news, and ignores other issues such as the environment. However, in municipalities governed by left-wing parties, media pressure actually promotes disclosure of this type of information.

It would be interesting to create an information index which includes local governments' disclosure, spanning a period of several years.

Particularly in municipalities governed by a left-wing party, media pressure favours the disclosure of sustainability information, including information about the municipal corporation and strategic and social issues.

This study analyses the impact of the press on the disclosure of sustainability information by local governments and also tests the moderating effect of the ruling party's political ideology. The authors did not find any paper that had analysed this impact before.