THE COLLABORATIVE MODEL TO SUPPORT DISCRETIONARY DECISION-MAKING IN E-GOVERNMENT

Good governance is the ultimate goal of e-government in an information society. Discretionary powers of administrative officials are often viewed as a major obstacle to good governance in which bureaucratic decisions may be made by whim, caprice, chance, or ritual. Thus, in an attempt to alleviate discretionary problems, it seems natural to deprive officials of discretionary powers by replacing human interactions with citizens, with information and communication technology. However, hollowing out discretion of administrative works may not always achieve good governance as the use of discretion could optimize the individualized services based on citizen’s specific needs and unique situations. Thus, the applications of e-governments are still essential in various types of administrative decision-making. Contrary to the legal artificial intelligence approach, which attempts to model discretionary domains using advanced algorithms in programming, this paper proposes a collaborative discretionary decision-making model. The model, which comprises three layers: a knowledge layer, a coordinative layer, and a collaborative layer, aims to restrict an unfettered and undirected discretionary powers based on various concepts of the administrative science theory. A sample application using the proposed model is also illustrated. Keywords: Collaborative model, Discretionary decision-making, Open-government, E-government.