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The purpose of this study is to investigate the contributing factors to E-government disruptions in Malaysia public service. Researchers have highlighted that the main factors that contribute to IT service failure are the people, process and technology. However, relatively few empirical studies examine to what extent these factors contribute to E-government service disruptions. This study explores the level of contribution of each factor to the E-government service disruptions.

The research was conducted based on the hypothetical-deductive approach. Based on the synthesized literature review, a conceptual model is proposed and several hypotheses are developed. The study was undertaken using questionnaires via convenience sampling whereby eight frontline agencies, six departments and four ministries in Malaysian public service were selected. The selected agencies are frontline agencies (agencies that deal directly with citizens) and have implemented E-government. The respondents consist of IT department employees of those agencies. The data for this research were analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics analysis.

Statistically, both human error and process failure are significantly correlated with E-government service disruptions in the Malaysian public sector. More importantly for this research, the empirical results reveal that human action, decision, management, error and failure are the major causes to the E-government disruptions, followed by an improper process or procedures. In addition, it is found that technology failure is not significantly contributing to the E-government disruption frequency in the Malaysian public sector. Human error is an important factor and needs to be given more attention by the management, as human is the creator, who uses, manages and maintains the technology and process to enable the delivery of services as specified in the objectives, vision and mission of the organization. However, the approach used to address E-government disruptions is more toward technology-oriented and revolves around the recovery process.

The study only focuses on three main factors, which are people, process and technology, and the target sample focuses only front-end service agencies. Further study can be extended by incorporating the other factor such as organizational environment, and the sample size could be expanded by including all agencies in public services. As human failure is a major cause of E-government disruptions, the proposed future research should also study the causes of human failure and how to address the problem by developing a resilient organization.

The results of this study have two implications: first is the discovery of the disruption factors that affect E-government service availability, and second is that the results of this study prioritized the factors that contribute to E-government service disruptions. This information would be beneficial to local, state and national governments for further action to ensure the availability and sustainability of E-government implementation.

This study identifies the factors that contribute to the service disruption of E-government and, thus, gives the priority of each factor based on its contribution to the E-government service disruption. This is an important finding because it enables public sector agencies to plan and implement improvements as needed and at the appropriate rate for each IT service component to ensure the E-government availability guarantee.

Aims to explore the possibility of developing a neoclassical theory of institutional failure, based on “transaction costs”. Critically assesses the role of institutions in General Equilibrium theory and concludes that, with the exception of the market (price mechanism), this is institution‐free. This is unsatisfactory, given the importance of the firm and the state, in particular, which have received wide attention recently in the theory of transaction costs. It is claimed that General Equilibrium theory can be given microfoundations based on transaction costs. This provides the possibility of a neo‐classical theory of institutional failure. It also has important implications on the nature and scope of economic theory in general and the plan versus markets debate in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of failure within Ghanaian Government projects using multiple failure criteria.

This study used a sequential data collection approach by employing an in-depth semi-structured interview and questionnaire, respectively. Based on insight from the literature review, interviews were held with participants to solicit their perceptions about the failure of Ghanaian Government projects. A questionnaire was developed based on the results from the interviews in order to determine the relative importance of the various failure criteria used as the evaluation tool.

Six main criteria were identified and used as the assessment framework for Ghanaian Government project failure. The findings indicated that Ghanaian Government projects fail on all the six failure criteria; however, the extent of failure differs from criterion to criterion. The worst failure criterion is meeting the projected timescale. This is followed by cost, requirement, stakeholder satisfaction, national development and contribution to the sector where projects are implemented, respectively.

From this study, government project practitioners and policy makers will be able identify the failure areas (criteria) on which to focus during government project implementation.

Though extant literature has been devoted to the success/failure criteria, attention has not been paid to comparison of the extent of failure within these criteria in government projects. Therefore, this study extends the literature in this regard as well as government project failure literature in general.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that cause government construction projects failure in a developing economy.

