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Governmental Rationales for Installing Electronic Information Systems: A Quest for Responsive Social Work
Author(s) -
Devlieghere Jochen,
Bradt Lieve,
Roose Rudi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12269
Subject(s) - flemish , work (physics) , accountability , installation , public relations , welfare , social work , cluster (spacecraft) , public economics , business , public administration , political science , economics , computer science , economic growth , engineering , law , mechanical engineering , archaeology , history , programming language , operating system
Various authors have argued that electronic information systems (EIS) do not necessarily improve the responsiveness of social work. One of the main reasons given for these failings is the flawed implementation of EIS by professionals. However, we argue that the ongoing debate fails to be explicit about governmental rationales for installing EIS. This article presents the findings of a content analysis that aimed to uncover the governmental rationales for installing EIS in the Flemish child and welfare protection (CWP) system. Our analysis revealed three clusters of rationales. The first cluster supports the use of EIS as an instrument to better match supply and demand. The second cluster shows that the gathered data also serve as an instrument for accountability. A third cluster focuses on the aim of creating more uniformity. Based on our analysis, we argue that it is not flawed implementation that impedes the development of responsive social work; rather, the governmental rationales themselves are flawed.