The study used the sequential data collection approach through an in-depth semi-structured interview (16 participants) and questionnaire survey (230 participants) to solicit their perceptions from project management practitioners (PMP), contractors and client (government officials) about the factors that lead to Ghanaian Government construction projects. The relative importance index was used to determine the relative importance of the factors identified. This was followed by Spearman rank correlation coefficient and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance to measure the degree of agreement among the participants on their perceptions.

In total, 34 factors were identified as the main factors that lead into Ghanaian Government construction projects failure. The top ten most important factors that cause Ghanaian Government construction projects failure are: political interferences, delays in payment, partisan politics, bureaucracy, corruption, poor supervision, lack of commitment by project leaders, poor planning, starting more projects than the government can fund and change in government. The failure factors were grouped into four main themes and found that the most important failure factors are leadership. This is followed by management and administrative practices, resources and external forces, respectively.

This study is limited to only the public sector, and therefore the findings may not be applicable in the private sector.

Policy makers and construction PMP would be able to use the findings as a guide during the implementation of government projects in order to reduce and/or avoid government construction projects failure.

Construction projects failure in developing countries is high. Accordingly, the extant literature has been devoted to identifying the factors that lead to failure; however, they have mainly been discussed from a generic point of view or individual case studies. Researches that focus exclusively on government construction projects in developing countries are rare despite the dynamics in which these projects are implemented. This research extends the construction project management literature by focussing on government construction projects in a developing economy, where there are weak public institutional systems coupled with partisanship politics and bad cultural orientation towards government sector work inherited from a colonial rule.

Aims to examine the issue of industrial strategy (IS), paying particular attention to the case of Britain. Sets out to assess the possibility and nature of an industrial strategy for Britain, in Europe, and within the global scene, taking into account the world we live in as we see it. Accordingly, the perspective is driven and shaped by a quest for a realistic, feasible and sustainable industrial strategy. In order to achieve these objectives, first examines the theoretical arguments behind much of British, and more generally, Western industrial policies. Following this, outlines and assesses British industrial policy post‐Second World War then compares and contrasts British industrial policy with that of Europe, the USA, Japan and the newly industrialized countries. Then examines recent developments in economics and management which may explain the “Far Eastern” miracle, and points to the possibility of a successful, narrowly self‐interested, IS for Europe and Britain, based on the lessons from (new) theory and international experience. To assess what is possible, develops a theoretical framework linking firms in their roles as consumers and/or electors. This hints at the possibilities and limits of feasible policies. All these ignore desirability which, in the author′s view, should be seen in terms of distributional considerations, themselves contributors to sustainability. Accordingly, discusses a desirable industrial strategy for Britain in Europe which accounts for distributional considerations, and goes on to examine its implications for the issue of North‐South convergence. Concludes by pointing to the limitations of the analysis and to directions for developments.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the failure factors for the construction firms in a developing nation. Furthermore, the comparison of failure factors for private and government firms are evaluated.

In the present study, comparison between private and government construction firms is done in the context of a construction firm failure. About 60 construction firms were selected in and around the Nashik region for the investigation, where a simple multi-attribute rating technique (SMART) is used for analysis purpose.

It is found that for private firms (private contractors and builders) lack of experience is the major factor for failure of the business as against lack of managerial experience is a critical factor in case of a government contractor.

The outcome of the present study will be used to guide the policymakers during the implementation of governmental and private projects in order to lessen the construction project failures.

Construction company failure is an important aspect in developing countries like India. The limited studies were available in literature which shows failure factors for government and private firms and distinguished them. Hence, the present study extends the construction company failure literature by focusing on government and private firms. Also, the study provides some theoretical guidelines for management to avoid construction company failure in India.

At present no satisfactory economic theory of non‐profit organizational leadership exists. The purpose of this paper is to develop an economic theory of non‐profit leadership and apply this theory to the problem of non‐profit failure or “voluntary sector failure.”

The paper draws on the economic literature on the non‐profit sector to critically examine this approach to theorizing about non‐profit organizations (NPOs). It then considers the contribution that Lester Salamon has made to the understanding of NPOs. It is argued that the very sources of non‐profit “distinctiveness” identified by Salamon are also simultaneously associated with “voluntary sector failure.” An economic theory of non‐profit leadership is developed and it is held that appropriate leadership can reduce voluntary failure.

The major comparative advantages of NPOs make these agencies particularly prone to various forms of “voluntary failure” that present challenges not only to NPOs, but also public policy makers. This paper presents a theory of non‐profit leadership that seeks to demonstrate that appropriate forms of non‐profit leadership can overcome, or at least ameliorate, voluntary failure.

Future research could determine empirically whether leadership plays a decisive role in the performance of the non‐profit sector. This would assist in assessing the empirical validity of the presented in this paper.

The literature on non‐profit failure is incomplete without an adequate theory of non‐profit leadership. This paper develops a theory of non‐profit organizational leadership and argues that appropriate leadership can reduce the extent and severity of non‐profit failure.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the efficiency and effectiveness of industrial policies by focusing on the peculiar experience of South Korea. It analyzes Korean structural change from a historical and empirical standpoint, highlighting industrial policy interventions involved in this process. The analysis presented offers important insights to inform the debate on the contemporary industrial policy, identifying specific elements and circumstances that can contribute to mitigate government failures and to improve the effectiveness of public action.

The paper adopts a historical and empirical perspective. Concerning the empirical analysis, a composite indicator to assess the process of structural change of economies is presented. This methodology provides annual rankings based on the different economic relevance of the manufacturing sectors over the period 1963–2012.

The paper shows that industrial policy has been extensively involved in South Korean structural development but public intervention interacted with several other factors, including gradual markets liberalization, education, societal and cultural characteristics and low level of income inequalities. As a result, economic development is conceived as systemic process, namely as the outcome of a balance in the roles played by government, markets and civil society. In this framework, government failures, as inability of the government to respond effectively and efficiently to the general interest of the society, are intimately inherent to the mechanisms that rule the relevant relationships within the system.

In the post-crisis debate, very little attention has been devoted in academic and political debate to the ways to mitigate government failures. By analyzing the historical and recent Korean experience with industrial policy, the paper addresses an issue insufficiently analyzed offering an innovative contribution.

Charles Wolf′s theory of government failure ignores the possibility that government employees may commit themselves to pursue excellence in public service as an expression of their hope in the quests of their agencies. Communitarian thought explains the function of hope in human motivation and intimates how leaders may influence the hopes of their followers and why followers submit to this leadership. Effective leadership can be assigned a role in the execution of public policy which counters the pursuit of private interest in the public domain so that the problems identified by Wolf can be identified not as an inevitable consequence of government intervention but as a manifestation of “leadership failure”.

In an effort to boost participation in vocational education and training (VET), in 2009, the Australian Government launched its VET FEE-HELP income-contingent loan programme for VET students. The programme was terminated in 2016 following numerous failed attempts to arrest its escalating costs and improve its performance. In an effort to shed light on the failure of the VET FEE-HELP programme, in this paper, the authors offer estimates of the aggregate costs involved and the quantum of graduates.

In this paper, the authors examined the VET FEE-HELP programme through the analytical lens offered by Marsh and McConnell’s (2010) framework, which offered a broad, “big-picture” view covering three dimensions of policy success or failure.

By identifying the causes of the failure, the authors concluded that the features of the scheme designed to improve accessibility of VET also allowed for exploitative behaviour on the part of VET providers, causing deterioration in training quality and leading to a substantial amount of wasteful public expenditure.

The authors seek to illuminate the demise of the hitherto neglected programme to contribute towards the literature on Australian Government failure.